National Basketball Association

Will the Real DeMarcus Cousins Please Stand UP

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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DeMarcus Cousins‘ greatness over the past six years has been marred by his temperament. His career scoring of 20.2 points per game and 10.8 rebounds is marvelous.

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However, he has averaged 3.4 fouls per game and his magnificent footwork in the paint has been paired with bad boy bitching focused on the refs which have caused several suspensions for going over sixteen technical fouls in a year.

With these early exits, he has lost games and stultified the team’s need for flow and togetherness, both on the court and in the locker room. He drove Paul Westphal and George Karl into collecting millions of dollars for work not done.

Cousins—to almost any outside observer—has a problem with authority. This is not uncommon with kids who have been abused by bullies, fathers, step-fathers, coaches and siblings. Once the abuser is gone and the victim grows to manhood, the pain remains and is acted out on others. In Cousins’ case, referees and coaches get unearned ancient anger acted out on them.

Boogie, in my humble opinion (and I love the guy), has three choices:

1) Stuff the rage. This is a Band-aid, not a cure. Rather, it’s like putting a boulder on top of a volcano.

2) Make an agreement with his teammates that he will no longer protest fouls. When incensed, his teammates on the bench would stand and yell “Boogie!” to remind him of his pledge.

3) He could face the therapist’s couch (best choice?) and figure out who stamped him with all this rage. Facing old stuff in therapy is full of pain. All men—white and black—resist talking about old pain.

The payoff can be brilliant.

Boogie: you love basketball, kids, Sacramento, and life in general. Dude, the answer resides in you.

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