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Posts Tagged ‘DeMarcus Cousins’

Who’s Sitting On A Hot Seat Now?

December 27, 2012 · 6:11PM

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HANG TIME, Texas — Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.

In the NBA that familiar line from the holiday classic “It’s A Wonderful Life” has a different twist.

Every time the bell rings a head coach gets his walking papers and a handful of others start looking over their shoulders.

It’s a tenuous life.

Of course, this season has already been quite unusual with Mike Brown fired by the Lakers after just five games. But now that the schedule has reached the one-third mark and claimed Avery Johnson, it’s time to look at some others down around the bottom of the standings.

Randy Wittman, Wizards (3-23) – No, he hasn’t had John Wall all season. Yes, he’s had to play at times without Nene and Trevor Ariza and Bradley Beal. But the Wizards are the only group in Washington that makes Congress look competent by comparison. After a recent 100-68 thumping by the almost-as-hapless Pistons, even Wittman seemed to have enough. “That was an embarrassment, and I apologize to our ownership and to our fans,” he said. “I especially apologize to anyone who watched that entire game. I would have turned it off after the first five minutes.” It would seem to be a matter of when, not if.

Monty Williams, Hornets (6-22) – It’s hard to see the Hornets turning right around and cutting Williams loose just months after giving him a four-year contract extension. There has been the matter of Eric Gordon’s injury and the fact that No. 1 draft pick Anthony Davis was on the shelf for 13 games. But there are rumblings in New Orleans about his constantly changing rotations and collapse of his defense, which ranks 29th.

Byron Scott, Cavaliers (7-23) — The Cavs are likely headed to their third straight trip to the lottery under Scott, but that doesn’t mean that he’s headed to the exit. The key to his previous success at New Jersey and New Orleans was having a top-notch point guard and Scott has an excellent relationship with maybe the next great thing in Kyrie Irving. This was always a long, heavy lift from the moment LeBron James bolted and that has not changed.

Mike Dunlap, Bobcats (7-21) – What a difference a month makes. After beating the Wizards on Nov. 24, the Bobcats were 7-5, had matched their win total from last season and their rookie coach was getting praised. Now 16 straight losses later, Dunlap is preaching patience with his young core of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kemba Walker, Byron Mullens and Jeffery Taylor. He has earned that. A dozen of Charlotte’s 21 losses have come by 10 points or less, a dramatic change from the historically horrible last season when the Bobcats were rolled in one-third of their games by 20 points or more.

Lawrence Frank, Pistons (9-22) — Frank insists that his Pistons are a better team than they were a year ago. The record — identical then and now — does not back that up. He says that his club now is more competitive, but just doesn’t know how to finish games. Some of the players have grumbled that there is also a failure of coach to make the right calls and adjustments when games get late. When push comes to shove, it’s the coach that gets nudged out the door.

Dwane Casey, Raptors (9-20)– Another one of those seasons when the Raptors were supposed to turn things around and make a push for the playoffs in the lesser Eastern Conference has gone south. Injuries to Andrea Bargnani, Kyle Lowry and Linas Kleiza. Amir Johnson gets suspended for throwing his mouthguard at a referee. G.M. Bryan Colangelo says the talent is there, but the Raptors lack focus and attention to detail. The Raps’ offense is mediocre (ranked 17th) and their defense just bad (27th). Even in Canada during the winter, that all puts Casey on thin ice.

Keith Smart, Kings (9-19) – Smart got the job to replace Paul Westphal specifically because of what was perceived as an ability to work with the mercurial DeMarcus Cousins. So he turned Cousins loose last season, let him do just about anything he pleased and got enough results to earn a contract extension. Now that Cousins has abused his free-rein relationship with his coach and another season is sinking fast, it would be easy to just blame Smart, which the Kings eventually will do. But this is a bad team with a knucklehead as its centerpiece and ownership that can’t tell you where they’ll be playing in two years.

Alvin Gentry, Suns (11-18) — It was at the end of a seven-game losing streak when Suns owner Robert Sarver told ESPN.com that Gentry’s job was safe. “We’ve got confidence in our coaching staff and we’re not considering making changes,” he said. Of course, that usually means start packing your bags. It was all about starting over in this first season post-Nash in the desert. He’s changed lineups more than his ties and the result is usually the same. Gentry is a good bet to last out the season, but it’s probably going to take a big finishing kick to return next year.

Tags: Alvin Gentry, Amir Johnson, Andrea Bargnani, Anthony Davis, Avery Johnson, Bobcats, Bradley Beal, Bryan Colangelo, Bryon Scott, Byron Mullens, Cavaliers, Cavs, DeMarcus Cousins, Dwane Casey, Eric Gordon, Fran Blinebury, Hornets, Jeffery Taylor, John Wall, Keith Smart, Kemba Walker, Kings, Kyle Lowry, Kyrie Irving, Lakers, Lawrence Frank, Linas Kleiza, Michael Kidd Gilchrist, Mike Brown, Mike Dunlap, Monty Williams, Nene, pistons, Randy Wittman, Raptors, Robert Sarver, Suns, Trevor Ariza, Wizards
Posted in HT News / Comments (30) /

Blogtable: DeMarcus Cousins, Anyone?

December 26, 2012 · 10:26AM

Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

Week 9: The trouble with DeMarcus | What to do with the Bobcats | Teams falling, teams rising

Play GM: Run toward a DeMarcus Cousins possible trade, or run away?

Fran Blinebury: Have you ever seen Usain Bolt at the Olympics? He’d look like he was carrying a refrigerator on his back compared to how fast I’d be running toward trading Cousins.

Jeff Caplan: If I’m the Kings I’m not dealing him. His stock is so low … what am I going to get? The Kings drafted him, so keep working at it. Maybe as these incidents continue to happen, it finally hits him that he’s the problem, that he’s the one who needs to change. Look, the Kings’ season isn’t going anywhere anyway, so there’s nothing to lose by keeping him and continuing to try to get his head right. Get through the season and maybe his value will go up for an offseason trade.

Scott Howard-Cooper: Walk slowly toward. If I can get a bargain because the Kings want to be done with it — a player I can live without even though he has talent, a couple picks that should be mid-to-late in the first round — I’m interested. But that almost certainly does not happen. While the Kings should be willing to have trade talks, they have too much invested, and Cousins has too much talent, to cut and run. If it takes anything other than a low-risk investment or I am one of the few teams that can surround him with an overwhelmingly positive culture, I’m not interested.

John Schuhmann: It depends on what kind of team I have. Cousins needs a coach and at least two or three veterans that will keep him in check. If I don’t have enough stability in my locker room, then I would stay away. I also need to have a point guard that’s going to get him the ball where he can be a finisher and not have to generate his own offense. As big and talented as he is, he’s a pretty inefficient scorer, because most of his shots come from his own post-ups or isolations (only 38 percent of his shots have been assisted). Either way, I’m not giving up much for him, because there’s no guarantee that the light will turn on before his rookie contract is up at the end of next season.

Sekou Smith: Even after his third strike I’m reluctant to say it’s time to trade Cousins away. He’s so talented at such a hard-to-find-his-sort-of-abilities position that trading him at this point really shouldn’t be an option. But let’s be clear about one thing; the young fella is messing with his own money right now with every transgression. The only way to make him understand that his actions will not be tolerated is to let him know that a wanna-be franchise player will not be allowed to run afoul of the rules. That free agent pot of gold he’ll be looking for soon is being chewed up with his foolishness. Every young guy with talent wants a max extension. But not all of them are willing to shoulder the responsibilities, on and off the court, that come with the biggest paycheck in the locker room. The Kings have to show him the hard way that you either take it all on or find a franchise foolishness enough to value your talent over your leadership and other qualities.

Tags: DeMarcus Cousins, Fran Blinebury, Jeff Caplan, John Schuhmann, Sacramento Kings, Scott Howard Cooper, Sekou Smith
Posted in Blogtable / Comments (84) /

Time For The Kings To Save Themselves

December 24, 2012 · 7:26PM

HANG TIME WEST — So far in the 2012-13 season, DeMarcus Cousins has been saddled with three suspensions – two courtesy of the league, one via the team – and the reasons are getting more mundane. A player arguing with a coach is a basic misdeed that happens a lot in this league, although not usually on such a public stage as the Staples Center sideline, and is garden-variety histrionics compared to leaving the locker room in uniform after a game to return to the court to confront Spurs broadcaster Sean Elliott or the time Cousins asked Dallas’ O.J. Mayo to turn his head and cough.

That will have to do for progress, though, and welcome for the real sign of trouble for the Kings.

It is not that Cousins is still having problem harnessing his emotions. That is so yesterday. It’s that Cousins is getting worse.

Well into his third season, time enough for any player to have grasped how to carry himself as a professional, even a player still just 22, the behavior of the centerpiece of the Kings’ foundation is regressing. That it comes at the same time his play is also backsliding compounds the concern, but that’s nothing compared to the greater worry: Cousins is becoming more turbulent the longer his career goes, when it should be the other way around.

The two-day suspension that ended Monday with his reinstatement in the wake of the shouting match with coach Keith Smart on Friday in Los Angeles will be viewed by some as the Kings taking a hard line. That’s a natural read. What should not be overlooked is that this was also, and probably more, about the Kings taking care of the Kings.

While youth has been oversold as a reason for life in the cellar, they do have two lottery picks in their first or second season (Thomas Robinson and Jimmer Fredette) and a second-year player is in the rotation (Isaiah Thomas). That’s a lot of investments by the organization and that’s a lot of developing NBA minds being shaped by what swirls around them. Management has to deal with this to save an entire locker room, not to save Cousins.

This is when it stopped being about Cousins and started being about the possibility other people are being affected. Or infected.

Cousins’ actions can no longer be explained away as rampaging immaturity and people can no longer naïvely write off his improvements last season to that horrible, horrible Paul Westphal being fired as coach and Smart bonding with Cousins after taking over. It was never about Westphal. It was about Cousins bothering to get in shape a month after training camp opened. Yeah, Westphal was obviously holding Cousins back.

Immaturity is showing up at the pre-Draft camp in Chicago in poor shape when Cousins knew as well as anyone his attitude was the real question. Youth is reporting to his first Kings camp at less than 100 percent. Giving him every benefit of the doubt, immaturity may even have been arriving for the start of the 2011-12 season, with the chance for a fresh start, in sloppy condition.

The last five or six months have been a real ride for Cousins.

Team USA invited Cousins to be on the Select team, a group of young players who would work against the stars headed to the Olympics later in the summer. If there ever was a time to show up, be ready, tape a smile on his face and not say anything other than “Yes,” “No,” “Please” and “Thank you,” this was it. A positive review from Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski would have been image changing. Instead, Colangelo publicly dinged Cousins’ bad attitude.

Trying to spark a confrontation with Elliott — earning a two-game suspension from the NBA — was the worst sign of all that Cousins is not close to being able to control himself. Striking Mayo in the groin cost Cousins another game from the league, though the action did little to surprise the many opponents who already considered him a cheap-shot artist.

And now this. Cousins did well to publicly apologize to Smart immediately after the game against the Clippers, something positive that came out of it, but the Kings obviously understood things had gone too far. They need to try, again, to find a way to get Cousins on a path to reach his All-Star potential. But they need to worry about the young players he could influence. The Kings need to save themselves.

Tags: DeMarcus Cousins, Kings, Scott Howard Cooper
Posted in 2012, HT News / Comments (55) /

Cousins’ Routine…Ba-Dump…Old Joke

December 22, 2012 · 1:50PM

HANG TIME, Texas – Stop me if you’ve heard this one: A priest, a rabbi and DeMarcus Cousins are sitting on a bench…

Yeah, it’s getting to be the kind of stale old joke that sounds like it came out of the Catskills in the 1950s.

Cousins is at the center of another flap. This time the Kings’ leading scorer and rebounder was left in the locker room at halftime Friday night following a verbal run-in with coach Keith Smart.

As a result, Cousins has been suspended indefinitely for unprofessional behavior and conduct detrimental to the team,” according to Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie.

Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee delivers the details that were available:

“It was conduct detrimental to the team and we left it at that,” Smart said without elaborating.

Smart did not say if Cousins would play Sunday against the Portland Trail Blazers.

“I’m going to focus on (Friday night),” Smart said. “And then I’ll move forward to the next day.”

Cousins said he “was in the wrong” during halftime.

“What happens in the locker room stays in the locker room, but I was wrong,” Cousins said. “But what happens in the locker room stays in the locker room.”

Cousins then was asked what he could do to avoid further situations where attention was on his actions off the court.

“Don’t talk back,” Cousins said. “That’s the thing. I shouldn’t have responded back. Should have accepted what was said and stayed quiet.”

Of course, nobody has ever questioned the raw talent and ability that Cousins possesses, only the maturity and professionalism that he doesn’t.

As a potential foundation-type player on the front line, it was understandable that Kings management sided with Cousins and gave Paul Westphal the ax when the two of them couldn’t get along.

There may also be legitimate reasons to question whether Smart (73-134 career record) has the right stuff to be a successful coach in the NBA. But the main reason he was brought in to replace Westphal and had his contract extended was because he could supposedly relate to Cousins and steer him correctly and now that plan seem to have jumped off the tracks.

Already this season, Cousins has been suspended two games for confronting Spurs broadcaster Sean Elliott after a game, suspended another for whacking the Mavs’ O.J. Mayo in the groin and ejected in the third quarter of one more game for arguing calls by the refs. Now this.

Mayo: Kings’ Cousins Has ‘Mental Issues’

December 11, 2012 · 12:49AM

DALLAS — Mavericks guard O.J. Mayo called Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins “immature” and said he has “mental issues” after Mayo absorbed a direct shot below the belt from Cousins’ fist during the second quarter in the Mavs’ 119-96 romp Monday night.

Fighting for position in the lane, Cousins swung his arm backward and belted Mayo in the mid-section with 3:25 left in the quarter. Mayo reacted immediately, saying he had been punched and implored the officiating crew to check the game tape.

No foul was called on the play, but both players were given technical fouls.

“Where does that come into the game, you know what I mean?” Mayo said. “He’s a talented player, has a chance to be an All-Star, but you do stuff like that it takes you down a class and it’s not too good.

“I told him to play basketball and you got a chance to be a good player, but when you do stuff like that you’re like a garbage player. It’s not a good play, it’s not a sign of being great.”

Cousins said he and Mayo were trash-talking and that he did not intentionally hit him.

“Absolutely not. It wasn’t intentional,” said Cousins, who had 25 points in a game the Kings trailed by 25 points at the time of the incident. “I mean it was a lot of trash talk.”

Mayo said he watched the game film with coach Rick Carlisle at halftime and is hopeful the league will take a closer look.

Cousins was suspended for two games by the league earlier this season for confronting Spurs broadcaster and former player Sean Elliott after a game in Sacramento.

“That guy has mental issues, man,” Mayo said. “He’s a talented player, but he has the opportunity to be the face of that franchise, but I don’t think he wants it.

“He’s immature man. Big maturity problem,” Mayo continued. “Hopefully he’ll grow up out of it and become great. He definitely has the talent to.”

During the third quarter, Carlisle had words for Cousins, although he wouldn’t reveal what he said.

“I really like him as a player and I was expressing that to him,” Carlisle said.

Mayo finished with a team-high 19 points and seven rebounds as Dallas won its third straight time and went over .500 (11-10) for the first time since Nov. 21.

The Mavs and Kings don’t meet again until Jan. 10 at Sacramento.

Cousins might serve another suspension well before then.

“I just told them to pull the tape,” Mayo said. “You know, because something like that, you can talk smack, you can even foul hard, that’s part of the game. But when you do stuff like that, that’s a reaction and things happen. I was able to keep my cool and understand that it was most important that we were up 20 and were going to continue playing hard.”

Tags: Dallas Mavericks, DeMarcus Cousins, O.J. Mayo, Rick Carlisle, Sacramento Kings, Sean Elliot
Posted in HT News / Comments (32) /

Smart Trying To Refine Cousins’ Game

December 11, 2012 · 12:12AM

DALLAS – Call DeMarcus Cousins what you will — lazy, uninspired, hot-headed — and maybe Spurs analyst Sean Elliott did. But Sacramento Kings coach Keith Smart has no choice but to view Cousins as an undeniably skilled, high-reward project.

It’s why Smart recently introduced the fifth overall pick in 2010 to the jump hook. Cousins has got to find something to perk up his 42.4 shooting percentage that droops to an abysmal 28 percent in the key — the painted part outside the “restricted area,” which is the area within the arched line located below the rim.

The hook didn’t go down for Cousins Saturday night in a win over Portland when he went 6-for-17 from the floor, but still finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Afterward Cousins was discouraged with the hook.

“That’s new territory for him because after that he said, ‘I’m probably not going to work on that shot any more,’ ” Smart said. “I said, ‘You’re right at the middle of the rim. You can’t get anything better than that.’ It looked like a real NBA shot of a big man trying to put the ball in with a jump hook. And now we’ve just got to refine that.”

Cousins followed up Monday with one of his best shooting nights of the season, going 10-for-17, although there was no sign of the jump hook. He scored 25 points, but it was inconsequential after the Kings fell behind the Dallas Mavericks by 28 points in the second quarter and lost 119-96 to end a three-game win streak.

It would seem difficult for a 6-foot-11, 270-pound man not to shoot a high percentage from so close to the basket, especially inside the “restricted area.” Yet entering Monday’s game, Cousins only made 71 of the 124 shots (57 percent) there, in part because he loves to take his man off the dribble from the elbow like a dynamic wing player might. But his big body gets caught in the air and he’s left to toss up an off-balance scoop shot or finger roll.

A couple of those attempts Monday against Mavs center Chris Kaman flew over the rim and hit the other side of the backboard. Another time, though, he spun beautifully around Elton Brand to the baseline and got fouled.

“The player at the moment doesn’t see himself as a big man,” Smart said of Cousins. “This guy can handle the ball just as well as some guards in our league. I don’t like him to do it a lot, but he can do those things and he doesn’t see himself in that frame of mind [as a big man].”

Push him out of the “restricted area,” but still in the key, where a jump hook might come in handy, and that’s where Cousins is shooting an almost impossible 28 percent (14-for-50). Take him out of the paint and out to the 3-point arc where he fancies himself a jump shooter and is especially fond of his fadeaway, and he’s shooting 31 percent (26-for-85).

Still, he’s the Kings’ leading scorer at now 17.2 points a game. And averaging 9.9 rebounds, he’s a would-be walking 20-10 player if only the Kings could post him up more. Smart is trying to get Cousins to commit to a go-to move that “you can count on every single night.”

It’s a daily struggle. But one Cousins must commit to. He said he had a back-to-the-basket game, but that he’s drifted farther and farther out during his time in the league.

“It’s just getting back to it,” Cousins said. “I’m basically kind of re-learning it again.”

His poor shooting percentages are not new and he’s made little progress from his first two seasons when his percentages in the paint were 29 percent and 30 percent, respectively. His best overall shooting percentage was last season’s 44.8.

“We’ve got to spoon feed a few of them [post-ups] down there for him to keep growing,” Smart said, “so we can keep that film in front of him to show him that along the line we can continue to develop other parts of his game as well.”

Smart said Cousins wants to be great, but that he wants it all to happen overnight, just like his frustrations when the jump hook didn’t immediately drop. Smart said, contrary to the beliefs of some, that Cousins is also willing to be coached.

“He’s coachable. You know, you might have to spend a little bit more time coaching him, but it’s good because he’ll take criticism,” Smart said. “He and I have a good relationship because I can come at him pretty hard and then he’ll respond and not talk for a day, and then we’ll come back around again. I think he respects me and he understands that I’m trying to get him to become one of those guys that he wants to become.”

Tags: Chris Kaman, Dallas Mavericks, DeMarcus Cousins, Elton Brand, Keith Smart, Sacramento Kings, Sean Elliott
Posted in HT News / Comments (6) /

‘Sheed Tossed; Real Or Reputation?

December 3, 2012 · 10:11AM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – When Rasheed Wallace talks, referees listen.

It’s been that way throughout Wallace’s basketball career, dating back to his fouling out of and then being ejected from the 1993 McDonald’s All-American game at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis (I know I’m dating myself a bit here, but I was in attendance that day).

Wallace continued his decades-old tradition Sunday in the New York Knicks’ win over the Phoenix Suns when he headed to the showers early after being ejected in the first quarter. But not everyone is convinced that he earned this latest ejection, as both Tyson Chandler and Carmelo Anthony told ESPNNewYork.com that his reputation earned him an early exit:

“I think so. He’s the only guy in the league that gets technicals for saying, ‘ball don’t lie,’ so that should go to show you right there,” Tyson Chandler said.

Wallace picked up career technical fouls 316 and 317 late in the first quarter on Sunday for arguing a foul call.

He played just 1 minute, 25 seconds in the game, the quickest ejection of his 15-year career, according to Elias.

Wallace appeared to argue with officials after he was whistled for a foul on Phoenix forward Luis Scola.

He then apparently yelled “ball don’t lie” after Goran Dragic missed his technical free throw and was ejected.

Wallace, 38, continued to argue with officials as he walked off the court flanked by security.

“I didn’t think it was that much for him to get kicked out,” Carmelo Anthony said. “He needs to trademark ‘ball don’t lie’ though. I tell you that.”

Wallace has been ejected 30 times, according to STATS, LLC, 26 times in the regular season.

On the season, Wallace has four technical fouls, one behind Anthony and Demarcus Cousins, who entered play Sunday tied for the league lead with five.

You can judge for yourself if Wallace’s latest ejection was real or based on his reputation. He is guilty as charged, for hollering after the missed free throw, but is that worth another technical and an ejection?

Check out the video:

Tags: Carmelo Anthony, DeMarcus Cousins, ESPNNewYork.com, Goran Dragic, Luis Scola, Mike Woodson, New York Knicks, Rasheed Wallace, Sekou Smith, Tyson Chandler
Posted in HT News / Comments (19) /

Suspension Not Worst Of It For Cousins

November 12, 2012 · 11:29AM

The two-game suspension handed down to DeMarcus Cousins from the NBA for confronting a broadcaster is too severe, no matter how wrong the act is and how emotionally unhinged one would have to be to do such a thing.

His Kings teammate, Thomas Robinson, got the same penalty three days earlier for something far worse, an intentional elbow to the neck of Piston Jonas Jerebko, but Robinson doesn’t have the same history. Cousins’ past clearly came into consideration here.

But sitting two games for, as the league said Sunday in announcing the discipline, “confronting Spurs announcer Sean Elliott in a hostile manner” Friday in Sacramento, is among the least of the problems for Cousins. The big picture is worse than missing Sunday night against the Lakers, a 103-90 win for L.A. as Dwight Howard hit the shrunken Kings for 23 points and 18 rebounds, and now Tuesday against the Trail Blazers back in Northern California.

Opponents will dig harder than before to flick at Cousins’ nerve endings. They know their chances are as good as ever, even with Cousins as a 22-year-old in his third season (and who no longer has inexperience as an acceptable excuse) at taking one of the talented young bigs of the league out of his game. Look at how flustered he became at comments on the Spurs telecast from Elliott, a man who has zero impact on anything on the court. Of course they’re going to try to get Cousins in touch with his combustible side as often as possible.
How unable is a player to control his emotions if he leaves the locker room in uniform after the game and walks about 30 yards to confront a broadcaster? The specifics of what Cousins said to Elliott remain unclear, with Elliott himself decling to comment, according to the San Antonio Express News, and Cousins apparently unavailable for an explanation. But if Cousins had anything beyond “All the best to you and the family for a delightful holiday weekend,” he was 29 yards too close.
The league office is watching. Not that Cousins was out of sight before, with two prior suspensions by the Kings, but the New York sheriffs are involved now. He has a history. He had the second-most technicals in the league last season, behind only OKC’s Kendrick Perkins, and is tied for second in the opening weeks of this one. The exact offense that would cost a first-time offender a single game could be worth two or three to Cousins the next time. The past matters.
And, the same question as always: Will Cousins ever manage to harness his energy to reach his potential? That’s real big-picture, but also fair considering he is at the foundation of the plan to lead the Kings back to respectability. As coach Keith Smart told the Sacramento Bee, “When you make mistakes that affect not just you, it affects our entire team.”

This is also a big setback to whatever claims Cousins or the Kings make about his improving maturity. Players get suspended for actions on the court, usually for a fight or crossing the line with a referee or a flagrant foul. They don’t often get suspended because of what a television analyst said. Cousins, a center with All-Star talent, needs to be better than that. Now more than ever.

Tags: DeMarcus Cousins, Kings, Scott Howard Cooper, Sean Elliott
Posted in 2012, HT News / Comments (8) /

Rick’s Tips: Top 10 Fantasy Centers

October 23, 2012 · 7:42PM

Hopefully you guys have seen the 2012-13 season premier of NBA.com Fantasy Insider. If not, be sure to catch one of the re-airs on NBA TV — or watch the video clips right here on NBA.com.

With that promotional announcement out of the way, let’s get into my top 10 fantasy centers. But first, here’s a word or two about some of the centers who did not make the cut.

Andrew Bogut’s double-double, assist-block combo platter makes him a top 10 center when healthy … when healthy … when healthy …

The Nuggets showed Javale McGee the money in the offseason, but George Karl doesn’t seem ready to show him the floor. McGee is in a timeshare with Kosta Koufos and Timofey Mozgov, if you can believe it.

The center position is very deep this year. I remain bullish on Kevin Garnett, Marcin Gortat, Roy Hibbert, Tyson Chandler, Joakim Noah, Nikola Pekovic and Omer Asik, but there wasn’t room for them in my top 10 because I like these centers just a little bit better …

1. Dwight Howard, Lakers: 19-12-4 in his Lakers’ debut. Any questions?

2. Al Jefferson, Jazz: Big Al was the second-ranked fantasy center across 8-cats a season ago and I see no reason to rank his near 20-10-2 line any differently.

3. DeMarcus Cousins, Kings: Cousins was the sixth-ranked 8-cat center last year. However, I see him vaulting over Marc Gasol and K.G. based on the fact that D.C. averaged nearly 20 and 11 after the All-Star break.

4. Andrew Bynum, 76ers: If Bynum were racking up double-doubles for the Sixers this preseason, instead of nursing a bone bruise, I would rank him as center 1a behind Dwight. But given the fact we’re still putting the words “Bynum” and “knee” in the same sentence causes me to drop him beneath Jefferson and Cousins.

5. Marc Gasol, Grizzlies: Gasol contributes in every category except threes, and he’s tough as nails, willing himself to double-doubles despite injuries that would keep Chris Kaman out for weeks.

6. Chris Bosh, Heat: Bosh is embracing the center role with which he and the Heat won the ring last year. I don’t know if he gets all the way back to 20-10, but it’ll be close.

7. Al Horford, Hawks: Very tough call between Horford and Greg Monroe, who project around 15-10-3 with nice percentages and decent D. But Horford has more upside both on the offensive end (more shots with Joe Johnson in Brooklyn?) and defensive end (Horford is 1.1 career bpg; Monroe is 0.6).

8. Greg Monroe, Pistons: Monroe IS the 2012-13 Detroit Pistons, so look for more continued improvement across the board. I wish he blocked more shots, but bigs like Chris Bosh and David West have had terrific value for years despite that shortcoming.

9. DeAndre Jordan, Clippers: D.J. has been my biggest preseason riser because he doesn’t look good … or even great … he looks AWESOME! He lulled me sound-to-sleep with his sluggish finish to last season. But his weight is down, his involvement is up and the activity is better than ever. This new-and-improved D.J. will contend for the blocks title and provide consistent double-doubles all year.

10. Brook Lopez, Nets: The 19-and-9 thing in the preseason is a throwback to Lopez before the foot problems, when he was a fantasy force. To me, there’s just more upside with Lopez than there is with guys like Garnett, Gortat, Hibbert, Chandler and Noah.

Rick Kamla is an anchor on NBA TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @NBATVRick.

Tags: Al Horford, Al Jefferson, Andrew Bynum, Brook Lopez, Chris Bosh, DeAndre Jordan, DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard, Greg Monroe, Marc Gasol
Posted in Fantasy / Comments (7) /

Draft Comparisons: Leonard, Marshall, Zeller and Rivers

June 28, 2012 · 1:43PM

HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – As Draft time rolls around and we learn about the next class of NBA rookies, there’s a desire to compare each to players we’re already familiar with.

No two players are exactly alike and some players are more unique than others. But you can find comparisons by watching video, crunching stats or matching measurements. For this exercise, we did the latter two.

Listed below are four of the top picks, along with the current NBA players they compare with most. For this exercise, we looked at 10 stats from each player’s last season in college, and eight measurements taken at the annual pre-draft combine.

Because we used college numbers and combine numbers, the only current players we could compare this year’s prospects to were the ones who played in college (so no LeBron James or Dwight Howard) and participated in the combine since 2000 (Rajon Rondo is one notable name missing in that respect).

The following comparisons aren’t gospel, of course, but they’re one way to get ready for the Draft on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). (more…)

Tags: Austin Rivers, Channing Frye, Charlie Villanueva, Daequan Cook, DeMarcus Cousins, Deron Williams, Jason Smith, Kendall Marshall, Malcolm Lee, Meyers Leonard, Mo Williams, Tyler Zeller, Willie Green
Posted in 2012 NBA Draft / Comments Off /