Charlotte want Cousins

[nuraman00]

I also don't get too much into is player X better than player Y for the same draft class.

My take is just get a good player, and move on to fill out the rest of the roster.

Kevin Garnett might have been the best player from his draft class, but Minnesota didn't fill out the rest of their roster well for a long time.

If the Kings get a player, and he's a pretty good player, but still perhaps only the 2nd or 3rd best player in his class, I don't care as much. Just move onto the other positions, or the bench, or the coach, etc.

It's more about how the GM builds the team, to me.

You can always play the game "Imagine how good Team A would be if they had taken player D instead of player C" for any team, even when they're contenders. What if OKC had taken Noah or Jared Dudley or Carl Landry instead of Jeff Green?

Who cares at this point. OKC have build themselves into a contender anyways, they have a pretty good frontcourt despite not having Carl Landry or Noah because of Ibaka and Collison. And Durant/Sefolosha/Martin are a good swingman rotation, even without Dudley. No, I don't think their frontcourt is perfect, perhaps Landry's scoring in the paint, Noah's passing or rebounding might have helped even more. But they were still able to make moves to have good players in the frontcourt, SF/SG, and PG, and they're a contender, so no use looking back.

Similarly, with the Kings, just get a good player. Evans/Rubio/Holiday (I'm writing off Lawson, just not that impressed), or Cousins/Monroe/Bledsoe (tbd), or Fredette/Walker/Faried/Parsons, or Robinson/Lillard/Drummond/Barnes, just circle one from each group, get them to be reasonably good players, and move on.

[nuraman00]

So I am on his balls because I don't want his career to be ruined in Charlotte. Alright then

Bobcats are like Minnesota from a few years ago, I think.

They have some good young talent, but it will take a few years from them to be a playoffs contender.

Back in 2009, with just Love, 1/2 the people thought Minnesota would be perpetually stuck in lottery. But they got a few more pieces, signed AK, etc. and now look.

I can see the same thing with Charlotte, as Walker and Kidd-Gilchrist are productive players so far, and Biyombo can block shots.

How about this. When do you think Charlotte will make the playoffs, and back in 2009, when did you think Minnesota was going to? On another board I read, there was a huge debate thread about whether Minnesota would be good in 3 years (ending in 2012), and whether the Clippers should have held onto Minnesota's pick or not. This was back in 2009. The Clippers gave up Minnesota's pick in their Chris Paul trade. But the point is, if you do a great job in the draft every year, it can be as little as 3 years from the time you get your star. Some people figured that Minnesota would be good eventually, and that it was better to include the pick in a trade.

If not, then you have prolonged periods like Toronto for most of its existence, or Detroit recently, etc.

Phoenix also had Chicago's pick in the mid 2000s, it eventually fell out of range because Chicago finally made the playoffs and Phoenix had to give it back. I can't look up the exact details because Pro Sports Transactions has been down for 1-2 weeks.


Maybe you think Charlotte will continue to be in the lottery for a while, which is fine. I like their future a little better than Detroit's right now, even though Detroit has better players right now. Or Toronto. Maybe it's because Detroit has scared me with that Ben Gordon / Charlie Villanueva signing, or that they seem to draft the same PG every year (Stuckey, Knight, etc.) I don't trust their management right now, despite all of the great things they did in the early 2000s. But that's just me, one could have the same concerns about the Bobcats. It's hard to predict when one of these teams (Clippers and Warriors this year) get it right and get out of perpetual lottery.

[nuraman00]

I think it would be worse for Cousins to go to a team that's a veteran team now, because those teams (Boston, San Antonio) are on the decline. They don't have young players in the pipeline, and they're going to be a lottery team eventually.

And once you're in the lottery, it can be a while.

Yes, the Spurs are great at drafting, but they're going to have misses eventually.

A Parker + Cousins team in SA and a few misses in FA or lottery from the Spurs, and that seems like a Phoenix Suns type team where they just miss the playoffs every year.

Same thing if Cousins was traded for KG, for example. Rondo + Cousins, with Boston not having good young players, they're going to make mistakes too, and that seems like another team that's on the decline, either now or in a few years.

Basically if you could transport Cousins anywhere, and you're concerned about his mental health, it would have to be on a young contender. So GS, Memphis, Atlanta. Teams that aren't done yet. Denver, Philly. Portland.

The thing with these veteran teams, is that their veterans are going to retire soon. Pierce, KG, Ginobili, Duncan are all HOFs, but they can't be there for Cousins for too long.

The players on GS, Memphis, Atlanta, Denver, Philly, Portland will be in the league for another 6 years. They can grow with Cousins. This is in a hypothetical universe where Cousins could just transport to anther team. So on Portland, for example, the vet would be Aldridge. Aldridge would still be on the team.

[kingraider412]

Stupid foul by Villenuava. Thomas has to learn the hard way though. He's eventually going to be seriously injured. He loves to penetrate against a wall of me twice his size. Gary and Jerry making me ill with the homer comments. Anointing Thomas the leader? Based on that moronic play?

[bloatedmaniac]

Link?

Is Carrill still with the team btw?

He's always seemed like he coaches for a few years, then takes a year off, coaches again, then takes a break, etc.

I'll see if I can dig up a link. It was during Cousins first year with the team when coachie came over when Westphal came onboard. I just remember the had an argument with coachie, and a week later he had another fight with an assistant which I think was when Westphal threw him out of practice. Carrill left last year so he is no longer part of the Kings team.

[nuraman00]

I'll see if I can dig up a link. It was during Cousins first year with the team when coachie came over when Westphal came onboard. I just remember the had an argument with coachie, and a week later he had another fight with an assistant which I think was when Westphal threw him out of practice. Carrill left last year so he is no longer part of the Kings team.

Thanks. I wonder if he retired for good.

I remember the one year, he tried being a "coach" but lived on the east coast for most of the time. He later said that it wasn't a good idea, and he couldn't really get involved with the team from that far.