I was hesitant to classify Cousins a lock. The Pelicans are two measly games ahead of a Clippers team that has spent half the season with D-League guys around DeAndre Jordan and Williams. If they really have two of the 12 best players in the conference -- and according to most experts, two of the 12 best in the league -- why are they mediocre?
Cousins' own limitations line up almost perfectly with those of his team. He turns the ball over at an absurd rate and chronically fails to get back on defense; the Pelicans turn the ball over too much and hemorrhage transition points with Cousins on the floor. (Their turnover rate drops from bottom-five territory to best-in-the-league when Davis plays center, per NBA.com.)
There are just way, way, way too many opponent possessions when you see only nine players on the television screen for an alarming length of time. Like, sometimes the opponent will take a shot, grab an offensive rebound, and go up for another shot before Cousins -- pouting and wheezing -- crosses half court.
That is death on morale. Opponents have outscored the Pelicans by about three points per 100 possessions in 625 minutes when Cousins plays without Davis, and their defense has been a catastrophe, per NBA.com.
Davis has outplayed Cousins, and Aldridge has been steadier -- the stabilizing two-way force for an injury-riddled Spurs team that somehow keeps winning.
It's not as if the Pelicans' twin towers have no help, either. Jrue Holiday has been sensational, and both E'Twaun Moore and Darius Miller are sizzling from deep.
But Cousins is a big reason those guys are playing so well -- and even for some of Davis' career-best shooting numbers. On offense, he has transformed himself into what the Pelicans need him to be -- a monstrous, 3-point-shooting point-center logging huge minutes. The price of that transformation is Cousins occasionally falling down while dribbling, turning the ball over, and huffing at the referees while the other team scores.
Cousins happily cedes the lane -- and rim-running duties -- to Davis, allowing Davis to act in a more natural finisher role. Davis gets more shots in the restricted area with Cousins on the floor, and enjoys more assisted baskets, per NBA.com. A full half of Holiday's baskets have come via assist this season, up from just 29 percent a year ago, and that role recalibration has turned him into a different player.
Cousins is good enough with the ball to make you wonder if the Pelicans need a traditional point guard at all. They have outscored opponents by almost 19 points per 100 possessions -- insane -- when Holiday, Cousins, and Davis play without either of the Rajon Rondo/Jameer Nelson duo, per NBA.com. (The margin doesn't drop much when you slide Davis out, either.)
Rondo and Nelson are sieves, and lineup data at least raises the possibility that New Orleans' bad defense has less to do with Cousins than the eye test might suggest.
Because nobody fails the eye test on bad nights like Cousins. A lot of other stars -- including Davis -- lollygag back on defense, but no one does it with Boogie's gusto. You notice it more, and for Boogie skeptics (guilty!), the nausea of watching him loaf probably colors our perception of him more than it should. It's also easy to overlook the unusually high number (for a big man) of steals he swipes -- thefts that compensate at least a bit for his own oafish pratfalls.
The Pelicans spring leaks on the defensive glass when Cousins sits. The Boogie/non-Brow lineups have been net positives since December 1 after a hideous start. Opposing coaches fear Cousins, even if they would never want to coach him.
And overall that Pelicans supporting cast is, umm, not good. They are getting nothing from six of their 15 roster spots. Nothing! That number would be "only" five with Solomon Hill, but still. It's unclear if Miller, Nelson, Dante Cunningham, or Ian Clark would get real minutes on a normal playoff team; Rondo would certainly not receive so many. Moore would be a reserve.
It's fair to ask why one mediocrity deserves two All-Stars, while two and maybe three others receive none. All of those teams are deeper than New Orleans in NBA rotation guys. Cousins is deserving. I just wouldn't start him.