COJ: Would the Celtics trade for DeMarcus Cousins?


There's something defeating about writing about DeMarcus Cousins. Because regardless of what's written, or angles taken, there's the knowledge that a majority of people won't budge from their very opinionated stance on the Sacramento big man. Cousins represents the modern day internet - where there are two, and only two, very distinct camps. Filled by an unusually large amount of people who claim to be watching Sacramento Kings games very frequently.
  1. DeMarcus Cousins is the absolute best
  2. DeMarcus Cousins is the absolute worst

Let me at least set the table: The Sacramento Kings currently sit at 1 - 7. They're better than their record suggests, but they're also far from good. What's worse is that their chances of becoming good are fairly minimal. They currently have 62 million dollars in committed salary next season, and 46 the following season if Rudy Gay elects to take his player option. If their pick falls outside of the top 10 either this season or next they must give it up to the Chicago Bulls. Their first round pick (eight overall) from last year was traded for cap space. And they just benched their first round pick (seventh overall) from the year prior.

Their franchise center is good. In fact, very good. But he's shown himself incapable of carrying the load completely by himself. That's most likely because he's not one roughly one (maybe two) player/s in the world who are capable of doing that. While there's a lot to debate about Cousins, we know definitively that he needs some level of surrounding talent (something he's lacked) for his team to be successful. Some consistently at the head coach position probably wouldn't hurt either.

The Kings are unlikely to be able to provide either of those two things to DeMarcus by the time his next contract is up (the summer of 2018), and you'd think that it may be time for them to seriously consider trading the Kentucky product.

That's where the Boston Celtics come in. And by now, I'm guessing you've figured out what the trade proposal is: Brooklyn's unprotected first (and David Lee) for DeMarcus Cousins.

Cousins represents a lot of what the Boston Celtics are looking at. He's a twenty five year old center who produces today (last season putting up over 24 points, 12 rebounds, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game), on a very good contract (for reference; DeAndre Jordan, Brook Lopez, Enes Kanter and Tristan Thomas all signed more lucrative contracts this past season) that would still leave the Celtics with upwards of 50 million dollars in cap room. On top of what Cousins delivers today, he could feasibly get better: he still needs to work on cutting down his turnovers, and becoming more efficient with his shooting. Whether those warts are simply a product his frustration w/ a situation, or just his own stubbornness is debatable.

That's why he comes with such a cost. Brooklyn's first round pick, which seems like a lock to fall in the top three. While the draft traditionally presents a lot of unknown, the top of this year's class seems to be fairly strong. Having a young, franchise altering player under your control for his first seven seasons presents a whole mess of good. The kind of good you might not get from a 'hot-headed' big who's due for a contract extension in a few years.


Start Your Morning Off With.. Andre Drummond freakin' Drummond, man