Before playing the Nets, the Bucks officially laid cousins. For the Bucks' decision, all parties generally feel that it is not easy to understand, after all, Cousins contributed 9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in the Bucks' 17 games; in the last game before being cut, Cousins also played 19 minutes and 46 seconds, cut 15 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 block, +9 plus and minus is also the highest in the team, and his performance has exceeded many people's expectations.
As for the reason why Cousins was cut, the empty seat came out to facilitate the Bucks' next operations, which must be one of the reasons, but not the only reason. And the other reasons for Cousins' layoff aren't hard to guess:
1. Save money. After all, the Bucks are a small market team, and the bucks' bosses are not capitalized among the NBA bosses themselves. Cousins, on the other hand, is an insecure contract, and there will be no additional expenses to lay him off.
2, Cousins did not become a stand-in for Dalo. The Bucks signed Cousins, which was an emergency operation after Dalo's surgery. The Bucks have the alphabet, the league's top killer, but Budenholzer has been using the alphabet protectively in recent years, and has been controlling the alphabet's playing time in the regular season, reducing the frequency of the alphabet's hand-to-hand combat on the defensive end as much as possible, and the bucks need either to defend or to open up space. However, Cousins did both of these things badly. He's averaged 2.8 three-pointers per game this season and shot just 27.1 percent from three-point range; as for his defense, he doesn't have the ability to pull out portis to change defenses, nor does he have the ability to protect the frame like Big Fall.
3, Cousins' characteristics run counter to the development trend of the alliance. Cousins' three-pointer certainty is not high, and defense is a colander, but he is not useless. Cousins has delicate technique, and his low-post offense is still no small threat; but the problem is that Cousins' characteristics have run counter to the development trend of the league.
In the small ball era, the top big men such as Alphabet, Joe Teacher, Embiid, Thick Eyebrows, and Towns are still favored. So what if the teams don't have letters, about the teacher, the emperor such a top interior line that has both offense and defense? Most teams will pick senior blue-collar workers, which is why Gobert can get a top salary in the league, Capela, Adams, Turner can sign a big contract. Especially when you see that during the period of Ayton and McGee's recovery, Jaylen Smith and Billy Bo, who has gradually moved away from the league before, were fed the data of a first-line center by Paul on the offensive end, and they also showed full destructive power on the defensive end, this kind of athletic ability, can eat cake and protect the frame or can change the defense of the blue-collar interior line has been recognized by the entire league.
However, Cousins has never been a particularly athletic player, nor has he ever been a blue-collar player, and his athleticism can be basically ignored in the NBA after two major repairs. Cousins, who can't protect the frame and can't change defenses, has no way to stop the demolition of the pie on the offensive end, and the 27.1% three-point shooting rate is not enough to open up space for his teammates outside the three-point line, in fact, his style of play is no longer suitable for today's league.
No one would deny that Cousins was once the best big man in the league; when he and Thick Brow played twin towers at Pelicans, Cousins' influence on the game was actually above Thick Brow. However, since leaving the Pelicans, Cousins has changed teams almost every year; the environment of the league today is very unfriendly to the traditional interior. The proportion of centers back to singles is getting lower and lower, And Da luo, once a low-post big killer, continues to transform into a 3D center; Howard, who can defend the frame and traverse the speed is also OK, has been marginalized for two consecutive years in the tactical roles of the 76ers and the Lakers, and his role on the court is far inferior to that of Cousins of Dalo and Howard, even if he may be signed by other teams next, he is destined to be only a marginal person in the league. Perhaps the CBA on the other side of the ocean is a more suitable stage for Cousins to play his own.