The Sacramento Kings are a mess. The team’s majority owners reached an agreement to sell the team to a Seattle-based group, meaning the franchise will be moving. The team is one of the worst in the Western Conference and trying to wade through the season, but that’s never easy when DeMarcus Cousins is your top player.
Cousins is known for being a head case, but he’s also talented. He clashed with head coach Keith Smart earlier this season, and he’s unhappy with his coach again. Following an embarrassing 120-81 loss to the New York Knicks on Saturday, the third-year center took a shot at Smart.
According to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee, Cousins said in a sarcastic tone that the solution to the Kings’ problem is to listen to Smart. Jones says Cousins also said he’s sacrificing his game by going along with Smart’s plan.
Cousins is no doubt frustrated. Not only did the team get blown out Saturday, but they have also lost three in a row and seven of eight. Cousins’ numbers have been down in the past week, and he probably is upset that Smart singled him out this week.
Smart said one of the problems with Cousins is that he is not running the floor. As a result, Cousins faces double-teams when he gets the ball in the half-court offense.
“I’m shared with him sometimes you’re trailing,” Smart said, via The Bee. “You need to get down the floor right away. If you get down the floor right away you just created a post up game for us without me calling a play.
“You may run the floor 10 times and only get the ball once but you can’t stop running the next 10,” Smart said. “These things have to become habits to keep yourself involved in the basketball game. Because you can’t slow the game down too much where you’re calling the play 5-down, 5-down over and over again.”
The only good news here is that there are only 33 games left in the season for the Kings. You have to figure the new owners will consider changing coaches or moving Cousins once they assume control.
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