When DeMarcus Cousins set a personal goal of picking up no more than five technical fouls over the course of the upcoming NBA season, the logical reaction was a skeptical smirk.
Cousins is notorious for playing with a chip on his shoulder, which has resulted in his emotions getting the best of him on plenty of occasions, often to the detriment of his team. He was tied for the league lead in technical fouls last season with Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin, so a sudden shift in behavior didn’t really seem plausible to anyone who has followed his career even remotely closely.
In a predictable turn of events, the new Cousins is the same as the old Cousins, at least to this point of the preseason. He’s already collected two technical fouls, the latest of which came after having words for an official during a free throw attempt in the Kings’ loss to the Nets in China on Sunday.
On a positive note, if Cousins places a 1 before the 5 in his locker, the goal would immediately become much more realistic, and would still be an improvement over the 16 technical fouls he registered last season.
