Please Stop Overrating DeMarcus Cousins...

Boogie Cousins in his prime was NOT better than Jokic or Embiid and here's why.
#nba #basketball #commentary
more content: @alsorustybuckets @SHOOTAROUND

[@ColeFrmNc]

The video we all needed cause my god you have people on Twitter comparing his prime to Jokic for Christ sakes

[@K1ngCarlton]

Why you keep calling on Jesus?

[@DrKlitamortus]

True but the actual video doesn’t start until 5:34. This dude is talking slower than brook lopez on a fast break. Click bait video about a fake hot take.

[@isaiahwilliams2332]

It’s called X now

[@seand1011]

If you think the video goes too slow, just speed it up to 1.25x

[@bluesnem8396]

@@DrKlitamortusyea bro such click bait i bet everyone is dying to watch a demarcus cousins hot take video

[@SwankDaSauce]

I think the reason demarcus seemed better than he was, was because there wasnt a large portion of good shooting bigs at the time. I will say however, he probably played a large impact on how bigs play in the current NBA.

[@andresdelportillo9917]

Nah Rasheed Wallace , bill laimbeer started it , cousins ain’t do nothing

[@dumbassdude8372]

All he impacted was Bigs complaining and flopping for calls

[@CDofn]

I think it’s cuz he was the best center while the center position was the weakest it had ever been in nba history. Deandre Jordan was first team all nba a few years before boogies prime

[@leosburner627]

I like Boogie, but Boogie as influential is a wild take…

[@TerribleTake]

@@andresdelportillo9917giving credit to some bum ass shooters like lambier and the Wallace is crazy they didn’t influence a damn thing bro💀

[@greatgreentea]

as a kings fans, it’s absurd to think he was close to embiid, let alone jokic.

[@DreDaDon16]

Prime Cousins is just as good as Embiid he just didn't have good teammates Embiid is a 7 foot Harden with shot blocking ability Cousins offensive bag was way deeper

[@greatgreentea]

@@DreDaDon16 jamal crawford is better than klay thompson because he has a deeper bag

[@johnfinance8053]

@@DreDaDon16 The reality is Embiid isnt far off Jokic, the difference is Jokic is one of the greatest playmakers and passers of all time. So when you look at cousins who is signficantly worse defe nsively than embiid and a worse scorer. The slightly better playmaking doesnt come close to making up for those other 2 factors

[@DreDaDon16]

@@johnfinance8053 Embiid without Free Throws he is just a more aggressive Karl Anthony Towns I never seen a so called elite big man miss so many shots at the rim..... Embiid is the most overrated player I've ever seen MVP my ass

[@danzeljohnson3341]

He was almost as good as jokic it’s that play making at such an high level basically guarantees you at least make the playoffs while being pure scorer is probably the easiest thing to replace in the league and won’t account for many wins unless your surrounded defenders. It’s like comparing iverson and j kid.

[@DenniDownBad]

Half of Cousins issues stem from playing for the Kings for half of the 2010s

[@RonnyTheGamer]

Preach

[@julianbell9161]

So by that math, that means that the Kings are responsible for 1/4 of the issues for Cousins during the 2010s.

[@dumbassdude8372]

Or he really wasnt just that great. If Old CP can carry a young thunder team why cant cousins do that too?

[@za5528]

@@dumbassdude8372 Embiid carried the 10-72 Sixers roster to a 41-win pace as a rookie, Jokic carried an extremely mid roster to 48 wins, but Cousins with a slightly better surrounding cast than either of those got 33 wins because he's not as good as people think he was

[@ThaTruth223]

@@za5528lmfao what roster did the kings have that was comparable to anything the nuggets had ?????

[@julianbell9161]

The biggest thing that helps Boogie’s legacy is that the Kings never made the playoffs so he doesn’t have any playoff stinker performances for people to dog on him like they do for James Harden or Joel Embiid. When you don’t have any notable playoff performances, your regular season highlights define your legacy. This allows people to say “man, if Boogie played on a better team, imagine how many playoff series or titles he would have won.”

[@wilchan9931]

this

[@fortynights1513]

Was Cousins capable of being the best player on a low seeded playoff team in your opinion?

[@fortynights1513]

Also, for players who have made the playoffs (regardless of success in it) is it fair to say that what they did in the regular season in their careers are mostly forgotten (regardless of how cool those highlights would be)

[@ChairmanMo]

Imagine if Boogie was drafted by teams with good player development and management like the Raptors, GSW, Spurs...he would have kicked ass.

[@PuchuKt]

Kemba had a similar benefit of the doubt before he went to Boston

[@Smashball987]

I think it’s because of the lack of great big men for most of the 2010s. Was really just Cousins, AD, and an older Duncan for most the decade.

[@Mgbruh]

Facts the Warriors championship centers included Bogut and Zaza who would get cooked by Jokic/Embiid. There was only like 2 big men you had to worry about and they were on trash teams.

[@jeffgolden2308]

​@@MgbruhBogut wouldn't get cooked fuck are you talking about

[@justanobody0]

I didn't really see much of the 2010s, but Dirk's wiki says he played until 2019. While Duncan only played until 2016, so if Duncan counts, then I don't see why Dirk wouldn't be on that list.

[@justanobody0]

Were Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol bad in the 2010s? Pau won rookie of the year in 2002, and seemed like a good player in the 2000s. I'm guessing he made allstar teams, and that's when competing against big names that would often get allstar selections like Shaq, KG, Tim Duncan, Dirk, throw in Yao Ming. and Marc Gasol was really good in 2019 during the Raptor's championship run.

[@Nuthinnull]

Marc Gasol > Cousins

[@danielshaltes911]

"DeMarcus Cousins would have made the HoF if not for injuries" is potentially a hot take (and I think it's what people really mean here) but it's defensible; "DeMarcus Cousins was better than the last 2 MVPs" is not.

[@trevorbenos9540]

i think a lot of the boogie discourse comes from the fact that he was wayyy better than the next best center in his era. the gap between jokic and embiid isnt THAT big in comparison to boogie and… houston dwight howard? marc gasol? he was just so much better than his inferior competition so it feels like hes better than he was in retrospect

[@Mostillist]

yeah he had a 3-4 year run where no center was even close to him so it made him stand out more

[@skins1024]

Great point

[@fortynights1513]

Is him being compared to Adebayo at the end fair?

[@joelnigro5739]

I believe Anthony Davis passed him in 2015

[@taj3618]

@@joelnigro5739 AD was a pf

[@PassivesAbseits]

The problems with overrating him is... that DaMarcus Cousins is one of the biggest "What ifs?", and we as fans got robbed of a potentially great career. 1st: What if he wasn't drafted to the clusterfuck of a franchise that were the Kings? If he actually played in a surrounding, where he developed as a player, instead of developing bad habits. If he actually got good coaches, instead of Paul Westphal? Or if they didn't fire Michael Malone for no reason? A franchise, that drafted good players, instead of Nik Stauskas? 2nd: What if he didn't get injured basically as soon, as he got out of Sacramento? So they judge Cousins by his highlight reels and his potential, instead of his actual play.

[@LPjunemark]

There is no if in his career. He can't lead kings to an 8th seed team. Most of his tenure with kings are awful. His numbers are empty calories

[@bandito241]

Puh lease. Replace Cousins with Shaq and he carry those teams to an 8th seed. He was a second or third option at best.

[@PassivesAbseits]

@@bandito241 never said, that those takes overrating Cousins are right. Just trying to explain, where they are coming from. And yes, Cousins would have had a better career, had he been drafted by the San Antonio Spurs... But he still would not have been as good, as Jokic is right now. There is a middle ground here. Also, Shaq would have quit on Sacramento after 3 seasons and demanded a trade. Or at least gotten out of there ASAP. I mean, he left a pretty decent situation in Orlando after just 4 years.

[@toad7395]

what if he didn't have a terrible personality

[@anthonygant2699]

All the Pels had to do was fill out the rest of the roster when he played with AD they looked like 17u kids playing vs 12u the injury killed that potential

[@beboman124]

I will never stop overrating Demarcus cousins his highlights are too fun

[@Beanhead_223]

This is the right answer

[@allenmk138]

We didn't even see Boogie in his prime, so his peak could have been a MVP for at least one season.

[@xzxzxccxzcw2028]

@@allenmk138 This is complete bullshit lol

[@cloakedcrowd1616]

@@xzxzxccxzcw2028you’re acting like he’s just a mid player. Idc who it is, you have to have been great to average 25 and 10 in the nba for a 5 year stretch. Complete bullshitbthat peopple just act like he’s some overrated bum who wasn’t good just cuz some dude says he’s not as good as generational talent?

[@BucketofScuzz]

Fun Fact. DeMarcus Cousins was in the Hall of Fame. At least last time I visited there was an exhibit devoted to his 40-20-10 game as a Pelican. As well as Bookers 70pt game against the Celtics.

[@fortynights1513]

It’s cool to be in the Hall of Fame, even if only for one game.

[@jaywebb1016]

Just to give some context big cuz tore his Achilles at age 26 right as he was getting into his prime.He avg 5 asts as a center with both rondo and jrue holiday on the team.

[@jonasgorea3823]

Damn bro boogie catching strays lol. He was a product of a really shitty center era like al jefferson was a top tier center back in his hayday from 2012-2016. He was the best out of a garbage era. But personally i loved watching him play as a big kid growing up through it 😂

[@Rance_Sports]

center era is still garbage

[@yoyocpolan5833]

@@Rance_SportsJarrett Allen, Jokic, embiid, AD, sabonis. Looney, Claxton and bam aren’t horrible

[@fortynights1513]

Would it be fair to call Cousins an above average center in a typical era for the position? Not the best, but above the middle? Also, when Rusty made a video about Jahlil Okafor, he argued that Okafor in a different era would be looked at like Jefferson was. Was Al Jefferson also a good post up guy who couldn’t do anything else well?

[@T.H.E.O.R.Y.]

​@@Rance_Sportsbetter than Cousins's era 🤷‍♂️

[@tarunganesg9700]

@@Rance_Sportshow is it? It’s the best it’s been since the 90s

[@chrishosey7535]

He was borderline top 10 in the league, and super fun to watch, but he wasn't THAT guy.

[@1ajgtwm]

He couldn't be that guy with them teammates with the kings lol

[@Igor19485]

Yep, he was an all star but not even a superstar in his prime

[@aariesharris7894]

⁠@@Igor19485I wouldn’t categorize him as just an “all star”, whatever the middle ground between all star and superstar is where Cousins fits. People were willing to trade multiple 1st rd picks for him. He was considered a cornerstone piece for a lot of teams trying to trade for him

[@justanobody0]

I didn't get to watch much of the 2010s, but generally speaking if you're a top 10 guy in the league, you're an amazing player like in the mid 2000s you have you have Shaq, Yao, KG, Tim Duncan, Dirk, Amare, Nash, TMac, Pau Gasol, Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, Elton Brand, Baron Davis, AI, etc, etc. If you're a top 10 from that group you're amazing I forgot someone like Dwyane Wade (who was arguably the best player in the nba in the mid 2000s)

[@koga477]

He was undeniably top 5, Demarcus Cousins was undeniably the best center in the league before injury

[@colinmccarthy8764]

THANK YOU!!!! Twitter been pissing me off lately. Whoops sorry “X” 😃

[@bcyost1908]

No one is ever going to refer to it as X lol.

[@fortynights1513]

@@bcyost1908Why it was renamed that is beyond me

[@welcometowallys8158]

17:40 Derrick Rose is definitely looked at with rose tinted glasses the most, nostalgia so powerful everyone forgot 2016 happened🤐

[@za5528]

People say he would've been better than Steph Curry lmao

[@voiceofreason2674]

@@za5528 he coulda been if he didnt get hurt

[@za5528]

@@voiceofreason2674 Very unlikely he would've been a top-10 maybe at worst top-12 player of all time. Not to say he wouldnt have been an all-time great but there's levels between like a top-30 all time and top-10 all time ish player

[@randomrocketsfan3298]

Boogie is another one of the many players who is overrated because of nostalgia

[@fortynights1513]

Team and era of position exacerbate that perhaps

[@Comedyhub0505]

Boogie was HIM in his prime, you couldn’t stop him i’ll glady compare him to anyone

[@Blasian_guy]

Agreed if he went against embid he’s matching him

[@Comedyhub0505]

@@Blasian_guy I think Boogie beats him 9-10 times

[@dylanjohnson2731]

ain’t even watch this yet and i already know what it’s about. prime demarcus cousins is nowhere near jokic and embiid

[@StancedHellcat]

Not even just boogie either I’ll see highlights from 2017 of Isaiah Thomas with “he should be in the league rn”

[@ethanennis8]

This is why looking at All-NBA Teams are important. Cousins was never first team for a reason

[@adonisbarlay3292]

I mean deandre Jordan made it in 2016

[@chrisuncleahmad]

Mike Bibby never made it either

[@mrvxg4820]

Bec he played for the Kings

[@justanobody0]

who determines who makes all nba teams how do you know the DeMarcus didn't get 5 votes and DeAndre Jordan got 6 votes, so DeAndre Jordan got all nba first team (or whatever number of votes there are) how do you know one of the media members doesn't like DeMarcus and didn't vote for him, because of that

[@ethanennis8]

@@adonisbarlay3292 that is an outlier bc of how bad the position was, but look at Demarcus still couldn’t beat out DeAndre

[@rome8180]

The Cousins fanbase has nothing on the Westbrook, Rose, and Iverson stans. I swear, those three players have a cult around them for some reason. I guess people are just obsessed with athletic guards.

[@taj3618]

Iverson carried a team to the finals. He’s in a different tier

[@fortynights1513]

@@taj3618Hot take I have about AI: The first game of the 2003 playoffs was just as good if not better than his first game of the 2001 finals. A worse opponent (albeit still top ten defensively), but he shot 20% better from the field, and scored seven more points I believe.

[@richcantgame]

He doesn’t belong in the convo with any of those 3. Let alone AI and Russ. Let alone AI. There’s tiers dog, like that’s just a dumb take.

[@taj3618]

@@fortynights1513 a win in the finals hits a lil bit harder tho

[@fortynights1513]

@@taj3618A win in the finals is obviously a bigger stage and the last round of the playoffs. But I think the efficiency gap is worth noting because AI was said to be very inefficient, and in the 01 finals game he was about at his average to a bit above, whereas his 03 first round game was on 74% true shooting. I think it’s a fair thing to go back and forth between personally.

[@1highvelocity1]

Bro had Andre Drummond and DeAndre Jordan as competition for best bigs in the league 😂

[@ianrowland8357]

Great video Rusty, really really good points all the way through and the nostalgia part at the end is spot on

[@mrjermz5406]

Cousins was a well rounded and talented Center in a time when there were few if any in the league. However, he also had a reputation for having a bad attitude and being terrible for the locker room. Overall, I thing his year with the Pelicans was sadly the peak of his career.

[@davit368]

without any defense which is an essential for a center

[@jonwifebeaterjones6389]

​@@UPedits...My thoughts exactly like bruh he was getting ejected a bunch of times and had fist fights with teammates and even Fans in one instance. Bro would throw fits in practice reportedly too. Like bro i was 10 when he those story's came out and i didn't like him.

[@roboninja3194]

@@davit368 Tf? There is no defense in the NBA anymore.

[@orangejuice20133]

@@roboninja3194that’s cap everyone team that has won a ring in the last 5 years has had a top 2 defence except the nuggets and they went to 3rd in the playoffs

[@pinobluevogel6458]

Excellent video. If you start looking at advanced statistics, the differences become even more stark, especially with Jokic. It might be a little unfair to compare these players, as Jokic is a statistical anomoly in many ways. He has historic statistics, doing things no other player ever did. However, even the eye test proves that Embiid is a far more dominant and hard to stop player and Jokic is similarily hard to stop, but also makes everyone around him super dangerous. We are basically comparing an all-star level player with 2 MVP level players. That said, I like DeMarcus Cousins too. I haven't seen much of him during his carreer, but as a final hurrah to celebrate this excellent player I want to point out his last playoff performance. He came in off the bench for Denver as more of a desperation move and was somehow really efficient. He chugged a bunch shots in low amount of minutes and looked like the amazing starplayer we always hoped he'd be. It was more a testiment to his attitude than anything and that is exactly how I like to remember him.

[@justc1re617]

It's sad that this is a conversation but this video should end it. Great video as always Rusty

[@jonwifebeaterjones6389]

Except for the part where he called him likeable

[@arianmovaffaghi4519]

Boogie was the best center in an era with extremely bad center talent, today he’d be a top 5 center only behind Jokic, Embiid (BIG GAP) AD (BIG GAP) Boogie edit: I think boogie is around as good as Domas right now

[@ceeb107]

If a health Demarcus cousins was on the kings team now they would have made it to the western conference finals at least. He kills domantus sabonis in offensive skill and playmaking shooting etc.

[@justanobody0]

How many centers in the past 23 years averaged 25+ ppg Shaq obviously I had look up Yao Ming's numbers, and he had one season (and the league was a slower pace back then) Amare (and people considered him to be kind of a PF playing C, just to make the Suns a faster team) and then the guys you mentioned (Jokic, Embiid, and AD) - and Boogie

[@joel8692]

​@@justanobody0Dwight Howard didn't constantly avg 25 but in his prime he was definitely better than boogie all around especially rebounding and def

[@justanobody0]

​@@joel8692 well, I wasn't saying if your ppg was higher than a player it automatically makes that player the better player. I was just saying that Boogie is one of the few centers to average 25 ppg in the last 23 years. Dwight never averaged 25 ppg in a regular season according to his wiki. I only got to see young Dwight, and championship Lakers Dwight, and even championship Lakers Dwight was a handful for guys to deal with.

[@dierise6875]

@@justanobody0 Yao Ming wasn’t really able to play much in his career because of those injuries, so who knows what he would’ve actually averaged?

[@RafitoOoO]

My man made a 18 minutes to diss Boogie in 2023 😂😂😂

[@eddyfleming1949]

You should make this a series. Starting with expanding on the Derrick rose comment at the end

[@fraso4156]

This type of overrating happens with players with a visually appealing scoring game. Players with a deep "bag" as kids says nowadays. Same happens with Kyrie, Melo, Iverson and yeah also with Kobe. As you sayed, it gets even worse once they are retired and nostalgia plays a role. Cousins was very talented and when his game was on he could even be more fun to watch than Embiid or even Jokic, but there is no reason to believe he was a better basketball player than any of them.

[@thoh161]

i was longing for this video. I really needed it. Desperately

[@sabahaddinzaim5086]

Cousins was very good in his prime. But he was probably a tier below jokic and embiid of today. If we say Jokic and Embiid are S tier, Cousins was like A tier who was on horrible teams before getting traded and eventual injury.

[@jefferydahmer3747]

this video came so clutch because my friend just compared boogies prime was over jokic

[@cjchris3934]

He was the best center in the league at one point. He’s not overrated

[@maxjones2981]

Good points but what happened to 3-10 ft?

[@ChairmanMo]

Demarcus Cousins is a bit of a tragedy in that you wonder if he could have been better. He was drafted by the 'Queens' and he was quite immature and did not have the ability to go and improve his game on his own once he realized that the 'Queens' coaching and management sucked ass. I remember Tim Legler roasting him back in the early 2010s for being immature and not stepping up his game and that he could end up becoming a bust that will be mercilessly mocked. The good thing is that this did not happen; but if DeMarcus Cousins had sought out help from guys like Tim Legler and taken the initiative to build up his game and career way earlier he could have done way more. DC is a case of not getting the right people around him to help build his career, not having the self driven initiative to go get things done until much later, being drafted by a team that was a dumpster fire and then being traded to a team that was a flaming bag of dog turd. Right when it seems like things were going to get better then he blows his Achilles. DC was actually great to the fans in Sacramento and was generally a decent guy. The fact that his career is over when he is only 32 is such a waste.

[@pidgeon30gaming]

And I might go DeMarcus Cousins out in public Man, I'm back on this again, I'm here again

[@HayabusaRyu]

DeMarcus in his prime was a problem but saying he's better or on the level of a back to back MVP and NBA champion is wild.

[@trenttowers7353]

I feel like if Malone could of developed boogie the way he wanted we would not be having this conversation

[@VulcanThaCreator]

Real tragedy to me is that we focus too much on individual positions. Sure Cousins was the best of his era but the premier big man of 2012-2016 is AD in my book. Even Lamarcus Aldridge gets really underrated for being a PF instead of a C.

[@fortynights1513]

People historically tended to think in terms of positions, and it feels like the last few years we have began to think in terms of roles more than positions.

[@justanobody0]

it always felt that way with Tim Duncan and Dirk they always seemed physically big enough/tall enough to play center generally speaking, and sometimes they did, but they were generally referred to as 4s.

[@georgiaboy2023]

I can definitely relate to the "having to talk about a topic when a bunch of people are wrong about it" vibe

[@RR-in7do]

This was personal. 😂😂

[@AleksandarAcanski]

That was a colourful response you put up there :D Cheers

[@Madvillainy48]

He's not close to Jokic, but I genuinely think Boogie's game would've translated better in the playoffs than Embiid's. Even if that's not true, I just don't like Embiid.

[@tommartyn524]

I was gonna say the same thing. I think embiid is drastically overrated. Dude turns mid in the playoffs

[@fortynights1513]

Not defending Embiid, but what part of his game doesn’t translate to the playoffs in your opinion?

[@DrawQuick2014]

W for embiid slander

[@Gdfsandoz]

​@fortynights1513 literally everything about his game. Doesn't get his flop calls so he just gives up. He got roasted on defense so bad these playoffs too.

[@shamsielshahar120]

​@@fortynights1513all of his offense. The dropoff in his offensive numbers on regular season and playoffs is quite big. However, his defense does step up in the playoffs so he really needs a reliable scorer on his team, which he doesn't have on his career thus far.

[@albertpollard9622]

I think people just want to give Boogie his props he was the best center when the position was under appreciated and dying

[@bomberbcm]

If this leads to a “Please stop overrating” SERIES then I’ve been seeing a little too much Tyrese-CP3 comps 👀

[@gurhhjde2937]

I don't think that comparing Tyrese to CP3 makes him overrated. Their numbers are very similar at their age and their efficiency is also the same. In fact, Tyrese is actually a bit more efficient as a scorer compared to CP3 and is a better 3-point shooter. CP3 has higher volume during his prime years in the midrange but Tyrese has shown that he can be on that level and could develop into being even better. The only thing separating them as scores is that CP3 was better at finishing and in the floater range which I think cancels out Tyrese being a better 3-point shooter. CP3 was obviously one of the best defenders in the league in his prime, but Tyrese is also a good defender, not as good as prime CP3 but still good. They are good at some of the same things, put up similar numbers and efficiency which is probably why they get compared. Tyrese still has a ways to go, especially as a finisher but he has a similar impact on winning that CP3 has shown throughout his career. The Pacers were above .500 with Tyrese healthy but they were 9-17 without him, which is a crazy drop-off. They would have made at least the play-in as the 8 or 9 seed with him but ended up finishing 11th instead. Just because two players are getting compared does not mean that they are both at the same level. In the case of Tyrese ,he plays very similarly to CP3, and that is probably why they are getting compared.

[@scottheredia9805]

Boogie was never the best player in the league, but he should have been the best center in the league. And he could probably be a center today, but the league has changed for God's sake, Brook lopez shoots 3s

[@justanobody0]

"but the league has changed" the video says as Demarcus started shooting more 3s, he actually shot them at a decent %. He said that he shot on average around 36% on 5.5 attempts the season before the Pelicans, and the season with the Pelicans. To compare that to say Lebron. Lebron's career average is 34.5% from 3 and coaches are ok with him shooting 3s. and Lebron's career average attempts per game is 4.6. This last season Lebron took 6.9 attempts per game and shot 32%

[@gc033]

Timmy schooled him😂

[@toribiomendoza1347]

“It’s clear what’s going on, it’s ridiculous”

[@beverlymarsh233]

Can’t believe this video needed to be made but here we are

[@oldenoughtowatchify]

idk why I thought this was a nbagoober vid from the thumbnail 😂😂 I was like damn 20 minutes of hating on Boogie!? Then I saw the username 😂😂

[@drevil2675]

If Cousin was that good, then how come Kings dumped him in the market for nothing ?

[@Tayxsupreme]

You wait they like the kings ain’t have a top 3 WORST g front office the last 15 years

[@oj7127]

lmaooo i seen everyone on ig saying bro was better than embiid i thought i was going crazy

[@bbro43]

I think a lot of people who like Cousins, have this admiration for the man because not only was his career essentially ruined by bad Sacramento Management for the first 7 years, but then when he finally found his way onto teams that were run properly, his body gave out on him and he was constantly hurt. Like Cousin had the potential to be Top 100 all time but instead will be known for his bad attitude and underwhelming career. Like had he gone two picks highet to the 76ers or fell one pick lower to the Warriors, we would be talking about him lile we talked about Prime Dwight Howard, or how we talk about Embiid or Jokic. He was never as good as those players, but he could have been had he beem drafted by a real organization.

[@za5528]

The Sixers went 10-72 the season before Embiid had them on a .500 pace as a rookie with the exact same roster in 2016/17. People think the Sixers were a respectable organization BECAUSE he keeps carrying them to winning records, but they were a dumpster fire until 2020: the Process, drafting multiple huge busts with high picks, trading away Tatum pick for Fultz, screwing up Fultz's injury recovery, their GM Colangelo was badmouthing his own players on burner accounts, horrible medical team, traded away Mikal Bridges, Zhaire Smith nearly died, traded away most of their assets for nothing, alienated Jimmy Butler, gave Tobias Harris and Al Horford huge contracts If the Sixers and Kings trade places people would be saying "what could Cousins have been if he got drafted to a winning organization like the Kings instead of a dumpster fire like the Process Sixers" because Embiid would have had the Kings actually winning games by being all-timer on offense and making even 4 other bench player traffic cones have a top-10 defensive rating whenever he was on the court

[@bbro43]

@za5528 Okay there is a whole bunch of wrong in your logic. First the 76ers though during Cousins rookie year went 41-41 and did not have a true center like Cousins that year. Second, they were under different management at the time. They were a playoff team with a young core who had not yet tore down everything for the Process. Having a guy like Cousins would have stopped the process before it began because they would have had their 25 pts and 10 reb player to build around, with a ton of players who became staples on playoff contenders over the following decade. Third, speaking of those players, the 2010-11 76ers had solid vets like Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala, along with promising young players like Jru Holiday, Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young. They also had guys who would grow into solid rotation players at the time in Spencer Hawes, Jodie Meeks and Mareese Speights. Cousins would be replacing Evan Turner in this scenario, but that new 5 man core, and those 3 on the bench, the 76ers would have been arguably the best if not second best organization in that years Lottery for Cousins to land in.

[@fortynights1513]

@@bbro43Side note now that the Sixers of the early 2010’s were mentioned: What’s a better team, the Sixers of the last few years, or the team pre-process?

[@bbro43]

@fortynights1513 the post process team is obviously better than the pre-process. Now if you were to ask if the pre-process with Cousins in place of Evan Turner who was drafted right before him, I would go pre-process. Cousins is not as good as Joel. But in his prime, he could have essentially played him to a draw. But essentially Simmons/Harris and Harden/Harris have not done enough to outweigh the depth on a pre-draft team.

[@ChairmanMo]

@@bbro43 Not only that it would have prevented the 'Process' from starting.

[@kyleshuler2929]

Bro, it goes like this: Cousins > Russell > Olijuwan > Chamberlain > O'Neal > Maker > Leonard > Jokic > Embid > Lambier > Abdul Jabar Thats the list of greatest big men to ever play in ranked order and you need to accept it.

[@RaferAlston27lol]

This needed to be made. So sick of casuals who never watched him play calling him the best center of the 2010s

[@bandito241]

💯 agree and it drives me nuts.

[@alvarosalmeron05]

Make the same video on Ishaia Thomas the little one or on Gilbert Arenas. LOVE your content

[@xanderreimers4445]

As a kings fan this is the video we needed

[@lebronjamesharden3958]

"he looks like an emotional lesbian" - said by some genius comment

[@bobbywinstead1]

I don't think anyone ever considered Cousins an MVP caliber player. Embiid and Jokic stand alone among the centers in that regard. It's a big dropoff after that - 6 or 7 guys like Bam, Porzingis, Ayton, Gobert, et al. Some of those lean on their defensive prowess and others offense, but not too many excelling on both sides. He'd probably be in the mix among that group. I haven't heard of this comparison with Embiid/Jokic before, but I'm not much of a Twitter user.

[@wilchan9931]

omg .. when this comparison happen .. all hell loose ... a LOT of people really thinks that cousins are better than both of them, and they are considerably better because of the team around them ... my god ...

[@CjH02222]

embiid haters hate on him for not making it out of the 2nd round and then go say a guy who never came within arms reach of a playoff appearance as a #1 guy is better… nba fans don’t even know why they think things they just blurt out any thought they have

[@ThaTruth223]

what does Cousins have to do with Embiid being a major post season dud ? i swear y’all wanna absolve that flopping baby of any criticism

[@fortynights1513]

@@ThaTruth223It sort of comes down to if you think it’s better to miss the playoffs (albeit with worse talent around you), or make it and underperform badly. There are other factors regarding who is better, but which should get credit for better team success comes down to preference a bit.

[@myparentsmostsuccessfulmistake]

He would be like the third best center statistically in the league in his prime today but impact would probably be 4th. And it’s a huge gap between 2 and 3

[@mcgaming8982]

THANK YOUU

[@danimalman3]

As a Kings fan he was very good in his prime and loved to see him play but if you asked me if he was better than Embiid or Jokic I would say no with absolutely no hesitation.

[@sean24833]

Cousins was great walking 27 and 12 4 but cmon he aint jokic

[@JordanGurney]

Oh man, Boogie was SOOO good that when he joined my Warriors, people were calling it even MORE unfair (cuz they still had KD). What a joke. The Warriors signed him because none of the other 29 teams had done so yet that year.

[@santiagosoria9947]

Talking about the Kings while having a Warriors and Lakers jerseys in the back. They're our two biggest rivals.

[@MickkimUK79]

He was good and very dominant, then he got injured and he’s NEVER rekindled that form prior to his injury. It’s kinda tragic

[@DreDaDon16]

Rusty I wanna know something random question why does Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson get a pass for the 04 Olympics

[@fortynights1513]

I don’t hear people bring up Olympic performance generally, but is that just my experience?

[@rustybuckets]

I don’t know Jack shit about the Olympics man

[@willyceeh]

Please stop underrating Rusty Buckets…

[@TheMakumakumaku]

What respect? Embiid cried himself to a MVP

[@JTCrane]

Imagine getting only getting into basketball in 2016😭😭😭😭😭😭😭🤡🤡🤡🤡

[@pacdaman15557]

Boogie Cousins was pretty dang good, don't act like he wasn't good. He was in a franchise that failed for 15 years straight and washed up his entire prime by drafting other big men when he was clearly the best center in the league. When he finally got out him and AD were gelling and performed well together... and then he suffered a career altering injury.

[@wonderboy1401]

You clearly didn’t watch the video

[@bernardjameswilson]

A center that never averaged over 50% fg for a season and basically average 4 turnover when he was still the main guy. Nope he ain't the one.

[@benedictschwarz324]

Great vid but was the tweet not bait?

[@rapgodreloaded9259]

Rusty Buckets can you upload a Please Stop Overrating Greg Oden video?

[@cuseyeti_one8three]

Add some posts about how KAT would be a good fit on your team and this take is spot on.

[@Dkirk215]

If it weren’t for injuries Demarcus Cousins is definitely a top tier forward big man ☝🏽his King Years Were Top Tier and was a baller and potential hall of famer

[@user-rr7bu9fe3k]

Don’t let this video distract you from the fact that Rudy Hobert has won 3 DPOYs

[@cyrillesu]

Boogie was legitimately good in his prime, but goddamn did the guy turn the ball over a lot. He was also unreliable on defense and got into foul trouble at an abnormally high rate even for centers. I think he would do well in today's NBA, but I don't see him as the guy to build a contending team around like what Jokic and Embiid are.

[@spaceman_spiff2391]

The way people overrate prime boogie needs to be studied in a lab. How did it even get this bad?? "Prime boogie" gets made out to be some mythical creature when in reality was he ever a top 10 player in the league?? If prime boogie was in the league rn he would be closer to Sabonis than embiid.

[@DrawQuick2014]

Emotional lesbian

[@aeijlpanda9500]

Bam out here catching strays. XD

[@PassFirstPost]

Better than Bam by a jump, although Bam is only 26 atm, and Cousins got further into his career before injury.

[@gavinjones6319]

You should make a video on kemba walker's prime

[@okayjpa]

He may not be as good as them now, but he was definitely in that conversation back then

[@chiefmcgee1259]

I like the watch the Big 3 league in times like this

[@maxisrad]

I was more upset the about us losing Omri Casspi then Boogie in the Buddy trade

[@michaelmayers3622]

Cousin was one of the best big man in his prime but got hurt

[@JonMichaelDeShazer]

Stats notwithstanding, the biggest issue with Boogie was what went on between his ears. He was a head case! He had a shorter fuse than just about any other player during the 2010's. He fought with his coaches constantly (except for Michael Malone, who brought him to Denver for most of the 2022 season, but Malone did NOT want him back this year LOL) and had a level of arrogance that makes it damn near impossible to contain on a contending roster. You don't build a contender around a guy like that.

[@johnnyyyy24]

aside from nostalgia I think it's also because Boogie is one of those "what if" players like D-Rose or T-Mac who had their wings clipped before they could really hit their prime. I think a lot of copium comes from that.

[@Tim_Dunkin]

I never knew I wanted this video bc I've always been confused about the Cousins hype. Especially now, they act like this dude is frozen in time at 25yo & it's a crime he's "blackballed" from the NBA. No just mf'n NO!!!!

[@tingokuman]

I'm glad somebody FINALLY said this. I cringe every off season at Laker fans. Yea Demarcus can stop the joker. He's the greatest Center ever!!!

[@PointGodTeeVee]

Demarcus on the pelicans was what he was gonna be had he had some good luck wit those knees

[@jameshartman3630]

People talk about him like he was a stronger jokic

[@iankinzel]

Lifelong Kings fan here. Another issue with Cousins was his sloppiness - he turned the ball over like Westbrook. Over his five-year prime, he had more turnovers than assists, and the year he averaged 5 assists, he also averaged 5 turnovers a game. And, everything I've ever heard has pointed towards him being very difficult to play with, very difficult to coach, and very difficult to deal with in the locker room. He sounds like somebody who's better in front of the camera than in person.

[@justanobody0]

did people call Kobe sloppy? He averaged 4.1 turnovers per game and only average 6 apg and Kobe was a shooting guard not a 6'11 center. I think if you look at the last 23 years, it'll be more common to see 7 footers having worse assist to turnover ratios in general this last season: Giannis 5.7 apg 3.9 TOpg Embiid (MVP) 4.2 apg 3.4 TOpg

[@iankinzel]

@@justanobody0 There's no comparison to be made here, sorry. Kobe & Giannis have substantially more assists than turnovers; Cousins does not. In fact, he only had three seasons his entire career where assists outnumbered turnovers *at all*. You can say "well 7-footers tend not to have great assist-turnover ratios" - so maybe Cousins should have played more to his strengths. Also: consider that Cousins was generally not the primary ballhandler. Isaiah Thomas, Rajon Rondo etc would typically bring the ball up the floor. So per time spent actually handling the ball, Cousins's turnovers are even uglier.

[@user-cf5en1iv1y]

Joestar and rusty on the same wavelength🥰

[@tajmula671]

yea please talk about it because i don’t understand why i had to explain to people why joel embiid is better than demarcus cousins ever was much less jokic