Who had “early November” in the “When will DeMarcus Cousins and Sacramento Kings head coach George Karl first butt heads in 2015-16” pool?
OK, well, you won.
Sources told The Big Lead’s Jason McIntyre that Cousins went on a profanity-packed rant aimed at Karl following the Kings’ 106-88 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night. Here are the details:
After Sacramento was hammered at home by San Antonio Monday night, the Kings’ star, DeMarcus Cousins, stormed into the locker room and cursed out head coach George Karl with a torrent of obscenities, a person close to the situation told The Big Lead.
After Cousins unleashed the F-bombs on Karl, all the head coach – who publicly feuded with the Kings best player last summer – could do was walk away, a source tells The Big Lead. Afterward, Cousins felt some remorse for his actions, asking a couple of teammates if he came down too hard on the coach. They calmly told him, “you can’t scream and curse like that at your coach in front of everyone.”
Color me sheepish. I devoted a good two or three paragraphs to riffing on Cousins’ emotional maturity days ago. So much for that.
Cousins, though, has since apologized, per Yahoo Sports’ Marc J. Spears:
DeMarcus Cousins apologizes in statement for words after loss Monday and says no one to blame for Kings' struggles. pic.twitter.com/qNg2zHdaqY
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) November 11, 2015
Everything is clearly cool now.
Except maybe not.
From McIntyre:
The day after the San Antonio loss, the players had a well-publicized players-only meeting. What hasn’t been reported is that after the players spoke, Sacramento general manager Vlade Divac and assistant GM Mike Bratz talked to the players and Divac asked the team, “We don’t know what to do with George [Karl], do you think we should fire him?”
The players, a person close to the situation said, were shocked and didn’t know how to respond. Stunned speechless and lacking a leader, the Kings then trotted out Omri Casspi and Caron Butler to meet the media. Casspi played for the team a few years ago, but was in Houston last season and just re-signed with Sacramento less than two months ago. Butler was signed in the offseason.
This is big, if true.
It’s also stupid, if true.
You can’t just ask players that type of question, especially out of the blue. Pulling your franchise player aside and talking to him about the situation is one thing. That happens a ton. But polling the team at large is just asking for trouble. It gives the appearance of chaos and dysfunction, and in the Kings’ case, it serves as evidence that they haven’t changed.
For what it’s worth, though, Divac kinda-sorta came to the defense of Karl:
Kings GM Vlade Divac tells Yahoo that Cousins' tirade: "Wasn't on George (Karl). He spoke his mind, frustration about 1-7. I'm OK with it."
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) November 12, 2015
Alrighty then.
Basically, the Kings are Kingsing. They are 1-7, are going nowhere fast and have yet to get their house in order, suggesting that this will end like it always does: with a sub-30 win season that yields more questions than answers.
