Demarcus Cousins, New Orleans Pelicans
Like Green, Cousins is a great player. Like Green, he can make you want to pull your hair out.
Fellow NBA All-Star Paul George recently said (h/t Abe Schwadron, Slam Sports) that Cousins was “misunderstood.” Assuming that’s true, we have to at least say that Cousins has done plenty to contribute to the misunderstanding.
As his technical foul count indicates, Cousins can be a bit whiny on the court. Some of that petulance has carried off of the court. Cousins has also seemed to consistently have trouble working with coaches. Granted, people like George Karl deserve (at least) as much blame as Cousins. But his problems have gone beyond just one guy.
Maybe Cousins just needed a fresh start. The Sacramento Kings aren’t exactly a functional organization. Unfortunately, his actions in Sacramento are all that we really have to judge Boogie on at this point.
The situation with the Kings was less than ideal, but Cousins was a prime contributor to that.