DeMarcus Cousins. How good can he get?

[Worm Guts]

Cousins upside is limited in the sense that he won't be Shaq or Olajuwon, but he does have the potential to be a top 20 player in the league, and that might be a little conservative. He does have the potential to be a good defender.

[princeofpalace]

Just stop talking about Cousins seriously...You obviously have no idea what upside means...and your hatred for Cousins obviously clouds your judgment.

I don't hate Cousins, I rate him as a top 5 player in this draft. I just don't pray at his alter.

Please teach me the meaning of upside thought. I am always trying to learn.

Explain to me why a below the basket big man with limited defense has more upside than John Wall.

Because he played well for Kentucky so he could dominate in the NBA even with weight/athleticism concerns

Cousins has upside but not John Wall upside

[TAI8]

Just stop talking about Cousins seriously...You obviously have no idea what upside means...and your hatred for Cousins obviously clouds your judgment.

I don't hate Cousins, I rate him as a top 5 player in this draft. I just don't pray at his alter.

Please teach me the meaning of upside thought. I am always trying to learn.

Explain to me why a below the basket big man with limited defense has more upside than John Wall.

Because he played well for Kentucky so he could dominate in the NBA even with weight/athleticism concerns

Cousins has upside but not John Wall upside

LOL that guy said Hassan Whiteside has more upside than Cousins...enough said.

[Cammo101]

LOL that guy said Hassan Whiteside has more upside than Cousins...enough said.

Do you not understand the concept of upside?

[BrooklynBulls]

And for the record, I never said Whiteside would be better than Cousins. I said he had more upside. I have had Cousins ahead of Whiteside in my big board for quite some time now.

I don't think anyone in this draft has more 'upside' than Cousins, including Wall. If Cousins reaches his highest point, he's absolutely the best player in this draft.

I could not disagree more with this. Cousins is very skilled, but he is a below the basket big man and that severely limits his upside. To say he has a higher ceiling that John Wall is borderline (Please Use More Appropriate Word) IMO.

To call him a below the basket bigman is really exaggerating. His standing reach, if tippy toes are added in, is pretty much AT the rim. I won't pretend he's an explosive leaper, but he's not Aaron Gray either. He also has room to improve on his mobility and explosiveness at the rim by losing more weight, which is obviously possible. A below the basket bigman is Zach Randolph, Rashard Lewis-- guys that either can't or won't play physical inside and finish nastily. Cousins physical profile is good enough to do this, and his attitude is built toward it, as well.

I disagree that his upside is greater than Wall's, too.

[nba_addict]

Assuming Cousins dont selfdesctruct I see him having a big better than Brook Lopez in the NBA.

Few years back Brook Lopez has lot of question marks in him because Lopez lacks that mobility and athleticim for his size and infact that caused him the drop to 10th pick. In summer league I remember how people would label him a bust because he had difficulty grabbing rebounds against athletic 4s and 5s. He has done well since then.

Cousins will not be the shot blocker Lopez will be, but Cousins coming out of college is far better rebounder, has better motor and coordinated movement, equally agile if not better, and better passer than Brook. Offensively the only difference is Lopez already have hooks in his arsenal when he graduated out of Stanford. Cousins does not use hooks but instead uses his wide body to push his defender and shoot a lay-up like shot. I think some adjustment need to be done because such wont work everyday in the NBA.

One difficulty Cousins will adhere is how not to get in foul trouble in his first year in the NBA.

[Smooth32]

Really depends on what type of environment he goes to. If he goes to the right place, with the right structure and a good leadership then he has a good chance to succeed. Otherwise, he's going to be trouble.

[shangrila]

I think he needs a coach that doesn't scream at him. If he went to say Orlando or Milwaukee then he'd probably fail.

[_BBIB_]

All I know is if Big Baby can dominate the Lakers starting front court and he's not as long or as skilled as DeMarcus Cousins, then just what is Cousins really capable of on a nightly basis in the NBA?

I know small sampling, but Big Baby is an example of a guy with more of a football looking body that has deceptive mobility for a guy his size.

Cousins is the same way. Yeah he may look "fat" especially compared to wiry strong players in the NBA like Kevin Garnett, but he's very skilled and agile for a guy his size.

[mattg]

All I know is if Big Baby can dominate the Lakers starting front court and he's not as long or as skilled as DeMarcus Cousins, then just what is Cousins really capable of on a nightly basis in the NBA?

I know small sampling, but Big Baby is an example of a guy with more of a football looking body that has deceptive mobility for a guy his size.

Cousins is the same way. Yeah he may look "fat" especially compared to wiry strong players in the NBA like Kevin Garnett, but he's very skilled and agile for a guy his size.

Shaq looked fat too at times, but he still dominated. People need to not be so caught up with how he doesn't have a stereotypical build. You know who else has an extreme outlier in terms of body type? LeBron James. People just need to stop trying to find a reason to hate on the guy, people just want to find a glaring weakness even though when he steps out on the court he is THE MAN.

[dolphinatik]

lol at Big Baby not being skilled.... He is very skilled for a big man. His biggest problem is he is undersized vertically. He was skilled in college too and showed that off during the season and the deep run in the NCAA tourney with LSU as the go to guy for that team.

In alot of way he is more skilled all around than Cousins but at Bab's height I doubt he could be a full time starting center. Cousins could be a full time center and will translate way better than Baby. how good he gets depends on him and how hard he will work.

[510TWSS]

He said not AS skilled. Not meaning Baby has no skills.

[HtownPA]

If Demarcous Cousins turns into Big Baby, it would be a good pick as long as he isn't drafted too high.
Big Baby was a good pick, because he was drafted 5th in the 2nd round and not 5th in the 1st round.

[_BBIB_]

If Demarcous Cousins turns into Big Baby, it would be a good pick as long as he isn't drafted too high.
Big Baby was a good pick, because he was drafted 5th in the 2nd round and not 5th in the 1st round.

Of course if he was only as good as Big Baby has been in his career so far he'd be a bust. THe point about Big Baby was that you can't judge a guy solely by his weight. There are guys who are very mobil and agile for their weight especially guys who have that football build.

Cousins combines those abilities with incredible length. He has the length that rivals the longest 7 footers.

And although Big Baby is skilled, Cousins shows the ability to put the ball on the floor, behind his back, this guy can flat out dribble for a player his size. He should have no trouble being a threat either as a face up or back to the basket force in the paint.

Big Baby comparison is made because Cousins has potential to do what Big Baby did in Game 4 on a nightly basis.

[NO-KG-AI]

Big Baby was basically a SF on offense at LSU, dude always used the dribble to score, and worked from 18 feet and took a lot of pullups... it was maddening.

If Cousins is a 9'5 inch standing reach version of Baby, he'll be a consistent all star.

Thing is, Big Baby was a lazy guy that turned into a hustle player. How often does that happen? If you could be assured Cousins would play balls to the wall like Baby is, then he'd be an easy pick.

[_BBIB_]

Big Baby was basically a SF on offense at LSU, dude always used the dribble to score, and worked from 18 feet and took a lot of pullups... it was maddening.

If Cousins is a 9'5 inch standing reach version of Baby, he'll be a consistent all star.

Thing is, Big Baby was a lazy guy that turned into a hustle player. How often does that happen? If you could be assured Cousins would play balls to the wall like Baby is, then he'd be an easy pick.

As much as people say Cousins is a headcase to me one thing that he doesn't have a problem with is playing hard and bringing that intensity.

I think some people confuse the swagger he has with being a bad guy

[richboy]

You can't make a case that Cousins didn't play hard. His PER in colllege as a freshman was 35. That is ridiculous. That is better than Oden. Not as good as Kevin Love and Michael Beasley but not by much. Much better than John Wall and any of the top 3 players. Unlike Love and Beasley he has dominate size. Usually when someone has dominate size. physicals, and high PER they are very good players at worst.

If someone is saying a guy that put up a 35 PER as a freshman. Who averaged 10 rebounds per game in 23 minutes and blocked 2 shots. If this guy was lazy and out of shape doing that. That would scary.

[mattg]

Big Baby was basically a SF on offense at LSU, dude always used the dribble to score, and worked from 18 feet and took a lot of pullups... it was maddening.

If Cousins is a 9'5 inch standing reach version of Baby, he'll be a consistent all star.

Thing is, Big Baby was a lazy guy that turned into a hustle player. How often does that happen? If you could be assured Cousins would play balls to the wall like Baby is, then he'd be an easy pick.

did you even watch UK play last season? Seriously? Cousins plays harder than any top big man that has come out in the last 10 years. There is no questioning his heart, effort, intensity and desire to win. Every bench outburst people saw was because he pleaded with Cal all season to play more minutes.

With regards to his hustle/effort/activity level, I compare him to Varejao in that regard with how he agitates and always has a little something to do with the play whether its getting a crucial tip, or diving for a loose ball, except Cousins dominates. He gets under all the opponents skin and then looks to punish his man in the post. Like he said in his interviews, you won't catch him smiling or laughing out on the court, he's all business.

[_BBIB_]

Honestly some of the stuff people say about Cousins I almost feel like is fabricated just so they can find fault in the guy.

Since they can't knock his production, can't knock his physical tools, or potential, they make up reasons why he won't live up to it.

These 3 plays say all you need to know about the potential of this kid especially the last one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-yCp9I85aE#t=1m25s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-yCp9I85aE#t=1m50s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-yCp9I85aE#t=4m01s

[Darko Miliminutes]

Cousins did well against shrimps in college. When he played against decent front courts, he was unimpressive. The only player, at his size in college, to play well in the NBA has been Shaq. Cousins is extremely overrated! As someone mentioned earlier in the thread, he'll be on the bench with a serious "fat-a$$" type injury, by the all star break.

I really hope Minny doesn't pick this Eddy Curry wannabe. Darko's better than Cousins will be.