HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

This has been a challenging season for the Sacramento Kings and their Head Coach Paul Westphal.  After winning just 25 games last season, the Kings are currently tied with Cleveland at just eight wins this year.  However the cries of disappointment about the Kings performance thus far from the media may be taken with at least a small grain of salt.

"Depends on whose expectations you are talking about," said Westphal.  "Most people had us picked last, and when we play to that record, they say they are disappointed, so you got to keep your stories straight."

No one expected the Kings would be a playoff team this season, or even approach a .500 record, so Coach Westphal has a point.  Taking into account injuries to last season’s rookie of the year Tyreke Evans, this season’s record shouldn’t even be much of a surprise.

"One of the things that has probably hampered us the most is Tyreke Evans foot problems," said Westphal.

Of course the 2010-11 season for the Kings never was about wins and losses.  It was always about developing their promising young core of players including the 6′ 11" 290 lb freshman from Kentucky DeMarcus Cousins who the Kings had taken with the fifth pick of the 2010 draft.

"That is what we are trying to do," said Westphal.  "Build through the draft.  We will look at trades and free agency when the time is appropriate, but our best opportunity to add to our talent level has been through the draft."

Cousins left Kentucky with all of the physical tools necessary to eventually develop into an elite NBA center.  However, as a 19-year-old when drafted, Cousins was labeled as immature and potentially a high risk lottery pick.

"One of the things he fights is when something doesn’t go his way," said Westphal.  "In this league you need to learn to let it go because there is always going to something that doesn’t go your way, and it isn’t fair, but that’s part of what everybody has to overcome in this league.  The people who overcome those (calls) the most and learn from them but don’t dwell on them are the ones that have the most success."

The Toronto Raptors young big man Joey Dorsey knows what Cousins is going through and what is needed for Cousins to be successful.

"I played against him in summer league," said Dorsey.  "He has to stay level-headed.  He loses his head sometimes.  He is very young and when he gets frustrated, it is hard for him.  I was telling him in summer league, don’t get frustrated so easily with the game, just be happy that you are playing.

"In some of the games that I have been watching, he is going really well, and then he has gets a couple of fouls and gets down on himself.  Coach Cal says he is exactly like how I used to be in college.  (John Calipari coached Dorsey at Memphis and Cousins at Kentucky)

"So many young guys on that team (the Kings), they need a couple of veterans to talk to him.  I am glad that I have Reggie (Evans) here to talk to me.  He is going to be really good, he just needs veterans in the game to talk to him."  

On a team with high profile future stars, sometimes it can be easy to over look the veterans in the lineup, but the Kings do have potential mentors in place.

"Hopefully we have a lot of people that he can look to," said Westphal.  "Whether it’s our coaching staff, Sam Dalembert is a good pro who plays the same position as he does, or guys like Carl Landry and Jason Thompson for work ethic.  We have a lot of support systems around DeMarcus and he is beginning to understand the importance of using those people and their experience.

"We could use a few more guys like Francisco Garcia, but we are trying to build with youth, and there are inevitable steps forward and steps back when you do that, but we like the progress that DeMarcus in particular has been making."

The Kings veterans are stepping up and helping out their younger teammates.  The 30-year-old Garcia has developed a strong relationship with Cousins and the 29-year-old Dalembert is trying to pass on his experiences.

"Francisco has really been taking me under his arm," said Cousins.  "He is just guiding me.  Each game he is giving me advice."

"It is a lot of fun," said Garcia about playing with his young teammates.  "They listen and are very respectful, and as the season has been going, they have been getting better and better."

"We have a good relationship," continued Garcia about Cousins.  "We are like brothers out there.  He has my back and I have his back."

"Sometimes young guys tend not to listen too much," said Dalembert.  "But over time they come to realize it for themselves and see that what you were saying was true.

"(Cousins) struggled at the beginning," said Dalembert.  "But I would say that these last few games have been very consistent.  He is getting there. He is learning from his mistakes how not to get in foul trouble so easy.  At times it seems like he is about to go back but we keep talking to him and trying to help him out."

{AUTHOR_BOX}Cousins has noticed the change since the start of the season as well.

"I am a lot calmer and more relaxed," said Cousins.  "The games are easier for me now."

This is the Kings goal for the current season, to develop their young players and get better, and in the first five games of 2011, Cousins is averaging 21.2 points per game.  Being more relaxed seems to have added about nine points per game.

"There is no hard and fast timetable for improvement, but we want to see improvement and we have seen improvement," said Westphal.  "DeMarcus Cousins for example is a totally different player than he was at the start of the season because he has gathered a little bit of experience and he has started to figure out what he can and he can’t do in this league.

"He has been playing really well lately.  The big thing is to keep backing it up, there is always another game and a chance he could go forward or backward."

Dalembert provides an accurate description of just how far many people believe Cousins could go.

"The sky is the limit for him," said Dalembert.  "He has the greatest opportunity.  He is a young player with all the tools to do it.  So it is up to him.  There is nothing holding him back.  It is up to him to seize it, take it and show the kind of player that he is going to be."

As of now, the still just barely 20-year-old Cousins seems to have a firmer grasper of the realities in the NBA and what it will take to reach his potential.

"You have to have veterans on the team to mentor the guys," said Cousins.  "It is already hard enough learning on your own and doing this at the same time, these guys really help us.

"(Our goal is) to become a better team every day and improve with each game and each practice.  That is really what we are trying to do."

Coach Westphal can make a convincing case that his team’s record of wins and losses is not how this season should be judged.  The Kings are investing their efforts and playing time into the development of their young players with an eye fixed firmly on the future.  Therefore, the continued progress of Cousins development as an NBA player may be the best measuring stick of this season for the Kings and the results in early January indicate that the Kings are meeting their goals.