Fans and foes are falling over each other in awe of Golden State Warriors starting unit for the upcoming NBA season which tips off on October 16.
A unit that has five All Star players is one to be envious of knowing many teams in the league lack a bonafide star. Defending NBA Champions Golden State has five of them in its starting unit and there is a lot to like about them beyond the All Star status.
Kevin Durant is a former Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award winner, Steph Curry has won MVP Awards twice, Klay Thompson is a three time Champion and owns the second best three point tally in a season in the NBA’s history.
Draymond Green is a former Defensive Player of the Year and the group’s newest member DeMarcus Cousins is the modern example of the modern NBA player with position-less skills.
The league is on high alert and will go at the Warriors not because they are the defending champions but also for a chance to bask in the spotlight since they are the league’s biggest attraction.
Before Cousins, there was Durant who got the league talking. Cousins has joined and many have penciled the upcoming season to be a bore since Golden State is very likely to run away with the title even before the season’s opening game against Oklahoma City Thunder.
Signing for Warriors is great for DeMarcus for multiple reasons chief among them a guaranteed path to his maiden playoffs and giving him enough room to reestablish himself to make good money when he becomes a free agent at the end of the season.
Had it not been for an Achilles injury, Cousins would have been the biggest contract recipient this offseason ahead of fellow University of Kentucky alums Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker. The consensus on this move is overwhelmingly positive but there are significant elements that could overturn this belief.
For starters, Cousins throwback style playing the Center position clashes with Golden State Warriors system. The Warriors run a lot and fastbreak points off steals and offensive rebounds are a big part of their offense. However, Cousins dominates the ball where he methodically breaks down with Guard like skills and flat out bully game when necessary. His heavy 6 foot 11 inch, 270 pounds body isn’t built to run like remaining members of the starting unit who are very mobile and use it to their advantage.
The most crucial bit has to do with Warriors penchant for running out small ball lineups that, aside Durant, has Klay Thompson as the tallest player. In such units, Cousins place in the starting unit is taken over by Andre Iguodala and it is used to close out close games. In the Western Conference, there are bound to be a lot of close games meaning Cousins could see less time in the most important period of games making him redundant and nothing but a shiny acquisition on Warriors bench.
Adding Cousins to a group that has a larger than life volatile personality in Draymond Green could create a lot of discord within the unit. A major knock on Cousins through his eight season career in the NBA has been his lack of maturity to deal with his emotions. The former New Orleans Pelicans big man has had a lot of disciplinary issues because of it and envisaging the buildup of frustration riding the bench in clutch time isn’t a good look for Warriors locker room harmony.
No one should be surprised to hear of bust ups involving Cousins and other players on the roster once the seasons starts. Cousins has played with members of Warriors starting unit at the international level and coexisted nicely. However, international competitions barely last a month and camp period pales in comparison to the NBA season so frustrations quickly evaporate.
The most glaring disaster waiting to happen is a relapse of the Achilles injury he suffered amidst a flying campaign alongside Anthony Davis in New Orleans. Such an injury has shorten the careers of many players notably Kobe Bryant whose career went downhill after suffering one. Bryant was a skilled Guard and Cousins is a skilled Center who relies more on his IQ more than athletic prowess to score points.
In effect Cousins could end clashing with members on his new team, miss out on the minutes and touches he needs to rebuild stock or hurt his stock by missing more games through injury. Moving looks great on paper but could prove disastrous in real time.
By Yaw Adjei-Mintah
@YawMintYM on Twitter
