Why Doesn’t Anyone Talk About DeMarcus Cousins’ Defense?
By Ti Windisch
DeMarcus Cousins is far too often associated with being a purely offensive player. Not to say Cousins isn’t a great offensive weapon–he’s averaged at least 25 points per 36 minutes over the last two seasons. But his offense isn’t the only part of his game that makes him great.
In fact, if you look at the statistics it’s actually not even his greatest asset. That would be his defensive prowess. Don’t believe me? You don’t have to take my word–the numbers back it up.
| Season | Age | G | PER | TS% | AST% | STL% | BLK% | OWS | DWS | WS | WS/48 | OBPM | DBPM | BPM | VORP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-11 | 20 | 81 | 14.6 | .484 | 14.7 | 1.9 | 2.1 | -1.9 | 2.9 | 1.1 | .022 | -2.9 | 1.5 | -1.4 | 0.4 |
| 2011-12 | 21 | 64 | 21.7 | .499 | 9.5 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 4.2 | .104 | -0.4 | 0.0 | -0.3 | 0.8 |
| 2012-13 | 22 | 75 | 20.2 | .524 | 15.3 | 2.4 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 4.4 | .092 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.7 |
| 2013-14 | 23 | 71 | 26.1 | .555 | 17.8 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 4.1 | 3.8 | 7.9 | .166 | 1.9 | 2.9 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2014-15 ★ | 24 | 59 | 25.2 | .545 | 20.4 | 2.3 | 4.0 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 6.0 | .144 | 1.4 | 3.3 | 4.7 | 3.4 |
| Career | 350 | 21.4 | .523 | 15.6 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 9.2 | 14.5 | 23.6 | .104 | 0.0 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 10.2 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/5/2015.
First off, I can see why people get obsessed after seeing Boogie’s offensive numbers. He’s had a great true shooting percentage over the past two seasons, and his ever-rising assist percentage is impressive for a big man. But let’s get to the defense, which is even more impressive.
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Cousins has 23.6 career win shares (that’s not an average, they get added up over time). Out of those 23.6, 14.5 are defensive. That means most of the wins attributed to Boogie thus far in his career have been due to his defense, not his offense. In fact, aside from 2013-14 DeMarcus Cousins was never better offensively than he was defensively, according to his win shares.
His box plus/minus tell the same story, but even more profoundly. Cousins has never had a better offensive year according to his offensive and defensive box plus/minus numbers–his defensive box plus/minus averages to 1.8 for his career, while his offensive box plus/minus average is literally zero based on his first three inefficient seasons.
But those are just numbers in a vacuum. What would Cousins’ defensive statistics look like next to some of the best defensive centers in the NBA? How about we look at the advanced defensive statistics of Cousins alongside DeAndre Jordan, Marc Gasol, Robin Lopez and Andrew Bogut? Surely he won’t hold up against defenders of their caliber, right?
| Player | Age | G | PER | TS% | TRB% | AST% | STL% | BLK% | OWS | DWS | WS | WS/48 | OBPM | DBPM | BPM | VORP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Bogut | 30 | 67 | 15.8 | .565 | 18.5 | 15.4 | 1.2 | 5.3 | 1.9 | 3.4 | 5.2 | .159 | -1.4 | 5.5 | 4.1 | 2.4 |
| DeMarcus Cousins | 24 | 59 | 25.2 | .545 | 21.1 | 20.4 | 2.3 | 4.0 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 6.0 | .144 | 1.4 | 3.3 | 4.7 | 3.4 |
| Marc Gasol | 30 | 81 | 21.7 | .558 | 13.4 | 19.7 | 1.4 | 4.0 | 5.5 | 4.7 | 10.2 | .182 | 1.3 | 3.5 | 4.8 | 4.6 |
| DeAndre Jordan | 26 | 82 | 21.0 | .638 | 24.5 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 5.4 | 7.4 | 5.4 | 12.8 | .217 | 0.9 | 3.2 | 4.1 | 4.3 |
| Robin Lopez | 26 | 59 | 16.2 | .574 | 12.9 | 5.1 | 0.5 | 3.7 | 3.2 | 1.9 | 5.1 | .150 | 0.1 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 1.7 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/5/2015.
Wrong. Cousins may not be better than all of these guys, but he holds up remarkably well. Some fun notes here include Boogie not being the worst of the group in any defensive metric–steal percentage, block percentage, defensive win shares or defensive box plus/minus. Instead he comes in first, tied for third, fourth and third in those categories, respectively.
That’s pretty damn good for a player who never gets mentioned in the same breath as the rest of this group. I think it’s time for that to change. Boogie is in their class of great defenders, and that comes from playing on a terrible team that probably dragged his defensive numbers down some.
This is something I think is worth pushing for Kings fans out there. DeMarcus Cousins is a downright great defender, and it’s time he got the respect he deserves for it. I would be disappointed if Boogie doesn’t end up making an All-Defensive team at some point in his career. He deserves to at least be in the conversation.
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