Author Topic: DeMarcus Cousins is out for the rest of the season with torn left achilles  (Read 14688 times)

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Offline gouki88

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I know we get on Stevens a lot for his love of rotations but limiting players minutes is important. Fatigue and overuse is a problem over the course of a long season.
I don’t really see how this is relevant to Cousins though.  He plays with the intensity of a walk through.  The amazing thing is that he can get you 30 and 15 with such little effort.


I think this is a false conclusion.  Boogie ran the 7th most miles of any center this year, just barely behind Horford and Steven Adams. He was 5th in miles run on defense.

He’s still putting a ton of wear and tear on his body.
Well there's running back on defense and then there's what Cousins does. He kinda of saunters back on defense and that's when he isn't taking forever to get back up off the floor or isn't still complaining to the refs while standing there or walking slowly back.
Cousins fans (me included) and lovers (me excluded) - please note that the Pels are no worse without his contributions.
27-25 before the injury, 17-11 since he went down.
Sure, he can score 26 PPG, grab 12 RPG and still it is all worthless if it doesn't change your team's performance in a positive manner.
Empty counting stats.
I am sure that many believe that Mirotić is an inferior player (talent-wise I agree), but the on-court product is no worse.

Give the ball more to Jrue, (7 APG since February, 5,2 before)
Let AD score more, (30.8 PPG since February, 26,4 before)
Niko will space
And Gentry will know what to expect each game (no early 2 PF foul trouble, no 2 technicals, no sleeping in transition D, no getting out of shape after 2 months, no weak body language)

And you get to that 17-11

So is Cousins worth 25-30 mils yearly?
Even before this tough injury, I'd say a resounding - No.
Will he get it?
We will see, but that is a different pair of trousers.
Lol, what a ridiculous way to represent the Pels season. So much of this isn’t even based in reality.

In a world where Jrue Holiday, Mike Conley and Al Horford are worth $25m+ then Cousins is without a doubt.
To disagree with that is straight up foolish, just like the post

I might have mixed up their record, at the time, by a game or two,
but my points, especially Mirotić one sticks.
He does impact winning more than DMC.
Jrue looks like a free-man with the ball in his hands more.
AD is AD of course as always, no player can diminish him.
I have to disagree. Their winning has far more to do with Anthony Davis elevating his game to unforeseen levels. If he can maintain this play for a few seasons he’ll be up there with the all-time greats.

I also think part of it is due to Gentry not knowing how to work the 2 bigs.

I could not disagree more with Mirotic impacting winning more than a top 2 centre in the league. Mirotic had his best offensive game of the year and you bring this up lol. He’s a 14/7 stretch 4 with average at best defence
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Online Moranis

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Mirotic is a better fit next to Davis.  Cousins and Davis are very similar offensive players, they want the ball in the same spots and do the same sort of things.  Mirotic is much more perimeter oriented and allows Davis more room to do his thing.  If the Pelicans can somehow keep Davis, Cousins, and Mirotic and make that rotation work, though, they could be epically good down low.
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Offline Green-18

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I know we get on Stevens a lot for his love of rotations but limiting players minutes is important. Fatigue and overuse is a problem over the course of a long season.
I don’t really see how this is relevant to Cousins though.  He plays with the intensity of a walk through.  The amazing thing is that he can get you 30 and 15 with such little effort.


I think this is a false conclusion.  Boogie ran the 7th most miles of any center this year, just barely behind Horford and Steven Adams. He was 5th in miles run on defense.

He’s still putting a ton of wear and tear on his body.
Well there's running back on defense and then there's what Cousins does. He kinda of saunters back on defense and that's when he isn't taking forever to get back up off the floor or isn't still complaining to the refs while standing there or walking slowly back.
Cousins fans (me included) and lovers (me excluded) - please note that the Pels are no worse without his contributions.
27-25 before the injury, 17-11 since he went down.
Sure, he can score 26 PPG, grab 12 RPG and still it is all worthless if it doesn't change your team's performance in a positive manner.
Empty counting stats.
I am sure that many believe that Mirotić is an inferior player (talent-wise I agree), but the on-court product is no worse.

Give the ball more to Jrue, (7 APG since February, 5,2 before)
Let AD score more, (30.8 PPG since February, 26,4 before)
Niko will space
And Gentry will know what to expect each game (no early 2 PF foul trouble, no 2 technicals, no sleeping in transition D, no getting out of shape after 2 months, no weak body language)

And you get to that 17-11

So is Cousins worth 25-30 mils yearly?
Even before this tough injury, I'd say a resounding - No.
Will he get it?
We will see, but that is a different pair of trousers.
Lol, what a ridiculous way to represent the Pels season. So much of this isn’t even based in reality.

In a world where Jrue Holiday, Mike Conley and Al Horford are worth $25m+ then Cousins is without a doubt.
To disagree with that is straight up foolish, just like the post

I might have mixed up their record, at the time, by a game or two,
but my points, especially Mirotić one sticks.
He does impact winning more than DMC.
Jrue looks like a free-man with the ball in his hands more.
AD is AD of course as always, no player can diminish him.
I have to disagree. Their winning has far more to do with Anthony Davis elevating his game to unforeseen levels. If he can maintain this play for a few seasons he’ll be up there with the all-time greats.

I also think part of it is due to Gentry not knowing how to work the 2 bigs.

I could not disagree more with Mirotic impacting winning more than a top 2 centre in the league. Mirotic had his best offensive game of the year and you bring this up lol. He’s a 14/7 stretch 4 with average at best defence

My two cents on the argument between Mirotic and Cousins.  Mirotic himself doesn't have a major positive impact on winning.  He just isn't a liability for 2-5 minute stretches like Cousins.  Cousins is out of shape and routinely has a poor attitude.  Let's pretend Cousins drops 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists on 50% shooting.  If he plays 35 minutes you could assume that his impact is extremely positive for 25+ minutes.  What doesn't show in this stat line is 2 minute stretches in nearly each quarter where he walks back on defense, misses rotations, and doesn't contest shots.  This always happens when he is frustrated and/or tired.  There are multiple videos that have been put together to show this.  It's not uncommon for the Pelicans to surrender an 8-10 point run during these brief stretches.  I would hate watching Cousins because his positive impact is frequently negated in a matter of a few minutes.

If Cousins dedicated an entire off-season towards getting into top shape then it would be a game changer when it comes to impacting winning.  His body would feel better and I bet his overall attitude would improve with proper conditioning.

Offline Green-18

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To further this argument I looked at the 5 man lineup stats for the Pelicans this season.  The most common lineup was Rondo, Moore, Holiday, Davis, and Cousins.  This lineup had a net rating of -2.9 and a defensive rating of 109.  The second most common lineup was Mirotic as a replacement for Cousins.  This lineup has a net rating of 16.8 and a defensive rating of 97.4.

Does this mean Mirotic has an extremely high impact on winning?  Absolutely not.  I would argue that he isn't a major asset or liability.  The statistics and eyeball test indicate that Cousins' attitude and poor conditioning was dragging the rest of his teammates down.  Cousins is like the anti-Horford.  He puts together monster stat lines but doesn't make his teammates better, puts forth inconsistent effort, and routinely checks out of games.