Is This DeMarcus Cousins' Last Chance to Prove He's a Franchise Player?
If this ends up being the year DeMarcus Cousins finally seizes the opportunity laid out in front of him—if he becomes the leader so many of us want—know this: He laid groundwork with Team USA.
Cousins underwent nothing less than a full redemption at the FIBA World Cup in Spain. Never assured of actually making the team in the first place, Cousins rapidly became the best reserve big man on the roster.
He never embarrassed himself or his country, never hurt his team by complaining, never loafed or whined or scowled. Even when presented with a chance to justify the skeptics—a chance very few levelheaded players could have resisted—Cousins didn't bite.
Instead, he went about his international business, completing the tournament with averages of 9.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 70.2 percent shooting in 13.9 minutes per game. Quietly, Cousins was one of Team USA's very best contributors.
And then, not so quietly, he assured the U.S. of a gold medal by stepping up in the final:
All in all, Cousins had himself a nice little tournament—if you consider a potentially career-altering, reputation-rehabilitating run to be "a nice little tournament."
Will It Translate?
The Sacramento Kings won't be satisfied with 9.6 points and 5.6 rebounds from Cousins this season, which is fine because Boogie has never had an issue producing big numbers. He posted a career year in 2013-14 with averages of 22.7 points, 11.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 49.6 percent shooting.
What the Kings really want is for Cousins to bring his new demeanor back from Spain.
All the positive reinforcement he's been getting of late makes that a possibility, as Cousins has recently gone from being a frustrating talent with a victim's mentality to a surprisingly beloved object of national pride.
Separately, patriotism and redemption stories are powerful things. What we're seeing with Cousins right now proves that, together, they're transformative.
Despite that, it'll be harder for Big Cuz to maintain his poise and maturity in Sacramento. The opportunities for frustration will be frequent, as the Kings don't figure to threaten the playoffs. Simply returning to an environment that had so much to do with negatively influencing Cousins' personality could pull him back toward his old ways.
The Kings have been a model of dysfunction over the past decade, featuring seven head coaches in the past eight seasons, zero playoff appearances and no track record of player development. Anyone criticizing Cousins' lack of development in any way has to acknowledge that he's spent his entire NBA career in a culture of inconsistency and instability.
Consider this, too: For all the growth Cousins showed with Team USA, he never had to be a leader. Not even close, really.
He was a very good player on a very good team already loaded with veterans, stars and tone-setters. Not to mention head coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose gravitas negated the need for an on-court alpha.
Leadership Vacancy
Cousins won't enjoy any such luck with the Kings, where head coach Mike Malone has just last year's 54-loss campaign on his coaching resume and Rudy Gay occupies a default leadership role because of his veteran status.
Neither of those two are ideal leaders, and neither has really earned such a distinction to this point. That means Cousins—if he's ready—has a golden opportunity in front of him.
We have to be careful about overstating what Cousins proved with Team USA, though. He showed he could function as a terrific role player, that he could go about fulfilling his duties as part of a team without bringing attitude or distraction into the equation.
He didn't show he could be an unquestioned franchise figurehead.
The Kings' flimsy power structure is screaming out for somebody to take control, and in a perfect world, the team's best player would be that somebody. Rest assured, the organization wants nothing more than for Cousins to step to the fore and assert himself as an on-court captain and off-court commodity.
Remember, the Kings are going to market Cousins like crazy—no matter what.
"We want to create a global brand here, a global franchise, and I said, ‘I’d like nothing better than a billion Indians to know who DeMarcus Cousins is,'" Kings owner Vivek Ranadive said in a press conference before last season.
Ideally, Cousins will be someone the Kings someday won't have to work so hard to market. He'll be someone fans want to support.
Maybe he already is.
He's easily the organization's most recognizable player, easily its most talented and still its most promising. Sacramento desperately needs Cousins to mature into the man who dominates on the court and sets the tone off of it.
It's just hard to know if that will ever be possible. We learned plenty about Cousins in Spain—most of which, unfortunately, doesn't mean as much as it might seem for his NBA career. It's unquestionably a good thing that Cousins suppressed the antics that have hurt his reputation, and we can certainly view that as a sign of hope for his overall progress as a player and person.
We just can't be sure he's ready to be the centerpiece around which a good NBA team can be built until he proves it in Sacramento.
The Power of Urgency
Is it too late for Cousins to be a legitimate franchise player? Maybe.
But it's a little crazy to say that about someone who just turned 24.
What's more, we now know Cousins can shape up when presented with a last chance. Another bad camp or emotional outburst, and Boogie's shot at ever being part of Team USA would have disappeared forever this past summer. He'd sabotaged his chances in each of his two previous tries and knew perfect behavior (and excellent play) were necessary to make the most of his final shot.
Cousins delivered when he absolutely had to.
So if you want to say this season marks Cousins' last chance to prove he's capable of taking that next step, maybe that's a good thing. Urgency has motivated Boogie in the past.
The Kings have to be hoping it happens again.
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