Are DeMarcus Cousins & Anthony Davis even a good fit?

[Nutty Nats Fan]

I swear after Cousins retires his fanboys will still be making excuses for why he never did anything in this league.

So you are disagreeing that the rest of the roster (besides Jru) is awful? You also believe players should magically be able to play great together, right away, no training camp or practice together needed?

Seems the issue here isn't "fan boys" but people who hate Cousins and will bash him illogically.

[D.Brasco]

On paper they should work, but a few things missing:

Why should they work on paper? On paper Cousins is a high volume/low efficiency scorer that plays the exact same position as Anthony Davis. That sounds terrible.

Is this a joke lol, you added a guy averaging 27.8 and 10.7 boards to a guy averaging 27.8 and 11.7 boards. This is the definition of on paper.

Cousins puts up chucker numbers for a center. An elite big man shouldn't be shooting under 45% from the field. His scoring gets overrated because for a big man he's decent from the 3.

[Nazrmohamed]

Tim Duncan and David Robinson
Hakeem Olijuwon and Ralph Sampson

Wilt Chamberlain and Nate Thurmand.
Wes Unseld Elgin Hayes.

Not huge names, but I think Ben and Sheed would eat these two alive. Cousins would get all frustrated.

Cousins IS a modern day Sheed and thats why your duo isnt at the top of the list. I loved Sheed but as talented as he was he slacked big time over his career. He wasn't even at his most dominant on Detroit. Imagine if he didn't have that bad streak. But I think your combo would give anyone fits.

[og15]

Wilt Chamberlain and Nate Thurmand.
Wes Unseld Elgin Hayes.

Not huge names, but I think Ben and Sheed would eat these two alive. Cousins would get all frustrated.

Cousins IS a modern day Sheed and thats why your duo isnt at the top of the list. I loved Sheed but as talented as he was he slacked big time over his career. He wasn't even at his most dominant on Detroit. Imagine if he didn't have that bad streak. But I think your combo would give anyone fits.

Sheed was a much lower volume player and a much better defender. Sheed's impact was generally better than his numbers as opposed to Cousins who whether true or not, people are more inclined to say that his numbers overrate his impact.

I'm assuming you are comparing in terms of getting technicals and such though, right?

[Winsome Gerbil]

Holiday is good but The rest of that roster is D league level other than maybe two other average guys at best. Can't blame this all star duo

During the Jazz game, I unfortunately got stuck with their homer announcers, and they put up a stat showing that Cousins/Davis, before Davis got hurt this past game I guess, were on a historic pace of accounting for the highest percentage of a team's points by a duo. I think it was 58% of the Pels points since the trade? In about half the games those guys are putting up 25 a piece and no other Pelican is in double figures. They can't shoot. They can't create. They might have the worst backcourt and bench in the league right now.

Anyway, it's clear at this point that Cousins and Davis, while a little ragged together because of lack of familiarity/practice, are not the problem. Everything else is. They are just pulling random guards off the street now. Its kind of funny. Jarret Jack hadn't played in more than a year, so they sign him. He immediately gets hurt, so they go dig up Jordan Crawford, who hasn't been in the NBA in 3 years. And he's immediately like their best guard since Jrue is playing drunk or something. I think they just added another D-leaguer too. There's just no team there right now. And IMO no coach either.

They've got two young superstars. That automatically gives them a better future than 75% of the teams in the league. But just watching them a few times since the trade and it's obvious that this is going to be a huge and hugely active offseason for them. I'm not at all sure their front office is up to it, but they really need a new coach, and an entire new SF/SG/PG rotation. Then offseason work, A training camp. Then maybe by the start of next season we'll finally see an actual team out there.

[blitz41]

Why should they work on paper? On paper Cousins is a high volume/low efficiency scorer that plays the exact same position as Anthony Davis. That sounds terrible.

Is this a joke lol, you added a guy averaging 27.8 and 10.7 boards to a guy averaging 27.8 and 11.7 boards. This is the definition of on paper.

Cousins puts up chucker numbers for a center. An elite big man shouldn't be shooting under 45% from the field. His scoring gets overrated because for a big man he's decent from the 3.

All im saying is "on paper" they seem like a perfect fit. Functionally and practically...gentry always seemed to me to barely know what he was doing with AD, let alone with cousins now. Add in the some of the behavioral issues cousins has had, and that the team he got traded to is also not a winning environment, well, not sure this experiment will work.

[nikster]

Dwight did make to the final, then what happened after?

And all other Hall of Famers who never won a ring, Are they all losers? Dwight Carried a team to the NBA finals as the sole superstar. That in itself is impressive as hell.

When did I say all other Hall of Famers who never won a ring are all losers?
Players can be a winner even if they don't have a ring and vice versa.

Dwight wasted his talent and didn't accomplish much. If he is a winner, how come not many teams are interested in him at free agency?

Where did he underperform? His time in Orlando he was a beast on both ends of the floor, carried them to multiple deep playoff runs. Since his back surgery he has clearly not been the same player.

A 31 yr old center with a history of back surgery, shoulder and knee issues got a 3 yr $70 million contract....Who says there was no interest?

you claim you arent insulting HOFers who didnt win a ring but in the same breath claim a player who carried a team to the finals "didn't accomplish much"

[sp6r=underrated]

Understandably it's highway robbery for NOLA, but aren't these two guys going to be hogging the ball up inside too much?

I don't think anyone thinks they're great fit. It isn't just this era, historically twin tower combos have been a disaster. The only twin tower combo that really worked for a sustained period of time was Robinson-Duncan. It worked because the two were GOAT level defenders and very effective passers for true bigs. Even still the offense really struggled at times.

Pelicans had to make the trade but it will take really skilled coaching and team play to make it work.

[Hoopz Afrik]

Is this a joke lol, you added a guy averaging 27.8 and 10.7 boards to a guy averaging 27.8 and 11.7 boards. This is the definition of on paper.

Cousins puts up chucker numbers for a center. An elite big man shouldn't be shooting under 45% from the field. His scoring gets overrated because for a big man he's decent from the 3.

All im saying is "on paper" they seem like a perfect fit. Functionally and practically...gentry always seemed to me to barely know what he was doing with AD, let alone with cousins now. Add in the some of the behavioral issues cousins has had, and that the team he got traded to is also not a winning environment, well, not sure this experiment will work.

And here it is. The problem with everything. Gentry just doesn't know how to use viable bigs. Camping them out at the 3pt line is a waste of their natural abilities.

[Alonzo_Morning]

Cousins puts up chucker numbers for a center. An elite big man shouldn't be shooting under 45% from the field. His scoring gets overrated because for a big man he's decent from the 3.

All im saying is "on paper" they seem like a perfect fit. Functionally and practically...gentry always seemed to me to barely know what he was doing with AD, let alone with cousins now. Add in the some of the behavioral issues cousins has had, and that the team he got traded to is also not a winning environment, well, not sure this experiment will work.

And here it is. The problem with everything. Gentry just doesn't know how to use viable bigs. Camping them out at the 3pt line is a waste of their natural abilities.

Not to mention it robs you of a rebounder who could out rebound just about anyone else

[lordjeff05]

All im saying is "on paper" they seem like a perfect fit. Functionally and practically...gentry always seemed to me to barely know what he was doing with AD, let alone with cousins now. Add in the some of the behavioral issues cousins has had, and that the team he got traded to is also not a winning environment, well, not sure this experiment will work.

And here it is. The problem with everything. Gentry just doesn't know how to use viable bigs. Camping them out at the 3pt line is a waste of their natural abilities.

Not to mention it robs you of a rebounder who could out rebound just about anyone else

This is such a weird statement considering Davis was having an amazing season this year. He also was in charge of teams that had very high performing big men, like Stoudemire and Griffin, and high functioning offenses with two traditional bigs again with Griffin and Jordan. I don't think this statement is at all backed up by what he has actually done.

[Alonzo_Morning]

And here it is. The problem with everything. Gentry just doesn't know how to use viable bigs. Camping them out at the 3pt line is a waste of their natural abilities.

Not to mention it robs you of a rebounder who could out rebound just about anyone else

This is such a weird statement considering Davis was having an amazing season this year. He also was in charge of teams that had very high performing big men, like Stoudemire and Griffin, and high functioning offenses with two traditional bigs again with Griffin and Jordan. I don't think this statement is at all backed up by what he has actually done.

AD should be banned from shooting threes, I think he's below 30% this season. Terrible. I don't mind Cousins bombing away a bit, he makes a good clip of them from the eye test. But AD should always be under the basket when DMC is playing (really) high post.

[lordjeff05]

Not to mention it robs you of a rebounder who could out rebound just about anyone else

This is such a weird statement considering Davis was having an amazing season this year. He also was in charge of teams that had very high performing big men, like Stoudemire and Griffin, and high functioning offenses with two traditional bigs again with Griffin and Jordan. I don't think this statement is at all backed up by what he has actually done.

AD should be banned from shooting threes, I think he's below 30% this season. Terrible. I don't mind Cousins bombing away a bit, he makes a good clip of them from the eye test. But AD should always be under the basket when DMC is playing (really) high post.

People don't just start shooting 3's automatically at a great clip. It takes some time, and some effort to incorporate that part of their repertoire at game speed. I'm not saying it needs to be the majority of his game, but I don't mind a few.

And honestly, I prefer AD from the elbow anyway, when he isn't in the pcik and roll.

[Darren]

The 2017 version of Tim Duncan and David Robinson "Twin Towers".

A new Marc Gasol-Zach Randolph combo is better description. Of course, they're potentially a better version should both learn to score in post and being a strong rebounding and shot-blocking combo.

[Nazrmohamed]

Not huge names, but I think Ben and Sheed would eat these two alive. Cousins would get all frustrated.

Cousins IS a modern day Sheed and thats why your duo isnt at the top of the list. I loved Sheed but as talented as he was he slacked big time over his career. He wasn't even at his most dominant on Detroit. Imagine if he didn't have that bad streak. But I think your combo would give anyone fits.

Sheed was a much lower volume player and a much better defender. Sheed's impact was generally better than his numbers as opposed to Cousins who whether true or not, people are more inclined to say that his numbers overrate his impact.

I'm assuming you are comparing in terms of getting technicals and such though, right?

Exactly, I wasnt getting as technical as you but just basically saying that without all those years of technicals I feel like people would be talking about Sheed more like they do with Duncan and Garnettt. In a way he does already but more by people who respect what you just said. I mean universally known. I feel like even Webber gets more love than Sheed from that generation and deep down I know Sheed was a better player.

[GermanFan120]

It's no secret that AD plays better when Cousins is not playing.

[therealbig3]

I mean, I know that the Pelicans don't have much outside of Davis and Cousins...but who did they give up of significance for Cousins? Remember, this was apparently the worst deal in NBA history for the Kings, and they apparently gave up Cousins for nothing.

Hield, Evans, and Galloway were all bench players that weren't contributing a whole lot to the Pelicans. Essentially, the Pelicans added Cousins to what they already had, which was good enough for 23-34. They've been 3-6 since then, but only 2 of those wins were even with Cousins.

So you can point to all the flaws that the roster has outside of Davis and Cousins...but those flaws all existed before Cousins arrived. They were expected to make a run for the 8th seed and threaten the Warriors after the trade, and all they've done is fallen in the standings. That's not a good look any way you slice it, and it's hard to totally absolve Davis and Cousins of the blame here.

[Rapcity_11]

I mean, I know that the Pelicans don't have much outside of Davis and Cousins...but who did they give up of significance for Cousins? Remember, this was apparently the worst deal in NBA history for the Kings, and they apparently gave up Cousins for nothing.

Hield, Evans, and Galloway were all bench players that weren't contributing a whole lot to the Pelicans. Essentially, the Pelicans added Cousins to what they already had, which was good enough for 23-34. They've been 3-6 since then, but only 2 of those wins were even with Cousins.

So you can point to all the flaws that the roster has outside of Davis and Cousins...but those flaws all existed before Cousins arrived. They were expected to make a run for the 8th seed and threaten the Warriors after the trade, and all they've done is fallen in the standings. That's not a good look any way you slice it, and it's hard to totally absolve Davis and Cousins of the blame here.

Also....

Davis ON and Cousins OFF = +8.3 net rating
Davis ON and Cousins ON = -8.2 net rating
Cousins ON and Davis OFF = -16.3 net rating

Early returns are absolutely awful for Cousins.

[GlenRiceARoni]

Yea i talked a lot about this in my thread "RIP TWIN TOWERS" after their first game together but everyone said I was an idiot.

I disagree 100% with whoever said Twin Towers lineups have been bad throughout history though.

Parish, McHale
Olajuwon, Sampson
Bynum, gasol
Duncan, Robinson

Plenty of other lesser duos who were effective as well. Having multiple post threats used to be a tough matchup as one could post the weaker defender while the other hit the offensive glass.

Now that posting up is generally horrible offensive strategy it's a bad idea to center an offense around this.



-------------------------------------------------------------------
Excited about the Playoffs now that Durant has given other teams a fighting chance

[Hadley]

Obviously. Both are playing the same Position. Davis needs to learn that he has to play at Center.

But I'm sure Cousins is play on a different Team next Year.