DeMarcus Cousins is out for the rest of the season with torn left achilles

[Somebody]

If Ainge somehow gets AD without giving up Tatum/Brown he'll be in the  discussion for GMs.

Yeah sure... Pelicans just gonna give up a top 7 player under conrract for 2 more years without at least getting one of our best young players.

Like how the Nets gave up 3 lotto picks for the corpses of stars. I trust in Danny

[hodgy03038]

Very unfortunate for Cousins. Does this actually help the possibility of getting AD or does it hurt those chances? If they let him go it's a total rebuild and New Orleans is many years away from competing or will they now keep him and at least give their fans some hope of future. What about Cousins? Where and how much can he sign for with such a devastating injury? This means at best he can return at what the allstar break next year?

[Csfan1984]

I feel there is now less of a chance they move Davis because now Pelicans have an advantage to retaining Couisns. Not many teams would sign Cousins after this type of injury to a max deal. Pelicans would.

[bopna]

Anyone know of previously great athletes coming back from a rupture and still stay the same player as he was prior to injury?

[GreenFaith1819]

Get well, Big Fella.

Still young and he has a LOT of game left.

He needs to approach his rehab with the same vigor as he's approached the game. He does that and he'll be fine.

[Who]

Bummer on two fronts.

(1) The obvious one. The loss of a great player and to a career threatening injury at that. That will likely hurt his defense and quick drives / spin moves on offense. Cousins is so skilled that he will still be a 20+ppg threat after the injury but I worry about his defense and his efficiency will likely take a drop from the loss of some of those easy baskets off of drives.

(2) Now the NOP can fool themselves into thinking that the Davis-Cousins partnership can still be a success. They won't have the failure of a playoff run to show up their foolish ideas. So they will continue to believe and continue to keep Davis-Cousins together for another year or more. I cannot see them trading Davis this summer or next year's trade deadline. I think it will be summer 2019 or 2020 at the earliest that Davis is becomes available on the trade market.

On a side note, I don't think Cousins will be hurting for contract offers this summer. Heck, they gave Gilbert Arenas a max deal. They gave Elton Brand a max deal. Now the max deals are shorter and have less risk. Cousins will definitely be getting the max from someone. Probably more than one team. Likely NOP.

[Eddie20]

Anyone know of previously great athletes coming back from a rupture and still stay the same player as he was prior to injury?

No, at least not NBA players. The closest comparison, in terms of talent, style, and age, was Brand and he was never the same post-injury.

Age - Brand 28 (Cousins is 27)
         
          Before    -     After

PPG   20.5              13.8
RPG   9.3                 8.8
APG   2.9                 1.3
BPG   2.2                 1.6
FG%  53.3               44.7

[playdream]

I feel there is now less of a chance they move Davis because now Pelicans have an advantage to retaining Couisns. Not many teams would sign Cousins after this type of injury to a max deal. Pelicans would.

If Cousins is healthy he will most likely stay with Davis since they seem to show some hope, and Davis will have a hard time finding reason to bolt, now he won't

And will Davis want to wait 1+ year for uncertainty of Cousins? they aren't even contending when he is beasting let alone post major injury, i see no hope whether Pilicans retains Couisns or not

For Pilicans if they give Couisns the full Max and Davis don't want to stay or Cousins can't return 100% (both major possibility) then they are doomed, instead trade Davis and get bunch of pick and suck, get 2~3 lottery talent and you can still sell tickets and have hope, definetly better than keep Davis alone

[Monkhouse]

Pelicans have Davis for 2 more years. Davis will be still highly valuable and he has shown he can be patient, and loyal to a certain extent. If you don't make any dumb mistakes, I can see AD willing to wait it out for Cousins for one more year.

I also don't think Cousins will lose that much. I'm very convinced that he might be a step slower, but generally with his array of post moves, skills, and body he can manage to generate fouls or score with similar stats as this year. Drop in production? Maybe a little bit to be honest.

But what can the Pelicans do if they do sign DMC for the max, and he isn't the same, plus AD wants out? Worst scenario to be in.

[Roy H.]

Anyone know of previously great athletes coming back from a rupture and still stay the same player as he was prior to injury?

No, at least not NBA players. The closest comparison, in terms of talent, style, and age, was Brand and he was never the same post-injury.

Age - Brand 28 (Cousins is 27)
         
          Before    -     After

PPG   20.5              13.8
RPG   9.3                 8.8
APG   2.9                 1.3
BPG   2.2                 1.6
FG%  53.3               44.7

Yeah, it’s not a pretty list. Dominique is about the only guy who came back with the same level of production?

[smokeablount]

Anyone know of previously great athletes coming back from a rupture and still stay the same player as he was prior to injury?

No, at least not NBA players. The closest comparison, in terms of talent, style, and age, was Brand and he was never the same post-injury.

Age - Brand 28 (Cousins is 27)
         
          Before    -     After

PPG   20.5              13.8
RPG   9.3                 8.8
APG   2.9                 1.3
BPG   2.2                 1.6
FG%  53.3               44.7

Yeah, it’s not a pretty list. Dominique is about the only guy who came back with the same level of production?

I don't know what will happen with DMC, but I know medicine and surgical science have evolved dramatically since Elton Brand and light years since Dominique.

DMC hasn't had the easiest NBA life and I hope he comes back strong and gets to enjoy some moderate team success eventually.

[Eddie20]

Anyone know of previously great athletes coming back from a rupture and still stay the same player as he was prior to injury?

No, at least not NBA players. The closest comparison, in terms of talent, style, and age, was Brand and he was never the same post-injury.

Age - Brand 28 (Cousins is 27)
         
          Before    -     After

PPG   20.5              13.8
RPG   9.3                 8.8
APG   2.9                 1.3
BPG   2.2                 1.6
FG%  53.3               44.7

Yeah, it’s not a pretty list. Dominique is about the only guy who came back with the same level of production?

I don't know what will happen with DMC, but I know medicine and surgical science have evolved dramatically since Elton Brand and light years since Dominique.

Sure, but recent examples like Kobe, Matthews, and Jennings haven't been positive either.

[smokeablount]

Bummer on two fronts.

(1) The obvious one. The loss of a great player and to a career threatening injury at that. That will likely hurt his defense and quick drives / spin moves on offense. Cousins is so skilled that he will still be a 20+ppg threat after the injury but I worry about his defense and his efficiency will likely take a drop from the loss of some of those easy baskets off of drives.

(2) Now the NOP can fool themselves into thinking that the Davis-Cousins partnership can still be a success. They won't have the failure of a playoff run to show up their foolish ideas. So they will continue to believe and continue to keep Davis-Cousins together for another year or more. I cannot see them trading Davis this summer or next year's trade deadline. I think it will be summer 2019 or 2020 at the earliest that Davis is becomes available on the trade market.

On a side note, I don't think Cousins will be hurting for contract offers this summer. Heck, they gave Gilbert Arenas a max deal. They gave Elton Brand a max deal. Now the max deals are shorter and have less risk. Cousins will definitely be getting the max from someone. Probably more than one team. Likely NOP.

I'm thinking out loud here but can't you make a case that it's better if the Pels don't trade Davis for another year?  We can probably imagine the soonest we'd get him is after next season, presumably if the re-signed Cousins does not make an impact and they miss the playoffs.

Under those circumstances, the following would be true:

1) Al's 3rd year would be over and as an expiring, we would be 'free' to trade him if desired, which is big because we need a big salary to match Davis's.

2) We would know if Kyrie is re-signing.  Kyrie and AD are close and if Kyrie re-signs, it could help.

3) Jaylen and Jayson should have even more trade value.  Jaylen made a leap from the start of last season to the end, and then another leap this offseason, and Jayson is probably already better and borderline untradeable.  After another offseason and full year of seasoning, Jaylen may improve to the point where Jaylen, Al and a pick gets it done, which it wouldn't now.

4) AD should be cheaper because he'd have 1 to 1.5 less years on his deal.

5) If we get the Lakers pick, they can't angle for that and we'd offer something else, and if we get the Kings pick we can offer that and even potentially know its spot in the draft order.

Aren't all but #2 and #5 pretty certain to be good things for the Celtics assuming AD isn't available this year but it becomes a possibility at the end of next season?

[playdream]

Pelicans have Davis for 2 more years. Davis will be still highly valuable and he has shown he can be patient, and loyal to a certain extent. If you don't make any dumb mistakes, I can see AD willing to wait it out for Cousins for one more year.

I also don't think Cousins will lose that much. I'm very convinced that he might be a step slower, but generally with his array of post moves, skills, and body he can manage to generate fouls or score with similar stats as this year. Drop in production? Maybe a little bit to be honest.

But what can the Pelicans do if they do sign DMC for the max, and he isn't the same, plus AD wants out? Worst scenario to be in.

Pilicans can choose to drag, but our young wing will grow and Davis will become cheaper, there is sling chance they will get even closer value for AD versus right now, like if we really contend this or next year then we won't want to trade, by then who is gonna trade value for him?

And torn Achilis is no joke, like barely NO ONE can come back to their old self bad, especially for a big man, who also depend on agility and likes to drive from the 3 line, are Pilicans really gonna bet against THIS odds? is AD?

[spikelovetheCelts]

Anyone know of previously great athletes coming back from a rupture and still stay the same player as he was prior to injury?

No, at least not NBA players. The closest comparison, in terms of talent, style, and age, was Brand and he was never the same post-injury.

Age - Brand 28 (Cousins is 27)
         
          Before    -     After

PPG   20.5              13.8
RPG   9.3                 8.8
APG   2.9                 1.3
BPG   2.2                 1.6
FG%  53.3               44.7

Yeah, it’s not a pretty list. Dominique is about the only guy who came back with the same level of production?

Rudy Gay has done well since to prove your point.  Cousins mayhaveto play a little more in the post when he first comes back. I watched the game Last night and they looked good together. I was going to pull for them in playoffs. I hope we get our big in the Draft.