DeMarcus Cousins averages 22 points per game on 48% shooting, and collects 11.5 rebounds per game, makes nearly 3 assists, and 1.2 blocks per games. On stats alone, he is the best Center in the NBA. However, in my opinion, based on his outstanding skills he is the best center.
DeMarcus Cousins can play with his back to basket the old fashion way and be efficient scoring the basket.
Shaquille O’Neal is the last dominating center the NBA has seen. In an era where most players want to shoot threes and where coaches want to spread the floor it is hard to see how great centers can emerge and dominate. Some believe that there will be no more dominant centers such as Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Shaquille O’Neal. I tended to agree with that trend of thought until I saw DeMarcus Cousins play this season.
Even if it seems that we are witnessing an era without dominating centers in it, there is hope that DeMarcus Cousins brings that era to an end. He is extremely capable in the low post. He can use jump hooks, spin moves and finish with either hand. He can also shoot off the glass fading away from the basket, and can step out to shoot mid-range jumpers. DeMarcus Cousins is perhaps the only center with the ball handling skills to go coast to coast and finish strong 90 or so feet after grabbing a rebound. In the low post he has power moves. He is 6′ 11 for 270 pounds, so he imposes his will down low. And even at that weight and height he is agile enough to use side step moves and spin moves in low post.
What is surprising, and pleasantly so, is that DeMarcus Cousins is so versatile and complete at 23 years of age that he can score already score at will with his left hand and with his fadeaway mid-range jumpers just like LaMarcus Aldridge. I other words, he is the most versatile and skilled center in the game today even at 23.
One very encouraging element is his age, 23. This allows us to hope to that he can play at a very high level for another 10 seasons if he stays healthy which we all hope he does.
Even though he does not have a winning record, I maintain that he should have been an All-star because he is the best in the league at his position, and is 11th in scoring and 5th in rebounding in the league. After all Carmelo Anthony was an All-Star, and rightly so, despite his team catastrophic record.
DeMarcus Cousins is young and got drafted to a bad team. He has some talent around him, Isaiah Thomas and Rudy Gay, but not much veteran leadership, so one should be comprehensive about his none winning record for now. This should not stop us from following his off the court/ leadership development for it will perhaps be the decisive elements of his potentially illustrious career.
The notion that D12, Dwight Howard, is the best center in the NBA is now obsolete to the extent that it was ever true. There is a new sheriff in town, bigger, stronger and a million times more skilled!
Even though he is young and a center, as the team best player he needs to make his teammates better. Bill Russell did it, so I hold DeMarcus Cousins to the same standard. At this stage of his career and at his age all he should do is try and learn from the results. He may fail at making his teammates better, but by failing he will gain the experience of recognizing some of the mistake he made to correct them in the future in order to become a better leader.
All in all, I believe that DeMarcus Cousins is the best center in the NBA today. I also believe that there is no other center except for Pau Gasol that possesses a more versatile skill set in the NBA today. And ultimately, if I was a GM, DeMarcus Cousins is only center, next to Pau Gasol, I would give a 19 million $ contract to.
