You want to know the best thing about Geoff Petrie?
He doesn’t make the same mistakes everyone else adores making. A year ago, he sat and watched as Tyreke Evans, at 6-6 with incredible length and explosiveness, drifted on down the board and fell in his lap at the fourth overall pick. This year, he cocked his head to the side as team after team passed on arguably the most efficient offensive force in college basketball, an absolute beast of a man, based on character issues despite the lack of an arrest or significant off-court incident. Let’s be clear on this. Xavier Henry and Cole Aldrich were more heavily involved in an event (the KU basketball versus football cross-campus rendition of West Side Story that got swept under the rug) off-court than Demarcus Cousins was. Boogie’s a big kid that needs to mature. And he will with age. Petrie knew that, and now has one of the most promising young combinations in the NBA.
Thunder and lightning. Elevation and Devastation. Rock and Roll.
Evans’ speed, elusiveness in traffic, and sheer athleticism is going to draw defenders. His height and underrated passing ability will do the rest. Cousins can clean up. It sounds like such a simple ability, to finish a dump-off pass, but so many rookies ruin those possessions to hair-pulling results. Cousins, though? He understands that basket. That sounds like a ridiculous statement, but it’s true. Some guys just instinctively know where the basket is and can translate physical actions into putting the little round thing into that basket. Basically, take the opposite of Hasheem Thabeet’s knowledge and abilities thereof.
That pick and roll? Try guarding it. You can flash the big on the switch and then recover, but Evans is tall enough to zip line the roll pass and fast enough to get by. Force Evans to the basket and then work to force a tough floater? You’ve just surrendered the weak side, which means Cousins is cleaning up the miss. How about the post? If Cousins can navigate even the simplest of cut passes? You’ve got a monster in the high block, flipping the ball to a speed demon ripping towards the rim. On defense, the two can contain and muscle and it will feel like you’re getting beaten by giant leather bat wings and having barrels thrown at you by Donkey Kong at the same time.
There will be mistakes. Defensively, offensively. Cousins will blame Evans for plays. Evans will defend himself. But if they can get past those moments, learn, and move on? Cousins is the Blaster to Evans’ Master, the Hammer to Evans’ Sickle. While other teams opted for the safe play, the traditional route, the weaker option, Petrie took the shot and now has a 1-2 punch to mix with his other weapons, and neither can drink yet.
The personalities will be interesting. Evans is quiet and unobtrusive, not the demanding leader that is typically modeled thereof. But maybe that’s just it. Evans the Rod, Cousins the Candy. One for fun, one for work. Both with the ability to strike fear in the hearts of their opponents, and both with a lot to develop.
Develop.
Oklahoma has set a dangerous precedent. Don’t interrupt. Don’t interfere. Don’t destroy the chemistry. Let it brew, simmer, and become something entirely new. Now Petrie has that idea in principle. All he has to do is commit to it. And it may not be as easy as it was with Durant, Green, and Westbrook. But the payoff could be similar. And if you commit to it, and don’t ruin it with pride and urgency, you can find your have something that’s not only powerful, but yours.
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[...] Read full article here. [...]
[...] Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins could spell a new era of destruction, says Hardwood Paroxysm. [...]
You forgot to add Shock and Awe.
sniff , sniff. That was Beautiful man , I’m sipping on my Beer Crying with Joy ( Bud Light ), Petrie picked the guy i wanted. COUSINS! I am looking forward to this Season , No More Old English 800 , No More Mad Dog 20/20, No more Kicking my own azz. I no longer have to torture my self thinking of 2002 of how my beloved kings got robbed ,I Now see a Light at the end of the Tunnel , sniff , sniff , I think we finally got something Snappy. We got ourselfs a Team , with the Addition of Whiteside and Cousins , Petrie pulled it Off , he is a Genuis! I am just crying with Joy! I admit i have not bought season tickets in the Past i live in Reno ,but THIS YEAR i am buying Season Tickets , I am Moving back to Sacramento , I can’t wait for this Season to Start. are the Beers still $1.00 there ? never mind , I think i will be sober during the Games , i don’t want to miss out on the Excitement. GO KINGS! Thankyou Petrie!
Great article. The future is bright for us long suffering kings fans. RekeDMC is going to tear things up in a few years!
pointless
[...] other news, I came across a great piece this morning written by Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm. Moore touches on the pairing of Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins and what what their future means to the rest of the NBA. I highly recommend the read – [...]
The queens just have a ball hog stat fluffer and a slightly taller Zach Randolph. No where near OKC. Hope ya’ll are used to picking in the lottery. Your crappy team is gonna be there for a while, well.. until you move out of the cow town and to San Jose/Anaheim/Vegas (aka real cities)
Ahh thanks for reminding me. Its not the lakers i hate, its their fans.
I just don’t see Paul Westphal being the kind of coach that really gets Reke and Cousins to be as good as they could be. They need a coach that really instills in them a work ethic and mentality that they could be the best in the NBA at what they do.
Chemistry can brew and simmer, but a coach still needs to be the spoon that stirs the pot once in a while.
Sactown that was the perfect response to lakersrock…Don’t know how they manage to produce such consistently ridiculous fans
Lakersrock,
Jealous much? Lakers have followers (aka fairweather). Kings have fanatics (aka real fans).
Now behave or we just might run out of water for ya’s (aka needy cities).
Hof charles barkley only won one mvp award…is coach was paul westphal. Barkley only made It to the finals once…his coach was paul westphal…I think he knows how to stir a pot.
It’s fans like lakersrock that manage to give Yankees fans a run for their money as the most annoying fans in professional sports. But they make their teams such an obvious foil that it’s hard to not appreciate them. And, at the same time, you have to feel for them–they’ve never needed to invest much in their teams. Everyone knows the best players will naturally gravitate towards them, and any periods of mediocrity will be brief. So the stakes aren’t very high; how bad could it ever really get? But the payoff is similarly limited.
Anaheim is a real city? You understand that Downtown Disney is a shopping mall, and not a real downtown, right? The Kings aren’t going anywhere.
Also, there’s a difference between being a ball hog and being the best option in big situations. Evans isn’t a ball hog — one of those stats he supposedly “fluffed” was assists. (Another was rebounds, which don’t actually just fall into a player’s hands most of the time — a guy has to go get them.) He was just the best option to score a basket most of the time.
A Lakers fan, who presumably has rooted for Kobe Bryant all his career is going to harp on somebody being a ball hog?
The Lakers will never be down for long, but we’re coming up on a stretch where the best teams in the West are the Thunder, the Blazers and the Kings.
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And it is a shining, gleaming Nasmith trophy!! TIME, it is gonna take time for these 2 to get in sync, but when they do, it will be an awesome twosome! Inside and outside (provided Reke masters the art of the jumper), with all the other weapons the Kings have brought together it will be fun to watch!
Its all about TRUST and FAITH