DeMarcus Cousins Soaks Up All-Star Weekend
Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins doesn’t always have a smile on his face during the season. After a three-loss campaign at Kentucky in 2009-2010, Cousins has just 35 wins under his belt in a season and a half of pro ball. His frustrations can be seen from the last rows of Sacramento’s Power Balance Pavilion to Cousins’ hometown of Mobile, AL; but during the NBA’s All-Star Weekend, Cousins can usually be found sporting a grin.
“It feels good,” Cousins told HOOPSWORLD before participating in the Rookie-Sophomore Game. “Just finished practice. Got a good sweat going, so it’s a good day so far.”
Cousins was particularly happy because he was getting to play with his college teammate, Wizards point guard John Wall.
“It will be a good experience,” Cousins said before scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for Team Chuck, which was the squad picked by NBA Legend Charles Barkley.
“I kind of like it,” Cousins said, referring to the new format, which had Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal picking opposing teams. “You get to play with the rookies. Some of them you don’t get to play with.”
Cousins promised he would “just go with the flow of the game” and not try to look for his shot too often, but he still managed to have 14 field goal attempts in the contest, making eight of them. Teammate Kyrie Irving stole the show with eight 3-pointers and nine assists, but Cousins quietly showed two things:
1.) He’s not a malcontent, as he’s been accused of being in the past
2.) The man is a load to deal with in the paint.
All-Star Weekend is a good chance for players like Cousins. If he didn’t have this opportunity, few people would really get to see or hear about the season he’s putting together (16.4 PPG, 11.3 RPG, 1.2 BPG and a Player Efficiency Rating of 20.83).
By Tuesday he’ll be back with the Kings as they hope to turn around their 11-win season. Maybe his smile will wear off by then, but even if it does, it was nice to see a talented player like Cousins without the black cloud of 22 losses.
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