Demarcus Cousins Watch

The Pelicans look much more comfortable to play uptempo space and pace ball with Davis at center, than to play halfcourt ball around Cousins. Of course it helps that Solo and Company are hitting shots.
 
Damn, pelicans playing better without DeMarcus. Trade is looking better and better. High usage big men that don't have insane ts% might be a losing ticket in today's nba
 
The Pelicans look much more comfortable to play uptempo space and pace ball with Davis at center, than to play halfcourt ball around Cousins. Of course it helps that Solo and Company are hitting shots.
Damn, pelicans playing better without DeMarcus. Trade is looking better and better. High usage big men that don't have insane ts% might be a losing ticket in today's nba
I wonder why the Pels were 23-34 before that trade was made? They're obviously not better without him. Not only that, they gave up the only real talent they had besides Davis to get Cousins so it's really no surprise that they are performing about the same or even a tad worse since.

N.O. winning a game against Houston is similar to the Kings beating Boston. As we've already seen from the Kings, it's wasn't sustainable. They were clearly better and won more games with Cuz than without. And once the Pels get their players acclimated playing with each other and balance out the team a bit, the same will likely be true for them too.

It cracks me up how some people are so quick to draw conclusions while looking at very small sample sizes. If it supports their POV, one game seems to be enough to claim victory. When the next game goes the opposite way, we hear nothing but crickets.
 
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I wonder why the Pels were 23-34 before that trade was made? They're obviously not better without him. Not only that, they gave up the only real talent they had besides Davis to get Cousins so it's really no surprise that they are performing about the same or even a tad worse since.

N.O. winning a game against Houston is similar to the Kings beating Boston. As we've already seen from the Kings, it's wasn't sustainable. They were clearly better and won more games with Cuz than without. And once the Pels get their players acclimated playing with each other and balance out the team a bit, the same will likely be true for them too.

It cracks me up how some people are so quick to draw conclusions while looking at very small sample sizes. If it supports their POV, one game seems to be enough to claim victory. When the next game goes the opposite way, we hear nothing but crickets.
Hold your horses mate. I didnt want to make the point, that the Pels are necessarily better without Cousins.
But so far it seems like they dont really know, how to incorporate him correctly. Of course there was no Training camp. But the one thing I think is a bit disturbing is that the Pels traded for Cuz, but seemingly still want to continue to play pace and space ball. Their broadcasting Crew already Talks about how Cousins needs to shed weight in the offseason to be able to run more and to keep up with the pace. Why pace and space with two bigs and at best mediocre guards and wings?
Makes no sense.
Therefore I felt the need to point out, that Cuz somehow still looks like a foreign object in the Pels system and not only in this one game they look more comfortable without him.
If the dont want to change their coaching staff and their systematic aproach to basketball the Cousins trade looks kinda weird.
 
Hold your horses mate. I didnt want to make the point, that the Pels are necessarily better without Cousins.
But so far it seems like they dont really know, how to incorporate him correctly. Of course there was no Training camp. But the one thing I think is a bit disturbing is that the Pels traded for Cuz, but seemingly still want to continue to play pace and space ball. Their broadcasting Crew already Talks about how Cousins needs to shed weight in the offseason to be able to run more and to keep up with the pace. Why pace and space with two bigs and at best mediocre guards and wings?
Makes no sense.
Therefore I felt the need to point out, that Cuz somehow still looks like a foreign object in the Pels system and not only in this one game they look more comfortable without him.
If the dont want to change their coaching staff and their systematic aproach to basketball the Cousins trade looks kinda weird.
Oh, I know your stance on Cousins. Most of what I said was in reference to people in general overacting to very small sample sizes and drawing conclusions far too soon and more so towards roasthawg's quoted post. He/she is on the opposite side of the fence that we are and seems to believe anything that happens the rest of the season with the Pelicans lackluster roster amounts to much of anything.

We have a faction of Kings fans that fully supported the trade telling us that we have to be patient with the losing because it'll take time to see the true benefit yet those same fans aren't applying the same attitude toward Cousins tenure in New Orleans. Since the Pelicans aren't having immediate success, it's somehow ok to draw conclusions already. It's funny because while it's clear that the Pels have the 2 best players on either roster, the Kings clearly have a deeper and better overall roster which makes it silly to expect the Pels to perform any better than the Kings right now. But Pels have a much higher ceiling because they have two bonefide studs to build around. They just have to attract the right players in FA and, to your point, run the right system.

If they do want to continue to run an up and down game, trading for Cousins was pretty dumb unless their intention all along was to buy low then trade him for something else down the line. And that's a risky strategy.
 
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What was most impressive for me was actually his energy and most of all his defense. He rotated very early, was very disruptive on D, protected the rim, came out on the pick&roll, moved his feet and never was late in transition. On top of that he dominated the boards. A nearly flawless night for him and a great win for the Pel's.

And the crossover on Gasol? Oh boy......maybe he isn't the most effective big guy, maybe he should work on his hookshots, but hell he certainly is the most entertaining 6'11, 270+ lbs dude I ever watched playing basketball.

 
Boogie did his thing tonight, he and AD just dominated and they had decent help. They lost mostly due to cuz being unable to guard the PnR late. Teams just go after him relentlessly and the good shooting ones make him pay.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
I guess, but Houston was scoring on the pick and roll, and getting wide-open layups, even when Cousins was on the bench. What stood out most to me was the rebounding: there's no way that a team should get crushed on the boards when they're playing against a team that starts Ryan Anderson at PF, especially when that team is starting DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis. Houston had a fifteen to six advantage, just on offensive rebounds: if the Pelicans cut that in half, they probably win.