Kings belong to Cousins and Evans says Cousins

Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins, Jimmer FredetteHe is enigmatic. He is funny. He is grumpy. He is Rasheed Wallace with a post game.

He is DeMarcus Cousins. 

Cousins might be the most talented all-around center in the game, or at least he might be soon. But he has some maturity issues he is dealing with because he is 21 and sometimes that happens.

Is he ready to be a team leader?  Probably not, but there are a lot of things with the Sacramento Kings organization that are that should not be. Sports Illustrated's Sam Amick recently sat down with Cousins, who made it clear that for better or worse, the Kings are DMC and Tyreke Evans' team.

At the end of the day, everybody in that locker room knows this team is myself and Tyreke's. I don't give a [expletive] about no articles [asking whose team it is]. This team goes as far as we carry it.

He is probably right. Here is the problem in Sacramento. Cousins should not be the leader of this team. He should be the team's best player who leans on its second or third best player that has veteran experience to help the budding star along the way. Here are the Kings' veteran role players: Chuck Hayes, John Salmons, Francisco Garcia and Travis Outlaw.  That is the Kings' seventh, eighth, ninth and 12th men.

So yes, the leadership role falls to Cousins and Evans, who aren't totally ready for the role.  But hey, that is Sacramento.

The always interesting Cousins went on to tell Amick that he did not want to get in to who the best big man in the game is, but quickly added "Whoever you consider the best in the game, just check my game against theirs. Go look at the game stats and you tell me."  So there is that. 

Don't expect big things from the Kings this year, but this is another story altogether.  There is nothing that says he cannot make the first of many All-Star teams this year. The game is there and mental part is slowly coming along.

Photo: The State Journal

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