Player Breakdowns: DeMarcus Cousins, The Linchpin

This piece begins a series that analyzes every New Orleans Pelicans player leading up to the team’s first preseason game.

DeMarcus Cousins is a producer of extremely varying opinions. His boundless potential and limited team success sits at the core of these opinions

To start with, his offensive repertoire is staggering.

One interesting quirk is his ability to hit Anthony Davis in the post. After Cousins pulls down the rebound, AD would usually sprint down the court and try to gain position down low.

Boogie would then go 70 of the 94 feet, around the three-point line or so, and deliver the ball to AD who, at this point, is shockingly close to the hoop. The rest is obvious for a normal Anthony Davis shot attempt.

Cousins is also very good at finding Davis for alley-oops. 18 of his 66 assists with the Pelicans were to AD. Either running a 4/5 pick and roll or simply finding him on a cut, Cousins threw a ton of alley-oops to his fellow star.

This kind of vision, in turn, encouraged lots of off-ball movement.

Matt Moore outlined this in his recent, and fantastic, piece on the Pelicans.

Cousins defensive rebounding capabilities are as helpful as they are necessary. With two bigs on the floor, defensive lapses may be covered up with overpowering rebounding.

Cousins has been top-5 in defensive rebounding percentage two of the last four years and nearly always in the top-10. His ability to snag these rebounds over tough opponents allows Davis to sprint down the court in transition.

Scoring-wise, Cousins is an interesting study. He has a ton of the tools with not much of the efficiency. His favorite shot is his jumper. 

This is where he usually stands somewhere firmly in the mid-range, catching out of the pick and pop or turning to face up in the post. A couple jab steps usually precede the leaning jumper. Despite shooting 790 jumpers last season, he was only able to hit on 34.8% of them.

He was best when looking for the bank shot. He didn’t use it very often, technically, looking for it only 25 times last season, hitting 20. Although, intent on a bank shot seems hard to decipher if that shot is inaccurate.

The shot the Pelicans will most need is Cousins’ spot-up jumper. Luckily, that was a very efficient shot for him in his brief time with the Pels, 95th percentile to be exact. Cousins won’t have to exclusively stand on the perimeter but providing space will be a huge asset for a team without much of it.

His most interesting shot is his fadeaway jumper. Falling away from his defender allows for his shot to remain consistent. In the post, it is his most reliable move. When he spins into contact his ferocity tends to blossom while his technique fades. Aggressively barreling into the hoop. This is what makes him a spotty finisher. 

He feels contact and begins to flail haphazardly, throwing the basketball at the hoop instead of shooting it.

Cousins shot only 90/230 in the paint that does not include the restricted area, only 9/26 on tip shots, and just 82.5% on dunk attempts! 

This amplification of aggression not only leads to poor shot attempts but fouls and flagrants. The more rage, the more likely a foul will be called against him, and the more likely his team will suffer because of it.

His defense, on the other hand, could use some provocation. When motivated, he can excel as a defender and make Anthony Davis and him a fortifying duo. The problem is, he lacks consistency. On rare occasion, he barely makes it across the court. Luckily, it appeared like he cared as a member of the Pelicans.

Anthony Davis and him will make the Pelicans a top-5 defense this season and will be a treacherous team to navigate past, as I dissected here.

Cousins has many gifts. His shooting has the ability to open up the offense. He rebounding allows for mistakes to be masked. His defense could mean the ultimate rim protection. He is the Pelicans linchpin and their season could depend on whether he aggressively barrels into the season, or gracefully succeeds.

Next: Season Goals: DeMarcus Cousins’ Temper and Defensive Versatility

If he does not find the latter, it could disrupt not just this season but the many to come for the Pelicans. He has all the skills to make those years something great, instead of something tragic.