February 17, 2011 – Kevin Burke

Soft hands. Quick feet for someone his size. We’ve heard these cliché compliments about Kings rookie, DeMarcus Cousins since he was a freshman last year at Kentucky. The big man used these attributes to lead his Wildcats deep in to the tournament last year before they ran into West Virginia. He also rode those characteristics to last year’s NBA Draft when he was taken 5th overall by Sacramento. But there are a few more of his qualities that we heard last year that have reared their head already this year: immature and tough to coach.

We’re only in February in his first season and Cousins has already been disciplined twice by his team. The first incident came back in December when was fined and benched by the Kings for making a choke sign at Warriors guard Reggie Williams when he missed a critical free throw with 19.3 seconds remaining in a close game. While I don’t think what he did was that bad, especially since he didn’t receive a tech for doing it, who cares what I think? The Kings don’t. The point is that they found a certain degree of malice is Cousins’ gesture enough to discipline him. Kings coach, Paul Westphal said that he was sitting Big Cuz until he “exemplifies the kind of professionalism that we expect.”

Then a few days ago, DeMarcus was disciplined once again. Cousins apparently exchanged words and swings with teammate Donte’ Greene in the locker room after Saturday’s home loss to the Thunder. Cousins was reportedly frustrated because Greene passed the ball to Tyreke Evans for the game winning 3-point attempt, that he missed, rather than feeding Cousins in the post with the game on the line. Sources close to the situation also say that Cousins has been annoyed at the way Tyreke is coddled by teammates and coaches more than other players are, so being snubbed in favor of him by Greene for the final shot set him off.

Cousins was fined one game’s pay, but was not suspended. Following the incident, Kings President of Basketball Operations, Geoff Petrie released a statement saying,

“Upon investigating the events of Saturday night, we feel it is necessary to impose an appropriate fine related to DeMarcus’ behavior. We will now move forward together. We do not intend to give up on DeMarcus’ talent or potential. We look forward to watching his continued improvement and development, which has been significant since the beginning of the season.”

The fact that he even mentions that they will not give up on Cousins means that either he thought about it or he was asked about it. DeMarcus issued a statement as well.

“I wish to apologize to my teammates, the Kings organization and Kings’ fans for my role in an unfortunate altercation between teammates. I accept full responsibility for my actions and know that I must keep raising my standard of professionalism to be my best and a great player in the NBA.”

Aside from these two incidents, Cousins looks like he’s extremely tough to coach in my opinion. He’s young and a very emotional player. I get all of that but the way he reacts when Westphal goes over to question something he did definitely shows that he’s a lot to handle. He shows that he has a questionable attitude at times and I’m willing to be that impedes Westphal’s ability to coach him. Translation: it will be tough for him to get better if he isn’t learning.

Cousins can definitely play but I don’t think he’s the franchise changing player that many have made him out to be. I think he’ll end up being good, but not great so I wonder if he’s even worth the headache. The Kings say they aren’t going to deal him but if things continue to go how they are, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he wasn’t in Sacramento in a few years.

If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook