DeMarcus Cousins finally got the recognition he so desperately needed and deserved this season. Cousins won a gold medal with Team USA and became a first-time All-Star after having a breakout start to the season. But that only tells half of the story for both Cousins and the Sacramento Kings.
A freak occurrence of viral meningitis knocked the wind out of Cousins’ sails and led to a domino effect that no one saw coming. Cousins finished the season on the injury list and missed plenty of games, but when he played, he was excellent.
Cousins is in the second year of a four-year extension he signed in 2013. He will make $14.7 million in 2015-16, $15.8 million in 2016-17 and $16.8 million in 2017-18 before becoming an unrestricted free agent.
Strengths
Cousins is the most offensively gifted big man in the NBA and his improvement as a defender haven’t gone unnoticed either. When healthy, Cousins torments defenders with an array of post moves and when his perimeter jumper is on, he is almost unguardable.
A bulk shooter and primary offensive weapon for Sacramento, Cousins shot a mediocre 46.7 percent from the field this season, but his early season illness hurt his conditioning and strength throughout the final 50-plus games of the season.
Cousins’ strength on the offensive end lies in his versatility. At the rim the Kings big man knocked down 63.2 percent of his 448 shot attempts, and from 16 feet to the 3-point line he hit 38.3 percent. As the game wore on, Cousins became more of a factor, shooting 48.7 percent in the fourth quarter and 51.7 percent in overtime sessions.
When teams couldn’t slow Cousins, they fouled him. Of his 24.1 points per game (fifth best in the league), 7.2 of those points came at the charity stripe. Cousins finished the season with the third-most attempts and makes from the line in the entire league.
Cousins is improving as a passer. This season he averaged a career-high 3.6 assists per game and posted an assist percentage of 20.4. Only Joakim Noah and Marc Gasol posted higher assist numbers than Cousins amongst NBA centers.
One of the premier rebounders in the game, Cousins averaged a career-high 12.7 boards per game. He finished fourth in total rebounding percentage at 21.1 and second in defensive rebounding percentage at 30.6 percent.
His 1.75 blocks per game were a huge improvement and his 1.53 steals per game ranked him second behind rookie defender Nerlens Noel amongst NBA centers. He is a bonafide stat stuffer across the board.
Cousins was phenomenal on the defensive end this season. Opponents shot just 43.9 percent against him, over 3.4 percentage points below their average. Inside of 10 feet, Cousins held his counterpart seven percent below their average and inside of six feet he allowed a shooting percentage of 51.7, eight percentage points below average. There wasn’t a spot on the floor that Cousins allowed his opponent to shoot at their season average.
Weaknesses
Cousins missed a total of 23 games this season due to injury or illness. The viral meningitis took the wind out of the Kings’ sails, but it also cost Cousins his legs late in the season. After a strong run with Team USA, the last thing Cousins needed was a debilitating illness that forced him to lay in bed or sit on a couch for weeks at a time.
51 percent of Cousins’ shots were jumpers and the fifth-year center hit on just 31 percent of those shots. In certain games, Cousins had a tendency to settle for what the defense gave him. Clearly the book was to allow Cousins to launch from the perimeter instead of moving to the paint where he shot for a much higher percentage. I would love to write this off as another by-product of his early-season illness, but jumpers accounted for 627 of his 1,191 shots the season before and he shot just 34 percent on those attempts.
Cousins has struggled with turnovers throughout his NBA career, but this season stood out. His 4.3 turnovers per game were a career-high, but so was his usage percentage and assist rate. The Kings ran their entire offense through Cousins. and he needs to make adjustments and better decisions. He turned the ball over five of more times in a game in 30 of 59 contests, and he tallied nine in a game twice.
The big man out of Kentucky continues to struggle with fouls as well. Cousins fouled out of nine games and picked up five fouls in another 14 contests. Cousins played a career-high 34.1 minutes per game, but he was limited on the defensive end in plenty of those contests due to foul issues.
2015-16 Projection
Cousins is the franchise. Or is he?
George Karl has been very outspoken about no one being untradable. Cousins isn’t a natural fit in Karl’s system, but sometimes adjustments need to be made. Cousins is one of the most talented players to ever come through Sacramento and he has every opportunity to compete for All-Star and MVP considerations as the Kings improve.
Adding to his already stellar numbers is the fact that he is only 24-years-old and under contract for the next three seasons at a reduced rate once the new television money comes into play. A team will have to offer a mint to pry Cousins out of Sacramento, unless the temperamental star asks for a trade.
Cowbell Kingdom would like your opinion. How do you grade DeMarcus Cousins’ season?
[poll id=”81″]This is part 13 of our continuing “Season in Review” series. Below are links to the first 12 articles.
Statistical data complied from NBA.com and Basketball-reference.com.
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