Getty Cousins shootaround with Warriors
Four-time NBA All-Star, DeMarcus Cousins will make his return most likely this week.
Cousins is coming off a serious Achilles’ injury dating back to last season.
“Kind of nervous about it, actually,” Cousins told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols.
“You know, at the end of this month, it’ll basically be a calendar year. So it’s been a long time coming, to say the least.”
Some NBA pundits wonder how he’ll gel with a stacked Warriors team that includes Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Kevin Durant.
Cousins is ready. “It’s a team full of high IQs,” DeMarcus Cousins told me this summer.
Cousins has never played in the playoffs during his eight seasons in the NBA.
“You can mold them into whatever you want them to be.”
Appearing on the Scoop B Radio Podcast, NBA insider, Chris Sheridan thinks that Cousins is the piece that the Warriors need.
While the NBA’s Western Conference is competitive with teams like the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Clippers improving this season, the Warriors are still the champs and Sheridan likes their chances.
“The Warriors have to remain focused on winning a championship this year and then a focus later on next year after the season. These are veterans players and they know what it takes to win in the playoffs.”
The Los Angeles Lakers made a splash this summer when they signed top free agent, LeBron James.
The Golden State Warriors shocked the basketball world this summer when they signed Cousins. Also this summer, the Lakers signed LeBron James.
“They got the best player in the world,” Cousins told me of James.
Here’s the million dollar question: Can the Laker beat the Warriors?
“They’ve got a chance,” Cousins told me.
To prepare for this season, Cousins says that he channeled a single by Kevin Gates called “Change Lanes.”
He says Gates’ track motivated the heck out of him.
“I’m in a different mindset than I ever was before,” he said.
GettyPaul Pierce and Kevin Garnett with the Celtics in 2013 (Getty)
They could shoot, dribble, rebound and run the offense if need be. Cousins is a stat stuffer himself.
Will Boogie channel Wallace or Garnett’s skillset on an already stacked Warriors squad this season? “I don’t think I could go wrong with either one,” Cousins told me.
“They’re both champions, they’re proven, they’re elite.”
Lastly, many say Boogie is mean or misunderstood. The Warriors offseason acquisition addressed it.
“What I’ve learned is, once you get to a certain stature, people look at you like you’re so fascinating,” he told me.
“The expectations go up, and what I mean by that is, when they approach you, when they meet you, they expect a certain reaction. They expect– it doesn’t matter what you do.”
Added Cousins: “Sometimes they don’t get what they expect, and it rubs them the wrong way.”