Marcus Cousin

Marcus Cousin - Cousin has gone from being a decent player at Houston, to a bad player in Turkey, to a good player in the D-League. There was nothing in his professional career prior to this season to suggest he could have achieved what he has done this season, yet playing for the Spurs owned affiliate the Austin Toros, Cousin (Coo-sawn) has averaged 14.6 points and 8.6 rebounds in 29 minutes a game, shooting 54% from the field and 82% from the free throw line. It's not the most fluid or exceptional production, but it's good, and from a hitherto surprising source. Cousin has NBA size as 6'11 and 255lbs, and despite being something of a late bloomer, he's definitely bloomed.

Cousin played for the Rockets summer league team on account of his local ties. The Seton Hall transfer averaged 10.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in his senior season at Houston, shooting 50% from the field and 76% from the foul line; solid numbers all, but not NBA calibre from Conference-USA. In his first professional season, Cousins averaged 5.3 points and 2.4 rebounds in 7 games for Turkish team Mersin, before moving to Israel and Galil Gilboa, where he averaged 2.7/2.0 in 16 more games along with 0.6 blocks. Cousin is a 6'11 post player who moves well enough and who will chip in with some big man stats, giving him value as a practice presence. But DeMarcus Cousins, he is not. (Additionally, for whatever reason, "Cousin" is pronounced as if it was a Turkish name called "Cusan". Take the -San from Ersan Ilyasova, and the Koo from Mrs Koo Stark, and put them together. Koosarn. Like that.)