Thank you, DeMarcus Cousins
- Shaun Holkko
- Feb 21, 2017
- 5 min read
Dear Boogie,
Thank you for everything. You've been apart of our family here in Sacramento since June 24th, 2010. You lived through the team almost moving to Anaheim, Virginia Beach, and most notably, Seattle, with all of us. You had six coaches in seven years... how were you expected to win without stability? To be fair, some of that was your fault. You're no angel, you're honestly a hot head, but we still loved you.
Your on-court talents are simply amazing. You are the best center in the National Basketball Association. When you were dominating opposing players in the post, I personally thought that you couldn't get any better... and then you did. You expanded your game and started shooting threes (Thanks to your buddy George) and you became nearly unstoppable. But, the key word in that sentence is 'nearly.' This year opposing teams realized the only way to stop you is to get in your head and make you angry, and that was your fault. Your inability to control your emotions ended up being your downfall here in Sacramento, and that genuinely makes me sad.
Through everything that this organization put you through in your seven years here, you remained loyal. You keyed the phrase "Loyalty is Love" and unlike many other athletes, you really meant it. You remained loyal to this city and our amazing fans, and for that I thank you. Your humanitarian work in this community was truly amazing. You mostly tried to keep it a secret, because you didn't want the recognition, but to only do good because that's the type of person you are. You are an amazing athlete and an even better person. I am sorry that you were continuously lied to, you didn't deserve it. You did everything that you could to make it work here in Sacramento.
Thank you for everything. Best of luck in New Orleans.
Sincerely, Sacramento Kings fans
As we all know by now, DeMarcus Cousins is no longer a Sacramento King, but a New Orleans Pelican. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports first broke the developments on Sunday afternoon.
For many Kings fans like myself, we figured it was just another rumor. DeMarcus Cousins has been continuously in trade talks for the last five seasons so I didn't even take it seriously. Plus, Vlade Divac the Kings GM seemed to make his position on it all very clear several times stating "DeMarcus is untradeable and a guy who we want to build around." Oh yeah.. and DeMarcus himself was adamant about staying in Sacramento! He even told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne on Thursday; "I'm very happy... It's where I want to be." DeMarcus wanted to remain in Sacramento but the Kings brass, including owner Vivek Ranadive, obviously didn't feel the same way.
And then it happened. The Sacramento Kings traded their three time all-star and franchise centerpiece DeMarcus Cousins, along with Omri Casspi. But what did they receive in return? Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, a 2017 first round pick (Top 3 Protected), and Philadelphia's 2017 second round pick. That is all they got for someone Divac deemed as "Untradeable." They got the Pelicans 2016 first round pick, Buddy Hield, to add to their plethora of shooting guards. Tyreke Evans, the fourth overall pick of the Kings in the 2009 draft, who did win Rookie of the Year, but has since been in decline and has had three knees surgeries in the last 18 months. The final player received in the deal was Langston Galloway, who is a solid player but from what I've seen from him in the past, is nothing more than a rotational player.
In his press conference today, Vlade said this move was made to "Change the culture" in Sacramento. Obviously, the organization saw DeMarcus' on-court attitude as too much to handle anymore, despite his amazing skills on the court. But I don't think Vlade made this trade, as much he tries to claim that it was all him. Vlade is simply the fall guy. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive always has the final say in Sacramento. He advocated for DeMarcus to stay for years and it seems he finally had enough. Boogie was suspended for the game against the Celtics at home on February 8th due to excessive technical fouls. Somehow, the Kings defeated Boston in that game by a score of 108-92. That was the turning point for Ranadive. Seeing his team rally together without their star player to beat the second-best team in the Eastern Conference made him finally feel like he could say goodbye to Cousins.
I'm not mad that the Kings traded DeMarcus, I'm angry and disappointed at what they got in return. Once again, the Sacramento Kings were taken advantage of. "We had a better deal two days ago... This was the best time and best offer we could get for him," said Divac at his press conference today. The Kings didn't have to trade him, but yet Vlade was acting like it had to be done. It seems like his negotiating tactics are crap.
Before Vivek saved the Kings from Seattle back in 2013, he was a minority owner of the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors were one of the worst teams in the NBA and turned it around by drafting well and making essential trades. Vivek has an obsession with the Warriors. What I mean by that claim is that almost every decision that he's made in Sacramento has been based off what they did to reach success in Golden State.
My first example is firing coach Mike Malone. The Kings started off that season 5-1 and had early success. Then, DeMarcus got infected with viral meningitis and missed 13 games and the Kings started to slip as expected, so Vivek fired coach Malone because he wanted his team to run a fast-paced offense, like Golden State. As we all know that didn't work out at all. My next example is drafting shooting guard Nik Stauskas in 2014, a year after drafting shooting guard Ben McLemore. Vivek did this because "He shoots like Steph and he's big like Klay," as he said on draft day in 2014. Again, he did this trying to copy the success they achieved in Golden State. Here's the final example, you ready? Yesterday he traded the best center in the NBA for a package including Buddy Hield. According to Baxter Holmes of ESPN, a source told him that Vivek thinks Buddy has Steph Curry potential and that fixation was a key driver in the deal. I'm not going to doubt Buddy as he is a King now, but that's just ridiculous.
Our wonderful owner makes all his decisions based on what they're doing down in Oakland. If he can't stop himself from thinking this way, then why does he keep making decisions? I thought when he fired Malone that he knew he made a big mistake when things didn't pan out. I thought when he hired Vlade and Ken Catanella (Assistant General Manger) that he learned from his mistakes and was finally taking a step back, but I was wrong time and time again.
Vlade and Vivek continuously stating how they weren't going to trade DeMarcus only hurt their credibility when they finally "Pulled the trigger," as Vlade would say. This only hurt their future chances of luring any free agents to Sacramento as their word obviously means nothing. This trade was made to change the culture here in Sacramento but only hurt the franchise, even more, when it comes to the future. Attitude or not, players like DeMarcus Cousins end up in Sacramento rarely if ever, and the fact that they traded him away for close to nothing is pathetic. Vivek needs to learn to step back and just let the basketball minds do their jobs. Until he learns to do that, this team will continue to be mediocre at best. The playoff drought continues!
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