The NBA Rookie Report: The Curious Case of DeMarcus Cousins

By Sam Littman

If I had the first pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, and my team didn’t have maturity issues and a max salary point guard on the way out, I would have taken DeMarcus Cousins.

The NBA has never had such a shortage of good centers. It’s a veritable recession. There’s just one superstar (Dwight Howard); no more than one other center could conceivably be called a star in today’s league.

If you haven’t been paying attention, there are some really good point guards in the league right now, such as Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Steve Nash, Russell Westbrook, Rajon Rondo, Raymond Felton, Steph Curry, John Wall, Tony Parker, Brandon Jennings, Devin Harris, Jrue Holiday, Chauncey Billups…well, you get the point.
DeMarcus Cousins
Enter 6-11/292 center DeMarcus Cousins. The kid they call “Boogie” averaged 15.1 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks for the most talented team in the country as a freshman while playing just 23.5 minutes per game. He was unstoppable. He has the size and skill set to dominate for over a decade. He’ll play his entire rookie season at age 20. He could be the best center in the Western Conference as rookie, and he’ll be a top three center by the time he’s 23. That’s especially valuable in a league where a guy like Roy Hibbert, who averages 12.7 points and 8.1 rebounds, is deemed “untouchable” simply because there so few decent centers in the league.

I’m not sure, at this point in the season, if I could still defend my decision to rank Cousins ahead of Wall on my big board. Cousins, as expected, has made things very complicated.  Halfway through his rookie campaign, Cousins has furthered the assertion that a player can put up great numbers and still negatively impact his team.

Cousins is not playing at all like a 6-11 post player with great post moves. He insists on shooting ridiculous 19-footers and thus unsurprisingly has made just 185 of the 434 shots he’s taken this year. That is absolutely unacceptable for a guy his size, with his skill level. The other night he shot 4-19 field from the field against the Wizards. Again, simply unacceptable for a guy his size.

He leads the league in personal fouls per game – and he’s only playing 26.2 minutes a night.

Only four players turn the ball over more often per 48 minutes. Those four are all point guards.

To compensate for such horrible statistics, such a player would have to be killing it on the boards and swatting shots like a mad man. Cousins is rebounding well, but he’s averaging just .73 blocks per game. The effort doesn’t appear to be all there, but his struggles are understandable.

It’s much harder to be a rookie center than a rookie point guard. Cousins has been used to annihilating smaller, weaker, comparably diminutive competition since he was ten years old. If he’s afraid to attempt to back down seasoned 7-footers, that’s understandable. He’ll just have to get over it at some point.

Cousins has been hurting the Kings all year with his ludicrous shot selection, mind-blowing turnover rate and propensity to pick up fouls in bunches, but it’s starting to come together. Only Griffin and Wall are depended on more heavily to produce wins for their team, and Cousins has really been showing up of late. His shot selection is improving oh so slowly, but he’s been so productive to the point that his inefficiency from the field has to be occasionally overlooked. In January he’s averaging 17.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks in 29.9 minutes. He’s even shooting at a 46% clip. Those numbers are right up there with any center not named Dwight.

Until he learns to make his living in the post and attacks live balls like he did at Kentucky, Cousins will continue to be the biggest high risk/high reward player in the league, and right now erring more on the risk side. But as his explosions in the Kings’ last few wins have shown, the young man is getting there.

Rookie Rankings 1/17:

1. Blake Griffin
As of Saturday morning, the double-double streak was at 25.

2. John Wall
In his first healthy month, Wall should finally take home Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors for the first time. He’s only shooting 37% from the field in January, but you can’t ignore 10.5 assists and 1.5 steals.

3. Gary Neal
The Spurs have won their last five after suffering their first losing streak of the season, with Neal’s three-pointing shooting and versatility playing a large role in their resurgence.

4. Landry Fields
He’s going to have to beef up his numbers a bit if he wants to break back into the top three, but no one’s complaining about his game. He’s one of the most mistake-free players in the game, is an awesome rebounder and rarely misses shots inside the arc.

5. DeMarcus Cousins
Even for all the problems he creates with his carelessness it appears that the Kings can’t win a game without a big night from Cousins, who’s averaging 21.3 points and 10 rebounds in his club’s last four wins.
Monroe
6. Greg Monroe
In finally asserting himself on both ends of the floor, Monroe has finally given Pistons fans a reason to believe in the future. Monore has averaged 34.4 minutes in his last five games, averaging 13.2 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.4 steals in that span.

7. Ed Davis
The Raptors rookie continues to be very efficient while flying very low under the radar. He’s blocked at least 2 shots in 5 of his last 6 games and is shooting 68% from the field in January.

8. Derrick Favors
His numbers as a starter are not noticeably different from his numbers as a backup. After a solid three-game stretch this week in which he averaged 12 points and 1.7 blocks, he was held to 0 points on 0-6 shooting by the Lakers’ twin towers.

9. Pooh Jeter
The undrafted rook went head to head with John Wall on Tuesday and got the best of him. The Wizards won the game in overtime, but while Wall committed 6 turnovers and missed 13 shots, Jeter dished out 11 assists in just 21 minutes and didn’t commit a single turnover.

10. Larry Sanders
Still one the league’s most efficient shot blockers, Sanders is averaging 1.35 blocks in 14.7 minutes per game. A 15-point showing against Orlando was huge for his confidence.

Honorable Mention:

- Al Farouq Aminu
Settling for too many threes has really hurt Aminu’s game. If he wants to regain his top five form he’ll have to attack the basket like he did at Wake Forest.

- Eric Bledsoe
The Clippers’ newfound winning ways have coincided with less playing time for Bledsoe. That’s to be expected when a team was starting a raw rookie at the point for most of the year, but this youngster continues to show his worth when given minutes.

- Wesley Johnson
It will be interesting to see how the fourth overall pick responds after suffering the worst week of his professional career.

- Patrick Patterson
A loaded frontcourt in Houston forced Patterson to the D-league for a few games, and he’s returned on a tear. Shooting 63% from the field on the year, Patterson was 6-7 from the field against Orlando, 5-6 against Boston and 4-5 against New Orleans.

- Evan Turner
The second pick in last year’s draft showed signs of life in close losses to Detroit (19 point son 7-11 shooting) and Indiana (14 points on 5-10 shooting).