DeMarcus Cousins Lights into Listless Kings: 'Act Like You Care'

DeMarcus Cousins is not happy with the Sacramento Kings.

After getting off to a 9-5 start—the team's best 14-game opening since 2004-05—Sacramento has plummeted down the standings. Former coach Mike Malone was given the ax once the Kings reached 11-13, and they're now 6-18 since his departure. They haven't won back-to-back games since Nov. 25 and have dropped 10 of their last 11 contests.

This includes the Thursday night 101-78 shellacking the Kings suffered at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks. Sacramento shot just 36.7 percent from the floor (29-of-79) and 14.3 percent from deep (3-of-21) and allowed the Mavericks to have their way in the paint and on the break.

Naturally, Cousins wasn't pleased with his team's performance.

"Get some pride, just have some self-respect," he told reporters afterward. "Act like you care."

While this could have been the end of it, Cousins didn't stop there. He dismissed the notion that Malone's exit and Tyrone Corbin's installment are to blame for Sacramento's woes, per Cowbell Kingdom's John Ham and The Sacramento Bee's Jason Jones:

Cousins' comments can be seen and heard in full below:

The timing of Cousins' tongue-lashing won't be seen as ideal to some. Footage of him basically falling asleep on defense against the Golden State Warriors went viral. Keyboard warriors everywhere will undoubtedly tell Cousins to look in the mirror before he starts questioning the effort of others.

But such a stance overlooks all Cousins has actually done. He's been a statistical superhero, and Sacramento is outscoring opponents by 3.8 points per 100 possessions when he's on the floor, according to NBA.com. That's the net-rating equivalent of the Houston Rockets (3.9), a playoff team.

Deriding Cousins' verbal romp also ignores another, more important bit of information: The Kings deserved this. They need something to shake them up.

Each of their last five losses has come by an average of 20.2 points. They've defeated just two teams .500 or better (Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder) since Nov. 26. Their current state, as Yahoo Sports' Dan Devine puts it, is approaching irreparable futility:

"

With the Kings now sitting at 17-31, 9 1/2 games back of the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, it's too late for Cousins and company to ignite the kind of turnaround that would put Sacramento back in the playoff conversation. But unless something sparks the Kings out of their doldrums, enervating losses and their attendant venting sessions figure to become much, much more common.

"

Thirty-four games remain for the Kings. With the postseason out of reach and the coaching situation beyond 2014-15 in flux, the next few months need to be about reversing the toxic on-court culture that clearly exists. They cannot enter 2015-16 having won under 30 games for the seventh consecutive season.

Rocky Widner/Getty Images

Losses shouldn't be piling up with such volume. The Kings are better than this on paper. If Cousins is able to make them a plus when on the floor, they have the talent to compete.

Not to contend for a championship or playoff spot but to strive for something better, to really try.

Which, in the end, is all Cousins has been asking for: actual effort.

Follow @danfavale