DeMarcus Cousins appears to have warmed to playing for George Karl. What might actually have been best for the Sacramento Kings in the short-term, though, is if the league’s most combustible superstar remained unhappy throughout the 2015-16 season.
For Sacramento’s hopeful aspirations of a playoff berth to come to fruition this season, Boogie’s mindset looms large. But here’s the double-edged sword: It seems Cousins is an even more dominant performer than normal when he’s playing mad.
The incredibly awesome chart below, courtesy of Twitter user @nbaayy, shows the 25-year-old’s in-game splits from 2014-15 before and after he received a technical foul.
When @boogiecousins gets mad, it’s #bbqchicken down there. pic.twitter.com/WxcgvBbRAN
— nbaayy (@nbaayy) September 16, 2015
Lesson: Opponents won’t like Cousins when he’s angry.
Boogie’s attitude issues are no secret. They’re what kept him from consideration for the No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft, and plagued him just as much as so many pessimists anticipated during his initial NBA seasons. Cousins began to turn a corner toward maturity in 2013-14, however, and used the following summer winning gold at the FIBA World Cup with USA Basketball – a program he’d alienated just two years prior, by the way – as a springboard to the best season of his young career.
And after the Kings began 2014-15 as one of basketball’s brightest surprises, Cousins’ emergence as one of basketball’s truly elite players seemed complete. A subsequent bout with viral meningitis sidelined Sacramento’s superstar for 10 games in early December, however, leading to on-court struggles that ultimately served as justification behind the firing of coach Michael Malone – the only coach with whom the Kentucky product had ever developed a strong bond.
Cousins, obviously, enjoyed a banner campaign last season. But his effort came and went once Malone was gone and the Kings’ postseason odds quickly evaporated. Will he be more consistently engaged in 2015-16? The momentum of the early summer suggested anything but that level of commitment, yet Cousins and Karl have since done their best to quell concerns gleaned from so many whispers of discontent and thinly-veiled insults levied in June and July.
Still, there’s no telling whether Karl will be able to get through to his star player until the games finally begin in late October. And if he can’t? At least the Kings’ coach has another way to goad the best from Cousins – getting the officials to call him for a technical, of course.
(Via @nbaayy)
