More than 3,000 fans of his new team showed they were believers in DeMarcus Cousins the instant they heard his name. “With the fifth pick in the 2010 NBA draft,” commissioner David Stern announced from the podium in Madison Square Garden as the faithful gathered around the video screens inside ARCO Arena last Thursday, “the Sacramento Kings select DeMarcus….” The fans’ cheers and applause drowned out the rest. Almost 3,000 miles away, news of the celebration he had set off in California was received with surprise and relief by Cousins, the Kentucky freshman center who had spent the last three months hearing pundits, reporters and NBA executives debate his emotional maturity. Yes, he had an NBA body and great promise, but did he have issues with anger? Could he be coached? Then he heard the commissioner announce his selection, and any doubts about his future vanished, as if Cousins had awakened in New York City from a strange nightmare.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter’s Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.
