Kings' Smart discusses suspension with Cousins

Written by Jeff Garcia on Monday, 12 November 2012 10:30.

The NBA may have suspended Sacramento Kings' DeMarcus Cousins two games for his post-game hostile exchange with San Antonio Spurs TV analyst Sean Elliott but that doesn't mean this learning experience for Cousins was over.

Kings head coach Keith Smart spoke with his young forward about the incident and suspension and Smart let Cousins know to simply be smart.

"Any little mark is gonna knock you all the way back down again," he said, remembering their conversation. "So you've got to stay one step ahead and be perfect, with everything that goes on. You've got to be a man now and accept what's happening. And then we've got to move on. But understand that everything you do until you are this person that we believe you can become, you have to do things perfect, because when you make mistakes they affect not just you but it affects our entire team.

"So let's put this behind you, we've got the right people in place now to get you through all these things and we're looking forward to the polished person to eventually come out."

Hopefully Cousins will learn from this and mature. He has the tools on the court to be a great ball player but mentally he still has growing to do. Now the Kings are without their main threat for two games and put his team in a bind.

Cousins should know by now criticism is part of the NBA. Fans, TV talking heads, and the media in general will always criticize players. Elliott's comments were nothing new about Cousins' maturity.

The Spurs and Kings won't face each other again until February and hopefully then, Cousins and Elliott have gone past this and smoothed things over.

What do you have to say Spurs fans? Is all forgiven with DeMarcus or is he in your list of players to hate now?

1 comments

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slapdoghoops

It just goes to show Cousins' immaturity and how he is not quite there to be an elite player in the NBA. He is a guy that scores in bunches and rebounds, yet it's his poor professional behavior that is holding him back. As long as he stays in Sacramento that will continue to be a problem. If he has a chance to play with players better and more mature, then I am sure that he would develop into a star. Unfortunately, that is not the case as he is surrounded by equally immature teammates.

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