Sacramento Kings general manager Vlade Divac had extremely high praise for his team’s star center, DeMarcus Cousins. From James Ham of CSN Bay Area:
“It’s a no-brainer,” Kings general manager Vlade Divac said from his courtside seat. “He’s the most dominant player in the whole world. And being from Serbia, I have to root for Serbia, but I feel bad for them. He’s going to kill them.”
“It’s a no-brainer,” Kings general manager Vlade Divac said from his courtside seat. “He’s the most dominant player in the whole world. And being from Serbia, I have to root for Serbia, but I feel bad for them. He’s going to kill them.”
In Sacramento, Cousins is expected to dominate. He does everything for the Kings on the offensive end: He battles in the post, handles the ball, and — as of last season — even shoots threes. On this immensely talented Team USA squad, Boogie’s role is vastly different; he’s a prototypical big man. He hustles for rebounds, and scores down low — That’s about it. Cousins described his role to Ham:
“They’re clear on what they really need us to do,” Cousins said. “Rebound, defend, running the floor, doing all the dirty work I guess you’d say.”
In that role, Cousins has thrived. Cousins has looked completely unstoppable thus far in international play, which is quite unsurprising. Not many NBA big men can slow down Boogie, so it would be rather shocking if non-NBA international bigs could. Cousins’ 21 points on 7-8 shooting and 11 rebounds led Team USA to a 50-point victory over China in Tuesday night’s exhibition game. Despite the blowout win, Cousins says that Team USA has a long way to go before they’re ready for Rio:
“Wow, we’re nowhere near where we need to be,” Cousins said. “We’re still making a lot of mistakes, a lot of silly turnovers, giving up easy baskets on defensive breakdowns. We’ve still got a long ways to go.”
Cousins is jubilant to be playing for Team USA:
“I’m having a lot of fun,” Cousins said with a grin. “I’m around a great group of guys — laughing, joking all day, enjoying each others company, playing basketball, which we all love. It’s been a great time.”
“It’s fun to be around winning,” Cousins added.
If you’re a Kings fan, Cousins’ comments could be taken as a bad sign. Boogie has tasted winning, and he likes it. The Kings do not win. In Cousins’ six years there, Sacramento has gone a combined 164-312. Sacramento’s management has shown an inability to build a contending team, and Cousins may be tired of waiting.
