DeMARCUS COUSINS: THE BOSTON CELTICS TICKET TO THE BIG DANCE
Last night (Tuesday 12/20/2016) in Sacramento, Kings controversial center DeMarcus “Boogie” Cousins scored a season-high 55 points, corralled 13 boards and had 3 blocks in 41 minutes to lead his team in a 126–121 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
It’s a shame — and no longer atypical — that his monster line (17–28 from the field; 5–8 from beyond the arc; & 15–17 from the free throw line) is not the story here.
In snapping their seven-game losing skein to the Blazers, the Kings and Cousins should have been reveling, unburdened and unencumbered. After all, Sacramento has been a bad team for a long time and Cousins was dominant in a virtuoso performance.
But the word “unencumbered” and the name “Cousins” have rarely, if ever, been seen in the same sentence.
The ballgame last evening capped a wild day for Boogie.
Hours before tipoff it was announced that the Kings had fined him $50K for his profanity-laced tirade directed at a local Sacramento Bee reporter on the beat.
Apparently the Bee’s Andy Furillo penned a column which included information regarding the arrest of Cousins’ brother and this was all that the incendiary big man needed to stoke his burning embers.
Published over the weekend, the article addressed an incident at a New York hotspot earlier in the month which resulted in Cousins and no-stranger-to-trouble teammate Matt Barnes being sued over an alleged assault.
Also referenced by Furillo was a bar brouhaha in May involving Boogie and his younger brother Jaleel which led to the latter’s arrest.
In a statement the 26-year-old Cousins explained somewhat wistfully that “there is a time, place and manner to say everything, and I chose the wrong ones. Like most people, I am fiercely protective of my friends and family, and I let my emotions get the best of me in this situation.
I understand my actions were inexcusable and I commit to upholding the professional standards of the Kings and the NBA. I apologize to my teammates, fans and the Kings organization for my behavior and the ensuing distraction and look forward to moving on and focusing on basketball.”
And then there was Tuesday’s game.
Cousins was automatically ejected late in the contest when he picked up his second technical foul for allegedly spitting his mouthguard at the Blazer bench.
He had scored with 35 seconds left to put the Kings ahead 121–119 and was fouled by Mason Plumlee.
He turned and appeared to say something to the Portland bench and his mouthguard rocketed out of his mouth.
Cousins said it was an accident and in a most unusual twist he was summoned from the locker room as he was about to rip it apart when the officials rescinded the tech.
He re-entered the game and made the free throw completing the three-point-play. He then blocked a shot by Blazer star Damian Lillard which essentially sealed the deal.
This is not the first time this season that Boogie has courted difficulty with his wandering mouthguard.
In October he was fined $25K and assessed a technical foul for throwing his mouthguard and entering the stands with 37.2 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of an all-too-rare Kings victory over Minnesota.
At this writing and admittedly early juncture the 11–17 Kings are a game behind Portland for the eighth seed in the moribund Western Conference playoff hunt.
Seven seasons into his career the 6-foot-11, 270-pound All-Star center continues to produce prolific numbers for the post-season-starved franchise.
He has a year remaining on his contract and will be paid $15.7 million this season and $16.7 million in 2017–18.
Sacramento’s brass must decide whether to extend Cousins this summer to a multi-year deal; trade him before the February deadline; or wait until his contract expires in 2018 and either re-sign him or facilitate a sign-and-trade with another team.
Interestingly, David Thorpe, a longtime ESPN analyst who also trains several Kings players, believes that Boogie’s trade value is not high.
“GMs look at DeMarcus and say, ‘You’re asking for trouble.’
He’s not fun to play with. He has made some progress, but it’s tiny progress. He still won’t move the ball early in the (shot) clock, does not want to play fast, has terrible offensive rebounding numbers.
He is the antithesis of Tim Duncan.
Now, I’m a believer that a light can flicker on. But he has a long way to go. He has to stop blaming everyone else. The Kings have been complacent in that regard too…I’m just telling you, NBA teams are not used to dealing with this kind of guy.
He’s a tough nut to crack. Do you even try?”
Absolutely.
Positively.
I say, “crack” away!!!
DeMarcus Cousins played his freshman season at the University of Kentucky in 2009–2010. A signature Calipari one/won & done.
In the 2010 NBA Draft he was the 1st round’s 5th selection by the Sacramento Kings.
He was nineteen years old and raw in every conceivable sense of the word, as any 19-year-old might be.
But he was as raw as they come really, truth be told.
A little kid in every way in a giant’s body.
A blessing?
A curse?
He has grown up a little bit since then and after this summer’s Gold Medal-winning Olympic experience in Rio, it appeared as though he might have turned the corner.
He was surrounded by players who wanted to win and who played together. He learned how to be a good teammate and he acquitted himself rather nicely (fifteen rebounds in the Final against Serbia).
He demonstrated the ability to subjugate his game for the good of the team.
A change of scenery has done wonders for many players considered malcontents.
Randy Moss immediately comes to mind.
The Patriots recently signed Michael Floyd who was summarily kicked to the curb by the Cardinals following another DUI arrest. We’ll see.
RGIII, Josh Gordon, Jay Cutler, Adrian Peterson, Ryan Braun, Ryan Howard, Alex Ovechkin, the Sedins (Daniel & Henrik), Mario Chalmers and Melo are a few who have already or should get their hands on some change-of-address labels right away.
But the A#1 classic case example of the millennium must be that of the late great Dennis Johnson, “DJ”, a player Larry Bird once described as, “the best teammate I ever had.”
(Pretty high praise from a guy who played with Hall-of-Famers McHale, Parish, Walton, Tiny Archibald and Dave Cowens).
Although already an NBA champion with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979 — and the Finals MVP — when DJ came to the Celtics in ’83 after a short stint with Phoenix he was labeled “a cancer” as in a negative influence in the locker room, on the bench and on the court.
Either nothing could have been further from the truth or he did an immediate 180 in his new environs.
He and his mates enjoyed enormous success together winning NBA titles in ’84 and ’86 and Johnson cemented his reputation as a premier defender and clutch player.
His #3 Celtics jersey hangs from the Garden rafters and he was posthumously inducted to and enshrined in the Hall of Fame on August 13, 2010.
He is considered by several sports journalists to be one of the most underrated players of all time.
Can DeMarcus Cousins replicate the saga of Dennis Johnson?
Could he turn out like Randy Moss did in New England?
I don’t know.
But I do know that if he found himself with winning teammates, a terrific coach, and a storied tradition it would be a chance well worth taking.
He could lift himself and the Boston Celtics to rarified air.
[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in December 2016.]
ADDENDUM:
On February 20, 2017 Cousins and teammate Omri Casspi were traded to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Tyreke Evans, Buddy Hield, Langston Galloway and 2017 first-round and second-round draft picks.
On July 6, 2018 Cousins accepted a midlevel exception offer from the Golden State Warriors, signing a one-year deal for $5.3 million.
On July 6, 2019 he signed a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. After suffering a torn ACL in preseason workouts he was waived by the Lakers on February 23, 2020, for whom he never played a game.
