What would you do?

[DanH]

What does this mean? lol i don't get it.

Too long; didn't read.

[The Great One]

tl;dr

What does this mean? lol i don't get it.

[KeonClark]

tl;dr

Had to google wtf you meant by that. 5 short paragraphs? Lemme guess, 2nd grade was the hardest 5 years of your life

[Doc]

tl;dr

You must love Twitter then eh?

[white men can't jump]

tl;dr

Good for you

[Matt Damon]

it's really hard to make that judgment though. Part of it with cousins is that it just isn't immaturity. Lowry was immature. Rodman and rasheed could be immature. They still laid it all out on the court. Cousins plays like he doesn't care at all at times. Like he doesn't want to try and play winning basketball, or try at all.

That clip from last week or whatever where he just lets his man get an alley-oop is just the perfect example of the problem. Either he's so stupid he didn't realize his team was on d. Or he's so lazy that he didn't care that he was hanging his teammates out to dry. Either way it's the kind of thing you see a lot in cousins' game so far. And his teammates looked exasperated, but like none of them could confront him about it (he's been far too coddled out in sacto).

I'm not much of a believer in the "well, if we just put the right guys around him" argument. If the guy is a franchise talent and needs that, he's not a franchise player (if that makes sense). You don't need to put the right guys around lebron, kobe, durant, duncan, nowitzki, etc. From a mentality perspective. They are true competitors, professional, and in varying degrees/styles they are leaders.

It reminds me of that pop quote from earlier this season. And i can't remember it exactly, but it was along the lines of if he has to motivate guys to get them to compete, well those are not guys he'd want on the team to begin with. And when you look at our team, the motor and compete level of all the guys are pretty good. The only guy i tend to really question here is ross, who frequently looks disengaged.

So in my main 2-3 guys especially, i don't want to have to question such things. Right now, i don't.

This also means the only situation where i would have any interest in cousins is if we could add him without taking anything away from our current mix. So maybe in free agency, if you can nab him to make a jv-cousins frontcourt, you give it a shot because if it doesn't work you still have a decent (and hopefully deep) team with some good core pieces with the right attitude. And thus if you need to trade cousins, you're not starting from scratch and can actually add flexibility/assets. That's a pretty damn low risk scenario for such a guy, but probably extremely unlikely. *and i still would be dubious of the move, but again, there's no real risk, so why not...

tl;dr

[white men can't jump]

I would argue that the Riders, Marburys, Kemps, etc. may not have had tough/credible teammates that held them accountable for their actions. I don't think Cousins' childish anticts would fly under Lowry's watch. But again, pure speculation on my part.

I acknowledge the potential chemistry issues that might arise, but Cousin's talent is worth the gamble IMO.

It's really hard to make that judgment though. Part of it with Cousins is that it just isn't immaturity. Lowry was immature. Rodman and Rasheed could be immature. They still laid it all out on the court. Cousins plays like he doesn't care at all at times. Like he doesn't want to try and play winning basketball, or try at all.

That clip from last week or whatever where he just lets his man get an alley-oop is just the perfect example of the problem. Either he's so stupid he didn't realize his team was on D. Or he's so lazy that he didn't care that he was hanging his teammates out to dry. Either way it's the kind of thing you see a lot in Cousins' game so far. And his teammates looked exasperated, but like none of them could confront him about it (he's been far too coddled out in Sacto).

I'm not much of a believer in the "well, if we just put the right guys around him" argument. If the guy is a franchise talent and needs that, he's not a franchise player (if that makes sense). You don't need to put the right guys around LeBron, Kobe, Durant, Duncan, Nowitzki, etc. from a mentality perspective. They are true competitors, professional, and in varying degrees/styles they are leaders.

It reminds me of that Pop quote from earlier this season. And I can't remember it exactly, but it was along the lines of if he has to motivate guys to get them to compete, well those are not guys he'd want on the team to begin with. And when you look at our team, the motor and compete level of all the guys are pretty good. The only guy I tend to really question here is Ross, who frequently looks disengaged.

So in my main 2-3 guys especially, I don't want to have to question such things. Right now, I don't.

This also means the only situation where I would have any interest in Cousins is if we could add him without taking anything away from our current mix. So maybe in free agency, if you can nab him to make a JV-Cousins frontcourt, you give it a shot because if it doesn't work you still have a decent (and hopefully deep) team with some good core pieces with the right attitude. And thus if you need to trade Cousins, you're not starting from scratch and can actually add flexibility/assets. That's a pretty damn low risk scenario for such a guy, but probably extremely unlikely. *And I still would be dubious of the move, but again, there's no real risk, so why not...

[breakin_ankles]

I wouldn't necessarily call Paul George "late blooming". He was a stud by his 3rd year.

It was obviously a poor comparison, I had thought that pg had kinda risen out out of nowhere upon granger getting hurt.

[Nilanka]

Never said he would be the next Paul George, he was intended to be an example of a late blooming player

I wouldn't necessarily call Paul George "late blooming". He was a stud by his 3rd year.

[breakin_ankles]

But if you think he can be the next Paul George then why trade him for garbage?!

Never said he would be the next Paul George, he was intended to be an example of a late blooming player

[Nilanka]

Rasheed and Rodman may have gotten things like techs, but they were smart players and great teammates on the court. Randolph was not, and had to nearly wash out of the league for things to click. And for every guy who "gets it", there are JR Riders, Steve Francis, Stephon Marbury, Shawn Kemp, Gilbert Arenas, etc....Guys whose own personalities doom their chances to be what they can be and take their teams to the promised land.

I would argue that the Riders, Marburys, Kemps, etc. may not have had tough/credible teammates that held them accountable for their actions. I don't think Cousins' childish anticts would fly under Lowry's watch. But again, pure speculation on my part.

I acknowledge the potential chemistry issues that might arise, but Cousin's talent is worth the gamble IMO.

[The Great One]

But if you think he can be the next Paul George then why trade him for garbage?!

[breakin_ankles]

Just a couple of days you were so worried about losing Ross. What changed? his performace last night?

No, I am still a fan of his, and I know that with due time this new driving ability he is displaying will turn into a strong skill, but he is the odd man out. If we choose to keep Lou then Ross is forced to play SF, which he is not built for. He is a good asset and if he is included I think we could get green, plumlee and maybe even Ennis. (depending what else we include) I know when he sees us again he will burn us though because I strongly believe a trade will shake his world and he will play to his talent level. Thank God we only see Phoenix 2 times a year.

[The Great One]

Agreed with all of this... Amir to the bench, Ross on the block with other pieces to grab a backup 3 & 5... Such as (example) Gerald green and miles plumlee

Just a couple of days ago you were so worried about losing Ross. What changed? his performace last night?

[breakin_ankles]

So 1 HOF> 3 HOFs?

On paper, I would put those Hakeem Rockets teams in the discussion as well. The 2nd best player turned out to be Rob Horry. Chemistry IS important. Talent on its own means nothing. Chemistry allows talented players to know their role. Its the reason why Bosh stepped back to let Lebron and Wade shine. Why Kobe and Shaq didn't stay together. Why Barkley never won a title. Talent is not the be all and end all.

Maybe Chemistry is the wrong word to use. It insinuates that players making sacrifices for their team over themselves means that they have significantly less talent than the top scorers.

So why do I think moving JV for Boogie makes 0 sense.

DMC on the Kings plays the same role for them as Demar and Lowry have for the Raps. You're going to replace a player who is comfortable in a secondary role here, who is improving without a lot less plays run for him for a high usage player that would limit usage by Demar and Lowry. Just being great, doesn't mean that 3 of these guys could find a usage balance that satified them.

And for the record Boogie is my favorite non-Rap. Every fantasy league I enter I try to draft him (to my teams' detriment) -- he's that good. But that doesn't mean that bringing in an uber talent makes a team better. Look at the Rockets. What killed the Rockets was the migration of Barkley and Drexler replacing guys like Maxiell and Kenny. Players need to fit on teams that allow each player to excel. It's the reason why the Hawks are leading the East right now, why OKC is titleless, and why JV is the right C for this team.

Personally, the issue is not the PF position. Moving Amir to the bench would be awesome -- it could extend his career, but he is a lot better than many posters here realize. The real issue for the Raps is perimeter defense. When your best starting perimeter defender is Demar Derozan you should be concerned. The Raps have not a had a real starting SF since Garbo, and Ross is listless -- infinite talent with a short attention span. Is JJ an NBA starter? He's an actual SF, that puts him above Ross in my book. But the fastest way to improve this team would be to find a legit starting SF who fits the system that they play.

The next fastest way to improve this team? Own a D League team.

Agreed with all of this... Amir to the bench, Ross on the block with other pieces to grab a backup 3 & 5... Such as (example) Gerald green and miles plumlee