Roy Hobbs up to bat...
That said, is that really a shock? The Kings were giddy to see him gone and then there's this from Kevin O'Conner
Sources around the league have indicated that Cousins has megalomaniacal tendencies: He grows jealous when teammates receive credit for team success, or he reacts negatively if a teammate makes a mistake. It’s hard for players to follow along when the leader doesn’t practice what he preaches. You don’t have to look hard to find the stories. On Monday’s episode of The Lowe Post podcast, Zach Lowe told Brian Windhorst, “DeMarcus Cousins ruined Nik Stauskas … or almost did. The stories about DeMarcus Cousins berating Nik Stauskas, threatening to fight Nik Stauskas on the plane to China when they were going there for the preseason, two years ago or whenever that was … he ruined Nik Stauskas.” The rumblings are the same from people in drastically different circles.
Did KG "ruin" Big Baby?
Don't get hung on that comment. That's what Lowe heard and he reported it. As for KG, although he was tough on Baby, he was always helpful with rookies, working on their games, buying them suits, etc. This was more on the Stauskas bullying, as you see Windhorst was also in full agreement.
Lowe - "The stories about Demarcus Cousins berating Nik Stauskas. Threatening to fight Nik Stauskas on the plane to China."
Windhorst - "He's getting hounded and bullied everyday by Demarcus, I felt bad for him."
I would also look at the totality of the criticisms of Cousins and they are consistent and come from credible people.
Patrick O'Bryant once didn't take a session with KG seriously. KG then proceeded to completely ignore POB for the rest of his Celtics tenure.
How would he have handled Stauskas?
KG and Cousins are nothing alike.
From the Kevin O'Connor quote:
"It’s hard for players to follow along when the leader doesn’t practice what he preaches."
This is significant. Cousins has no focus and takes plays off. He has zero credibility. KG on the other hand was the ultimate competitor.
There is also a big difference between constructive criticism and bullying. KG was never "jealous," as Kevin O'Connor suggests of Cousins. KG just wanted players to reach their potential so they could help the team win.
Cousins is unbalanced and enjoys being miserable an d making others miserable. There is just a world of difference between the two.
This is why KG has always been described as a leader and Cousins as Toxic. Yes, they both yell at teammates sometimes. That's where the similarities end.
I just think it's funny how KG is lionized for some pretty bad behavior. Isolating teammates, screaming at teammates, punching teammates, not sitting on the sidelines, being a jerk to fans. We take his flaws and turn them into positives, because he was dominant on the court. Same thing with Draymond Green.
DMC and KG don't have the same behavioral problems, but both acted in less than ideal ways as teammates. KG was a great player who worked hard and hustled, but he was an angry diva.
For as smart as you are, i dont get how you don't see that the KG DMC comparison completely falls flat.
You keep ignoring the most important part.
DMC regularly hasn't taken practice seriously, and has repeatedly taken plays off during the course of a game.
KG NEVER did either of those things, and that is extremely important.
They are in no way alike.
They're alike in plenty of ways. Extremely talented, overly emotional, surly, flawed.
They're not alike in all ways, which seems to be where you're getting hung up. Don't act like KG is a model leader or teammate, though. He did way worse to teammates than DMC berating Stauskas.
That is the thing though.
KG is both a model leader and teammate. Listen to what every coach has to say about him, and his teammates as well.
KG demands the absolute best from everyone, and will not tolerate poor effort, because he never played any other way. Ever.
DMC demands those things, but he has terrible effort, and literally didn't get back on defense so much, the team tracked how often it happened.
They are far more dissimilar than they are similar