The Sacramento Kings are now 0-5 on the road to start the season, losing by an average of 23 points. At home the team is 3-3 and looks much better; that doesn't help when you have one home game out of nine during this brutal stretch to open Keith Smart's Kings coaching career.
If there's a bright spot to be found in the continued suffering on the road, though, is that's no matter the venue, DeMarcus Cousins has been producing really well.
Cousins is averaging 14.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. He's No. 9 in the league in both rebounds and blocks per game (1.8) ... while playing just 26 minutes per game. That restricted playing time comes largely due to foul trouble -- he's up to 4.9 per game this season, and 6.7 per 36 minutes, which is wondrously high -- and conditioning. On a rate basis, Cousins is No. 1 in the league in offensive rebounding (19.2 percent of opportunities) and No. 4 in total rebounding (20.8 percent).
While his field goal percentage remains low for a big man, it's rising: he's up to 43.2 percent from the floor and a True Shooting percentage of .502, up from his rookie level (.484). His free throw rate and shooting percentage from the stripe are both up, helping that out. After that horrid start at the rim, where Cousins was making just 20 percent of his shots within three feet through five games, things have normalized. (I and others, notably Kevin Pelton, noted that the bad percentage was likely noise and bad luck. What do you know? It now looks like it was noise and bad luck!) Cousins is up to 50.8 percent from within three feet; over the last four games, he's 20-28 at the rim.
In the aggregate, this paints the picture of a young, productive stud: as of today, Boogie is No. 23 in the NBA in PER at 22.0. That lands him as the No. 7 center in the NBA and the second youngest player in the Top 50 in PER. (No. 43 Kyrie Irving is 19 years old.)
Defense is underaccounted for in PER, but we've seen Cousins work hard on that end, and the Synergy numbers are said to be good. (I don't currently have access.) Despite the Westphal drama and the bad bounces to start the season, Cousins is really showing how hard he worked in the offseason. I'm excited to be able to watch him nightly.
If only he had more help.
8 recs | 48 comments
I really needed to read something positive today
thanks!
TheFifthMookie - January 11, 2012
Cuz is a stud
Too early to tell but i think he’s following the same growth curve as the one called Kevin Love. If you look at the year by year numbers Cuz is actually exceeding Love in most. Be patient royalists, this kid is gonna be a monster!
rise_to_mediocrity - January 11, 2012
Cousins is a keeper.
Slam_Dunk - January 11, 2012
God... If only this kid could start averaging 30-35 minutes...
HeuristicLineup - January 11, 2012
Really
He can’t even get into a groove because every time he starts to he has to be yanked. He will dominate if he can cut down on his fouls. At the same time he’s getting fouls because he’s trying on D. He could be rack up Amare numbers if he stopped playing D which causes him to rack up fouls. I’d rather him try on D & learn how to avoid the fouls over time.
Allbenji - January 11, 2012 via mobile
I don't mind his legit fouls
But he is still getting 2 or 3 a game that are just flat out stupid. It’s not him “trying on Defense” either where he’s picking them up. It’s him either being lazy and trying to make a steal in the back court so he doesn’t have to run back or him trying to reach in on someone much shorter than him to poke the ball away.
HeuristicLineup - January 11, 2012
And the job he did on Dwight was awesome!!
CowbellKings - January 11, 2012
He has been better on both sides of the ball so kudos for that
On my wishlist for DMC (other than the usual suspects of fouling less and committing fewer turnovers): work at getting better, deeper post position and keep cleaning up that at the rim fg%.
outrider - January 11, 2012
He is going to be a beast once he gets his foul rate down low and works on avoiding stupid errors on defense
wallywagon11 - January 11, 2012
As I watch these games
I continue to wonder why DeMarcus is ignored early in the offense? With (supposed) shooters like Thornton and Jimmer it would make sense to feature more of an “inside-out” philosophy at the beginning of an offensive set. He has shown to be a willing and capable passer out of double teams. This would create more wide open shots for Jimmer and other designated shooters. If something like that doesn’t develop then get the ball to Tyreke and let him attack the basket.
I’d also love to see the abolishment of DMC in the high post. I know he’s a good passer, but again, we are trying to make a facilitator out of someone who should not be worrying about facilitating. He should be beasting down low.
StevenG - January 11, 2012
much prefer how they are using him now
makes some really boneheaded passes and gets a ton of charge calls because he is simply not fast enough and also shoots himself out of games.
wallywagon11 - January 11, 2012
He also shoots the Kings into games.
And draws a ton of fouls against opposing players.
Donovan Jeska - January 11, 2012
He gets those charges
because he is getting the ball at the top of the key. That’s another reason I don’t like him in the high post.
StevenG - January 11, 2012
most of the time it's him curling to the key from the elbow of the high post
wallywagon11 - January 11, 2012
Agreed re: Cousins in the High Post
He’s a fantastic and creative short-range passer (like when he’s working in the post and they double him; that little over-the-shoulder no looker he does is fantastic), but putting him at the high post is under-utilizing both his amazing Offensive Rebounding Talent and his ability to score at the rim. His passing is not better than either of those skills of his.
Donovan Jeska - January 11, 2012
The very first play of the Sixers game was a dump into DMC
he got a good look but he missed the shot. It should be a more regular occurrence. But that high post stuff is gone. Smart runs a guard heavy offense and has stated as much.
sac_faithful - January 11, 2012
Slowly being converted...
otis29 - January 11, 2012
It's the defense that is winning me over
He’s played exceedingly well there this year, particularly at drawing charges. Now I just wish he would go up stronger and dunk more often instead of trying to get so fancy sometimes. Also, use that hook more! I swear, he never seems to miss that hook, yet he only uses it like once every 5 games.
Aykis16 - January 11, 2012
his defense is both winning me over and driving me nuts
he struggles switching, he packs the lane nomatter what at times, and in transition if he ever shoots that baseline turn around shot he always gets back way late and it is either a 4 on 5 or he gets a foul diving into the play late. He also gets a little handsy at times.
That being said though, he uses his wide body pretty darn good and seems difficult as hell to get around (so perhaps I might not want to bitch about the fact he parks in the lane a bit too much at times)
wallywagon11 - January 11, 2012
His man-defense isn't fantastic
But his help defense is pretty killer. Big-time presence in the paint, compared to last year. The blocking numbers are up, but that’s just a numerical representation of how many shots he’s actually gotten a hold of this season; he’s been altering shots in the paint very effectively.
Donovan Jeska - January 11, 2012
He's also averaging
20 points, 14 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per 36 minutes, and one coach every 5.5 games. The coaching numbers are lilkely noise and bad luck and I expect that number to even out over the course of the season.
Carl - January 11, 2012
So how many coaches is that per 36 mins?
That’d be an interesting number.
tomroadrunner - January 11, 2012
Agreed, though Assist to TO ratio is alarming
6 assists vs. 28 TOs. Yikers. Love he is blocking shots. 1.8 per game is double (0.8) from last year.
bench_blob - January 11, 2012
Everyone has a horrid assist numbers,
And, at least half of his TO’s come from having to create his own shot 15 ft from the basket. Smart knows this and after every timeout we’re starting to see some sort of pick or screen to get the ball deep into the paint so the bigs don’t have to put the ball on the floor to score.
The more the team runs plays for our young bigs, the better their FG%’s and Turnover Rates will become.
HighTops - January 11, 2012
Seems like every team now knows when DMC gets the ball up in the high post he likes to drive to the middle with that little runner/hook thing. Seen a whole lot of charges on that.
wallywagon11 - January 11, 2012
Ya, he needs to go all barkley and just use his butt to back his defender down no matter where he is on the court.
LMA does that very effectively.
Wonderchild - January 11, 2012
More stats:
His frowns per minute are down and his smiles per scowl is way up. Way to go!
fryingpan136 - January 11, 2012
if he could make point blank shots his FG% would be higher
it was Shaq or Barkley that was talking about because of his size, he should be playing above the rim. dont know if that will ever happen, but i hope he gets svelte like Kevin Love come year 4-5
chan011 - January 11, 2012
Also
The picture for this thread is hilarious. Cuz is like “EXCUSE ME, WHAT!?” and Smart’s like “Whoa there youngster, come back here a sec.”
Donovan Jeska - January 11, 2012
#FireZeller
Dub_TC - January 11, 2012
If he gets named to the NBA All-Star Team this year. That would be the icing.
Slam_Dunk - January 11, 2012
20 more days of voting...
…11 games in that span. If he keeps putting up these numbers, it’s plausible.
Donovan Jeska - January 11, 2012
That is some SERIOUS homerism / gushing right there…
For big men in the west the following are already locks to make it:
- Blake Griffin
- Dirk Nowitski
- Kevin Love
- Lamarcus Aldridge
As for centers any combination of the following could make it:
- Pau Gasol
- Andrew Bynum
- Al Jefferson
ap3604 - January 11, 2012
Bynum will be chosen before Cousins.
no question on that one.
Shizzo - January 11, 2012
Oh yeah and don’t forget to add Nene to the C list of candidates to be picked before DMC (due to better team record)
Not a chance in hell DMC makes it this year…
ap3604 - January 11, 2012
Just gonna point a few things out.
—Cousins is a Center, not a Power Forward. We’ve been playing him as such all year. This makes your (admittedly impressive) above Power Forward list irrelevant.
—Pau Gasol does not play Center when Andrew Bynum is healthy. He’ll be an All-Star Power Forward, not Center.
—Andrew Bynum, if he can stay healthy, is the clear-cut All-Star starter at Center.
Al Jeff Stats:
33mpg, 51%FG, 65% makes on 3.6FTA, 8.9rpg, 1.5apg, 1.0spg, 1.6bpg, 1.3tovpg, 19.6ppg
Nene Stats:
27mpg, 49%FG, 71% makes on 4.0FTA, 7.9rpg, 1.6apg, 1.4spg, 0.9bpg, 2.4tovpg, 12.0ppg
DMC Stats:
26mpg, 43%FG, 74% makes on 5.7FTA, 10.1rpg, 0.7apg, 1.2spg, 1.8bpg, 3.1tovpg, 14.99ppg
I don’t see how you can so confidently shove Al Jefferson in front of Cousins as an All-Star hopeful. He scores more (on 7 minutes more per game), but very little else. He turns the ball over less, but Cousins draws fouls at a higher rate, shoots free throws better, steals more balls, blocks more shots, and is much better defensively on the whole than Jefferson is (in 7 minutes less per game).
Nene, as you can see, is comparable but worse.
I may be a Kings Fan, but I’m not crazy. The West’s Center slot is really shallow, and Cousins is playing well after a rough start. I said IF he maintains his current rate of production, it’s PLAUSIBLE he could make it. I’m pretty sure I didn’t gush at all.
Looking forward to your rebuttal.
Donovan Jeska - January 11, 2012
Yeah, agree with this
Just took a look at the list of centers on the West ballot – Bynum will go, I think Nene will go, but beyond that DMC is right there.
If DMC can keep his butt on the court, I could see him getting there as well.
otis29 - January 11, 2012
DMC would have to be voted in by the coaches
as there is no way the fans will vote him in. Cousins will need to improve his play for the rest of this season and continue it into the early parts of the next season for a shot at next years All-Star game.
While I still think Tyreke will likely end up the better of the two, I still have a feeling Cousins will get the nod to an all-star team before Tyreke(if they make it). It’s really looking like Cousins will only have to beat out Bynum for years to come.
HeuristicLineup - January 11, 2012
Oh it's easy to shove DMC aside
Coach’s decide bench players
So many powerforwards are worthy they will slide one of them center.
Fin.
wallywagon11 - January 11, 2012
Party pooper.
Donovan Jeska - January 11, 2012
Yea and Love has been playing the majority of minutes at Center
since Darko ain’t doing much in that role, and it allows the Wolves to run with Beasley, Randolph, or Tolliver at PF
Shizzo - January 11, 2012
Bynum is a lock for starting center, and he will likely be the only true center on the team
Coaches will pick Pau to be the backup center, and the reat of the big men will be power forwards. There hasnt been more than one true center on the west all-star team the past couple years, and I dont see that changing this year. Maybe next.
Charlieb - January 11, 2012 via mobile
...as long as all that doesn´t make him think he´s smarter than Smart.
rubenho - January 11, 2012
Only real chance is as starting Center in the Fresh/Soph game.
HighTops - January 11, 2012
Greart article
Sometimes one can do a lot with simple adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. This is great info. Thanks. When I am keeping stats, I look at rates per 32 minutes as that is the amount the average starter plays.
We can look at the fact that as Cousins gets better at avoiding fouls, his per game rates for points, rebounds, etc. will go up.
Great post.
Carlji - January 11, 2012
I wish there were links on the sidebar for the main page that link directly to Kings players advcd stats like on Hoop data or such..Or even put thier Pts, Ast, Rbd, Per next to each one in a graph type sidebar like NBA.com does
Widowwolf - January 11, 2012
Average team would win 3 of next ten games KIngs have
I have calculated how many games the average team would win in the next nine games. This is simple. If we are playing a team at home that is averaging 60%, the probability of an average team winning that game is .4. Calculate these probabilities for the next nine games, add them up, and the expected win total is around 3.3!!!
Although the Kings have been having horrible blowouts, after ten games they are only about 1.2 games behind the winning total an average team would have.If the Kings can win 4 of the next ten games, their 20 game total will be within half a game of what an average team would have won. If they win 3, of the next 10 they will be 1.5 behind.
There are some moderate improvements we could reasonably hope for (not necessarily in order).
•The return of Hayes
•The continuation of improvement for Evans
•More minutes for Cousins as he learns to foul less
•Modest rookie improvement in shooting percentage from Jimmer
After twenty games, a fifty percent win season might still be reasonably in reach.
Carlji - January 11, 2012
I forget who coined it, but -
My tag line. That is all.
Sacto_J - January 11, 2012
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