Keith Smart Makes An Interesting Remark On DeMarcus Cousins' Off-Court Development

I believe the kid has an amazing career ahead of him.

21 Points, 19 rebounds the last game? I’ll take that as a good response to whatever it is Keith is saying!

thought if Smart was referring to anyone, it was Callipari

Among Centers, where does Cousins rank on drawing fouls? I figure Dwight is ahead by a landslide, but it seems like every night whoever is guarding Cousins instantly gets in to foul trouble.

Not good when 44% is 2nd on the team.

Cause Cousins has me beat. I was studying, partying and making stories I won’t post on a family friendly board. I was also player-coach of a pretty good intramural team that played in front of packed houses of 12 fans.

Anyway, I appreciate the microscope all of these guys (not just Cousins) are growing up and maturing under. Whether I got an A or had some crazy late night hiijinx with my friends, it wasn’t showing up on ESPN with the whole world publicly questioning my maturity and character.

It’s a life they choose and are well compensated for, but I sympathize with the pressure.

He really puts issues into the proper perspective, imo

Koreen’s whole post is definitely worth reading.

Cousins has been on excellent behavior on the court so far this year.

That taunt tech was silly.

blocking the letterhead and links at the top of the page?

I think that the sharpness of the criticism towards the “Kings organization” (Petrie) on the whole Cousins-Westphal debacle- from the Koreen column cited in this post, from TZ’s previous writings on the incident, from other people on this board, and from national writers- is not unfounded, but goes too far. I think it largely ignores the difficult position that Petrie was put in when Westphal confronted him with the “trade demand” situation. I assume that when PW came to Petrie to tell him that Cousins had demanded a trade, that he’s tired of Cuz’s attitude, and that he thinks they need to ramp-up the “tough love” treatment, Geoff hadn’t had a chance yet to speak with DeMarcus to get his side of the story and to discuss how to make things better moving forward. Maybe PW asked for an actual suspension, and was told there would be no suspension at that point, but he was free to tell Cousins not to dress for that game. Maybe Petrie saw the full text of Westphal’s statement before it was released, or maybe Westphal just gave him the gist of what he would say. Maybe Petrie knew about what PW was preparing to say during his press conference about it, or maybe Petrie was expecting there to be a brief statement followed by a brief press conference.

I don’t think any of us have any of those answers, and I don’t recall Petrie giving any insight into those issues at his PW-firing press conference or at any other point. What I think we do know is that Petrie probably reached out to Cousins immediately after learning about the incident and set up a personal meeting with DeMarcus and his agent early the next day so there would still be time for Cuz to join the team on the road trip. We know that after that meeting, Cousins was allowed to release a statement that did not validate Westphal’s side of the story and got on the plane to join his team on their road trip. I also don’t recall Petrie ever voicing support for Westphal’s statement or his press conference, either before or after the firing. He made some brief statements regarding Cousins’ immaturity (that I think he believed and would say regardless of the “trade demand” incident, and that Cousins himself would probably admit to some degree), he stated firmly that he would not be trading DeMarcus Cousins, and he refused to make a statement in support of Westphal’s future as the coach of the team. And then, when the team returned from the road trip, he fired Westphal and downplayed the importance of “the incident”.

I think that Petrie had a pretty good idea going into this season that Westphal would not be the head coach by the end of it. I think the hiring of Keith Smart and other coaching staff changes is evidence of that, though Petrie has denied that connection. I think that Petrie would have loved for this season to have gone smoothly enough for Paul Westphal to remain the coach through all of it (and almost certainly be let go after the season), but probably figured that there would be some point around the middle of the season when he would call Westphal into his office and send him home to SoCal, offering Smart a contract for the remainder of this season and a team option for the next. I bet he even had his whole “I’ve loved working with Paul, but the team hasn’t developed to the point that we were hoping for” statement written up before the season even started.

I think that Petrie has felt the weight of the past few Head Coach disasters bearing on him throughout Paul Westphal’s tenure. I think that his highest hope for Coach Westphal was to have 2.5-3 seasons of steady if unspectacular growth from his young core, both as individual players and as teammates, and then to make a move from “competent steward” to “real Head Coach” (see: Paul Westphal’s paycheck). I think Westphal even knew that to be the case heading into this thing, doing well enough early on to earn his Team Option year, and then to ride off into the sunset to another Front Office job with his last Head Coaching job being neither a major success nor a major disaster (while probably holding out some hope that it would actually play out like a Disney movie and he’d be hoisting up a championship and Coach of the Year trophy by the end of his tenure here). I think that Petrie’s worst nightmare was having to fire yet another incompetent coach early in their contract under bad terms and a hopelessly lost team. He sought his Head Coach with the Maloof’s stingy pay restrictions in hand, tabbed Paul Westphal as his “competent steward”, and almost made it to 2.5 seasons without things getting too ugly (with a chest bump here and a red flag there).

When Paul Westphal came to Petrie wanting to discipline Cousins, there was no way he could completely shut PW down on it without completely ending things with him. Again, I don’t believe Geoff had a chance to talk to DeMarcus about it yet, so if he tells Westphal to cool it until he could talk to Cousins himself and handle it, he’s telling Coach Westphal that he doesn’t trust his side of the story nor his ability to discipline his own players properly. By confronting Petrie with his Cousins conflict, Westphal was basically shouting at Petrie “IF YOU THINK I’M SUCH A CANCER, FIRE ME NOW!” Geoff was hoping beyond hope to make it through the season without things getting ugly, and ugly had just plopped down in his office. I think Petrie based his handling of the incident in the mindset of “how the shit do I get through this and have as little of the ugly as possible sticking on me and the organization?”

Maybe Petrie should have shut Westphal down completely right at that moment, without having spoken to DeMarcus (or the Maloofs, or Coach Smart) and right before the team left on a road trip. How would Westphal have reacted to that? Would he still go to the media throwing trash on Cousins while also saving a few sharp jabs for Petrie, the Maloofs, and the organization? Would things have played out any differently with Keith Smart if things had ended uglier between PW and the team? What effect would that have had on the team’s future Head Coach prospects? I think Geoff Petrie struggled with all of those thoughts when Paul Westphal walked into his office and requested that he be allowed to send DeMarcus home and release a statement.

I think that Cousins, Westphal, and Petrie are all losers in "Trademegate". I think that Cousins’ status in that doesn’t change much if PW is prevented from disciplining him and releasing his statement (and, I posit, is fired immediately as the alternative), assuming that word of the "trade demand" incident leaks out, if not revealed directly by Westphal or the team post-firing. Yes, the "tip of the iceberg" stuff and the other specifics of Westphal’s statements are harshly unflattering to Cousins, but I think there would be just as much red meat for DeMarcus’ detractors in these events even without the "official" statements. On the other hand, Westphal looked bad for things playing out the way that they did more than the team looked bad from it. If things had played out differently, like if Petrie shut Westphal down hard on this before he had a chance to speak with DeMarcus, etc., maybe the team comes out looking worse than Westphal does. Maybe the storyline about the Kings letting an immature 21 year-old run the show becomes much more prominent than the storyline about how Paul Westphal can’t handle talented players with big personalities (and is not such a good coach).

I think that those things were on Petrie’s mind when decided to let Paul Westphal be the head coach for a couple more days before firing him in a more controlled way. I think that the head coaching horrors of the past few years haunt Petrie to the extent that his relationship with Paul Westphal, from the beginning, has largely been shaped by them. The amount of ugly in the Musselman-Theus-Natt years has caused Petrie to act in avoidance of ugly during the Westphal years.