Demarcus Cousins Will He Be Good Again
Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
The Milwaukee Bucks are adding a four-time All-Star to the frontcourt, though there are three-plus seasons and multiple major injuries between at present then.
On Lord's day, ESPN'southward Adrian Wojnarowski bankrupt the news.
"Bucks kept an open up roster spot, needed size and will bring [DeMarcus Cousins] into a strong culture on a non-guaranteed bargain," Wojnarowski tweeted. "Cousins played well for [Los Angeles] Clippers in significant stretches a flavour ago, and stayed in shape awaiting an opportunity. Now Cousins gets a bargain on the defending champs."
Cousins did indeed take his moments for the Clippers. In 23 regular and postseason appearances, he had a one.ii box plus/minus that ranked quaternary on the team, and he averaged 25.0 points, 12.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, ii.1 steals, i.vii threes and 1.3 blocks per 75 possessions.
After Kawhi Leonard's playoff-ending torn ACL, though, it quickly became articulate that Fifty.A.'south best path to competitiveness was playing small. That bumped Cousins from rotational relevance. And an disability to showcase himself on the game'due south biggest stage may have contributed to his going unsigned this offseason.
Fast forrard to now, and the reigning champion Bucks have gotten just one game from starting eye Brook Lopez, thank you to a back injury. And though Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis have filled in ably, it's not hard to see why they're after a niggling depth inside.
If Lopez remains out for a bit, Cousins could get a shot at meaningful minutes.
If the 31-yr-old wants to stay in the rotation when Lopez returns, though, he'll need to complete something of a two-fold mission: show that he tin still produce at an NBA level and fit in on a team with enough of scoring.
Regarding the first mission, equally good as Cousins was in 2020-21, he probably withal needs to prove more.
The sample size there (fewer than 300 minutes) wasn't robust. And his distinctly negative net rating swing in L.A. fit a trend. Since the offset of the 2017-18 flavour, Cousins' teams are plus-0.9 points per 100 possessions when he plays and plus-1.9 when he doesn't.
The reasons for that are varied. There's always some racket in plus-minus marks. And it can exist particularly difficult for a reserve, which Cousins was concluding season, who doesn't spend a ton of fourth dimension with starters to move that needle. Plodding, traditional bigs are harder to play in today'south game too. Post-ups are where many possessions go to die, and Cousins, who'due south at present suffered a ruptured Achilles and a torn ACL, isn't nimble when switched onto the perimeter.
Having said all that, accepting the second mission could help Cousins complete the showtime.
Over the last few seasons, Carmelo Anthony has transitioned from star to reserve and adjusted his game accordingly. In that location were certainly some speed bumps with the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers, merely Melo's commitment to playing the iv, at least trying on defence force and jacking upwards his three-signal-attempt rate (57.7 percent of all his shots this flavor have been threes) has made him a plus for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Cousins tin experience a similar resurgence with the Bucks if he focuses on skills that respond three questions in the affirmative: Does he still do this well? Does this help in today'south game? Exercise the Bucks need him to do this?
In his upcoming situation, those skills are probably hitting threes, moving the ball and taking up space on defense force.
Milwaukee has long stressed spacing from the 5. Since Lopez joined the Bucks, over half his shots accept come from three. And the book is at least as important every bit the efficiency. Lopez' 34.4 three-signal percentage in Milwaukee won't accident anyone away, but defenders know they have to be closer to the iii-point line when he's on the floor. Cousins, who'due south hitting 34.7 percent of his threes since the kickoff of the 2016-17 flavor is capable of motivating a similar adjustment, especially if he ups his ain volume.
Equally for moving the ball, that'southward a skill that tin can help almost anywhere. And Cousins has long been underrated in that regard.
For his career, Cousins has averaged 3.8 assists per 75 possessions, a mark that dwarf's Lopez's 1.8. He'southward apparently non Nikola Jokic or Bam Adebayo, just Cousins knows how to find the open man out of drives and post-ups. And inverting the flooring by giving centers a little playmaking responsibleness can open things upwards for guards and wings.
Finally, at that place's just taking upward space on defense. And that can be valuable, whether Lopez is salubrious or non. And it could exist especially important in the playoffs, when Milwaukee could notice itself in a playoff series against Joel Embiid or Nikola Vucevic.
Other Eastern Briefing contenders similar the Brooklyn Nets or Miami Heat can easily shift to lineups that Cousins almost certainly wouldn't exist able to go along up with, but Cousins can at least help to clothing down older-school bigs like Embiid and Vucevic. As big as they are, it's still no picnic to have nearly-300-pound men leaning on you for an entire game. And with Lopez and Cousins both on the roster, the Bucks would have the option to go that way for 48 minutes (or close to it).
He had that sort of interruption-in-case-of-emergency impact in the 2019 Finals confronting the Toronto Raptors, who had another lumbering center in Marc Gasol.
Over the final 5 games of that series, Cousins averaged ix.4 points, 5.vi rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.two blocks in merely 20.0 minutes.
Cousins hadn't played much that postseason. In fact, he had 14 straight DNP-CDs in the beginning, 2d and third rounds. But he was ready to compete and defer to the stars when chosen upon.
If he shows a willingness and ability to do that once more with the Bucks, he could turn this not-guaranteed bargain into a i-year habitation and some momentum-seizing moments in the playoffs.
Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2950868-what-does-demarcus-cousins-have-left-in-the-tank
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