After DeMarcus Cousins dropped a near triple-double on them last night in Sacramento — and may have won it for the Kings if not for amateur thespian, Tyson Chandler, the Mavs breathed a sigh of relief. They also made it clear they appreciated how good Boogie has become, and — despite how deep the field is this year — both Rajon Rondo and Dirk Nowitzki say he deserves to be elected to his very first All-Star game.
We talked about this earlier in the week, but Sactown Royalty’s Blake Ellington asked Dirk and Rondo about Boogie and they were effusive with their praise:
“Of course, but in the West you just never know. It’s so deep in every position, so there is always a few guys that deserve it and don’t make it, but he definitely deserves it,” Nowitzki told Sactown Royalty. “He’s one of the best centers in the league. He’s strong, he’s tough, he can score in there. But he can also step out now and he can shoot from 16, 17 feet. I mean, it felt like he didn’t miss today from that range. So yeah, he’s one of the best offensive players we’ve got in the league.”
“I don’t know what the definition of All-Star is if he doesn’t make it. I mean he should be if not the first guy selected by the coaches if he doesn’t get in by the fans,” Rondo told Sactown Royalty. “They’ve [the Kings] got the best young player in the game, DeMarcus, he’s a beast and he hasn’t even reached his potential yet … he’s going to be dominating this game for a long time to come … He hasn’t had any attitude issues this year and he’s maturing as a player. He has a lot of pressure on his shoulders, but I think he’s handled it as best as possible.”
Even if Boogie isn’t elected by the fans — and judging by the last returns on Jan. 8, he probably won’t be — he’ll likely get a vote from the Dallas coaching staff:
Just a hunch, but from what I heard in visitors locker room, Mavs coaches likely to vote for DeMarcus Cousins for All-Star team. Big fans ..
— Ailene Voisin (@ailene_voisin) January 14, 2015
We couldn’t be happier about this since Cousins has transformed into one of our favorite players in the whole Association, and he has been playing out of his mind this season.
As Rondo mentioned, Boogie’s kept a pretty level head this year, too — barring a couple of setbacks — despite losing a coach he liked and failing to get consulted on Mike Malone‘s season-long replacement.
(via Sactown Royalty)
Should Cousins be an All-Star this year?
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