I think the championship question is if he sees himself that way. If he really understands hes not the same guy, and the league has changed maybe he adopts that odom role. I just don't think he will. I think he will still chuck 3s, complain and have terrible body language. Luckily this team isn't very young, so it won't affect the team as much. I hope you're right though because if he does take on that role, he can be very effective, especially for that price
Absolutely! If he loses 15-20 pounds we're Golden. One other part of his game and this clip did a somewhat decent job of showing it but Cousin is a great passer too. One of the most underrated parts of his game. What I love about this signing and for vet min is it really puts pressure on Cousins to get in the best shape of his life too because he now has to prove to the world again he's more than a vet min player. I believe he will and we'll be the ones reaping those benefits.
I still think the lakers should start McGee. Need his defense. The bigs are going to have to clean up a lot of the back courts lack of defense.
Agreed. That would be my preference as well: Starters: PG - Caruso SG - Green SF - Lebron PF - Davis C - McGee Bench: PG - Rondo SG - KCP SF - Dudley PF - Kuzma C - Cousins Rondo already has a ton of experience with KCP and Kuzma and would orchestrate that 2nd unit really well while also allowing Cousins to feast on 2nd string front court players. Kuzma also gives Cousins that added room by being a perimeter threat so the paint would be wide open. I love it.
Boogie blocks more shots than you'd think. He averaged 1.5 blocks in 25.7 minutes compared to 2 blocks in 22 minutes for McGee. Cousins also averaged 1.3 steals per game to McGee's 0.6 blocks. I think the diverse skill set on both ends gives him the edge over McGee.
There have only been a few transcendent talents in this game. Shaq was definitely one, so is Lebron. Once they got going, their teams didn’t miss the playoffs and during their primes their team was an automatic contender. Before we add AD to that group, which may have 2 handful of basketball players ever, he has a lot of proving to do. For me, KG isn’t part of that transcendent group either - it’s not just a talent thing but a proven track record too. I see AD as a current top 10 player that can win an MVP and a Finals MVP. I’m not calling the guy a scrub or anything - so not sure why I need to eat my words? Maybe this is all just word semantics.
Boogie played some his best ball with AD and before he got injured he was having one of his best seasons. It's not unlikely that AD will bring the best out of Boogie once again.
Lets hope he gets back to those numbers! I just feel like mcgee alters more shots because hes mobile. But the eye test may be failing me
I like the same exact lineup. When we want to go smaller you can slide mcgee to the bench, ,move AD to the 5 and start kuz
This past season with the Golden State Warriors, Cousins averaged 16.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 30 games (26 minutes / game)while shooting 48.0 percent from the field, 27.4 percent from beyond the arc and 73.6 percent from the free-throw line.
Cousins was never the overwhelming talent that was centers like Olajuwon and Abdul-Jabbar. Or dominant as much as Shaq. But that said, there are definite skills there for a big man who doesn't rely on his hops. He's good enough to dictate the matchup against at least a good number of teams. If he gets anywhere near 2017-2018 numbers, there's your third star then not having Kawhi may not matter so much. Optimistic maybe, but Lebron, AD and Cousins could be the best front line trio since the Boston trio of Bird, McHale and Parish in the 80's. I think with players who are as talented as these guys that there is still a place for powerful inside play. What will make it work is all three have legit range to the 3pt circle plus Davis and Cousins are good passers next to Lebron's fab passing. Vogel just needs to put together schemes that make it work. He better be studying film of that last Pelicans season to see what made the AD-Cousins pairing work.
Boogie has never been the talent that AD is. And yet he's been considered one of the top couple centers in the game. THAT should tell you about AD's talent. Boogie, AD and Rondo are already tight, Bron will slide in there like a glove. The rest of the guys will buy into anything that group wants them too. It's gonna be one hell of a squad. People forget what an upgrade this is over last year and that team, for all the "bad design" critiques thrown at them were victim to a massive injury breakout. They were ballin' and #4 in the West prior to LBJ going down. Maybe not put together superbly but no where near as bad as the criticism warranted. Anyways not debating how good that team was, just imagining how much better this team will be. Lonzo, BI and Chandler gone we've already improved on the injury front.
"bad design" shouldn't be in quotes. it was a horrible design. the moves at the deadline and this offseason fully verify that.
Hey @vasashi17 can we sign Cousins long term after this contract and for how much under the rules, if he does well?
I think so too. I got caught up on the word transcendent. When I hear that I think of mainly over powering athleticism that transcends the sport and fundamentals - like Shaq and Lebron. Those kind of players bring the floor of their teams up dramatically. I think Lebron and loose change through most of his career was good enough for a second round exit, same as Shaq. Where as players like MJ and Kobe didn’t have that kind of transcendent natural ability but if you put the right pieces around them their ceilings were incredibly high. It’s just semantics because I think AD is one of the best players in the league.
I don't think we have any sort of Bird Rights on Cousins after this season. Pretty much need to sign him into cap space. If crushes it and we want to sign him, we will probably need to find a way to dump Green and KCP.
