When the 19-year-old DeMarcus Cousins was drafted fifth overall by the Kings after just one-year at Kentucky, the word was this highly skilled 6′ 11" 290lb dominating college freshman was a hot-tempered gamble.

"They never really gave me a chance," Cousins said candidly to HOOPSWORLD. "I came in with that rep.  Everything said about me was negative.  My whole image was negative coming in."

Being cast in the role of a potential villain was never something Cousins envisioned when he left college for the NBA and there wasn’t really any way to prepare the teenager for what was about to happen.

"Under the circumstances, it’s been hard," said Cousins.  "Actually playing the game has not been hard, it’s been all the other things around it.

"In the beginning it wasn’t hard, but now every small thing I do is really blown up.  I get compared to all these players like Rasheed Wallace.  I’ve played but one season, it’s crazy."

It is easy to argue the Cousins has brought much of the negative press on himself and kept it alive with actions like getting into an altercation with a teammate, actions that ended with Cousins being suspended by his own team for a game in February.  But Cousins does not see himself as the angry young man that he is often portrayed as.

"Do I have a temper," repeated Cousins to the question. "No, I’d say I am emotional.  I’d agree that I am emotional.  When I am happy, I’m happy, when I am sad, I’m sad.  That’s what makes me go, I am an emotional player.

"Its passion (not anger), just being a competitor trying to be better than the next person."

Cousins has his supporters amongst the people who know him well but he understands why it can be difficult for some people to show their support.

"Guys who might try to say I’m a good guy when other people are saying I’m not, well they feel like a fool, so I think they are just going with the flow," explained Cousins.

"We have a good relationship," confirmed Kings veteran Francisco Garcia earlier this season.  "We are like brothers out there.  He has got my back, I got his back."

"DeMarcus Cousins for example is a totally different player than he was at the start of the season," said Kings head coach Paul Westphal after the Christmas break.  "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."

Plus the Kings have not left Cousins out there to figure everything out on his own.

"We have a lot of support systems around DeMarcus," said Westphal.  "And he is beginning to understand the importance of using those people and their experience.

"Every once and a while he reminds you (that he just turned 20-years-old).  He is a passionate young player and he really has a wide variety of skills and he wants to be good which is what I really like about him."

Even though there is obvious frustration that fans may see on the court occasionally as a result of being on a losing team, Cousins actually has a good understanding of his situation and recognizes that this season is all about the development of the Kings young players and chemistry between himself and the King’s other young star Tyreke Evans.

"Being on a young team in our first year together we need to just continue to build chemistry," said Cousins.  "We still have a lot of building to do on this team.  We are going through a lot of changes right now and it’s a process.  I hope no one was just expecting us to be a playoff team in his (Evans) second-year and my first-year."

"We are around each other a lot," said Cousins about his relationship with Evans.  "We were building chemistry but injuries set him back.  We were getting better and now we are taking steps back because we have to adjust and change the way that we play.  His injury really put us back.

"It is very tough.  Not having a winning season and just going out there and trying to make yourself play hard."

One of the common suggestions for players who seem to need more time to mature before they enter the professional ranks is to stay in college a little longer, but Cousins doesn’t see things that way.

"Either way you are going to have to go through the experience," said Cousins.  "So it doesn’t matter if I was in (college) for four-years or two-years, I would still have to go through the experience.  I was going to be considered a high draft pick, I was going to come to a losing team, there was going to be frustrations, either way I go, I was going to be in this situation.  It was a learning experience that I was going to have to go through.  It doesn’t matter how many years you do (in college), you are going to go through the experience."

{AUTHOR_BOX}As difficult as it has been to adjust to life under the microscope in the NBA and receiving more criticism than he expected, Cousins is learning to deal with the situation and hopefully he can live up to his own observations and advice.

"I really just ignore the critics," said Cousins.  "One minute they are in love with you and the next minute they hate you.  Look at Kobe, one minute they hate him, next minute he’s the greatest.  That’s how it is.  That’s how this business is.  They love you one day, they hate you the next.

"I know what to expect (now).  I have to accept it.  I know what I am going through and plenty of other players have been through it as well.  I am not going to say that I was the only one to have received this treatment.  A lot of players have gone through it.

"I believe people recognize (my skills) and I believe that overshadows any negativeness.  I would like to get to a point where my basketball is all that people are looking at and not all this other stuff.

"I can’t wait until that day when I can just sit back and say I went through all that and look where I am at now."

Outside of the emotionally tense atmosphere in a game, Cousins comes across as a thoughtful young man who knows what he wants to accomplish and what he needs to accomplish it.  Dealing with game situations and relationships is something that we should expect he will get better at with experience, just like any other young player.  

Plus it is getting harder to ignore what Cousins is accomplishing on the court.  Over his past 11 games, Cousins has eight double-doubles and scored 20 or more points five-times.  No one doubts the talent and star potential of this impressive young big man.  That day when Cousins can look back and reflect on how far he has come and what he overcame to get there may not be all that far into the future.

You can send me comments or questions about DeMarcus Cousins or anything else in the NBA to my weekly chat  and check back on Thursday at 12 noon ET for a response.