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DeMarcus Cousins has had a very interesting journey in his NBA career. He was a three-time All-Star with the Sacramento Kings, and was arguably the best big man in the game during that time span. He was then traded to the New Orleans Pelicans, who finally landed Anthony Davis his first All-Star teammate during his fifth season (sorry, I had to).
During the 2017-18 season, Davis and Cousins built chemistry not only on the court, but off of it as well. They both made an All-Star appearance that year and all seemed well. Unfortunately, injuries are a terrible part of the game, and Cousins ruptured his Achilles. Fast forward to now, Davis and Cousins are once again teammates and the bromance is back, although that Taco Tuesday video LeBron posted on his Instagram shows that their may be some competition for AD.
To me, this is probably an even greater opportunity for Cousins to showcase his abilities than his time with the Warriors. A big part of the reason I believe that is because of the fact that he’s going to be playing alongside Davis again. Here’s why that will be so helpful for him:
As I point out in the video, Cousins has the freedom to attack the basket or do work in the paint without worrying that AD’s defender will come to help. AD’s play style meshes much better with Boogie than it did with the stars on the Warriors.
A big part of the game of basketball is having chemistry with your teammates. Boogie averaged a career high 5.4 assist per game, most of which (65) went to Davis. Many of those came through lobs when AD would set a screen for Boogie. There’s multiple ways that Coach Vogel can use both AD & Boogie. For example, in the video I point out how the Pelicans would use them when running Horns. Imagine having the ball handler be LeBron James while AD and Boogie set those screens. That’s something LeBron should try out when playing 2K.
Boogie now has multiple games under his belt since his Achilles injury, has slimmed down (which should help him a ton with his quickness) and potentially most importantly, has had a healthy summer to work on his game. The last time the Lakers had a twin towers, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, they got 2 championships. Hopefully, we get similar results this time.
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