Rockets center Christian Wood began smiling before the question was complete, the idea of matching up against DeMarcus Cousins clearly having been considered well before the Rockets faced the Clippers on Friday and likely since Cousins began the week with a new 10-day contract audition.
“I would love to get some minutes against DeMarcus,” Wood said. “I was happy to see him back on his feet, on a good team that’s contending, in a stable place that he wants to be. I’m just happy to see him and I can’t wait to play against him.”
The Rockets were supposed to be that sort of team for Cousins as he came back from nearly two seasons lost to injuries. But as with so much with the Rockets seasons, things did not go as they thought.
Cousins’ departure, however, was not entirely about a veteran leaving a lottery team in hopes of landing with a contender. It worked out that way, assuming Cousins sticks with the Clippers beyond a 10-day contract or two. But he was released Feb. 23 eight games into the Rockets’ 20-game losing streak, just two games after he started and scored 19 points in Philadelphia, so he could find a role he considered a better fit.
Similar to the Rockets picking him up on a non-guaranteed, one-year contract before the season (they guaranteed the deal the week before he was released,) the Clippers offered a chance to see if there could be a role that would work for both. He played eight minutes in his first game in Los Angeles but did not play at all on Thursday with the center spot already crowded with Ivica Zubac, Patrick Patterson and Serge Ibaka once he returns from back soreness.
As with his decision to join the Rockets, Cousins had found comfort in rejoining a former Kentucky teammate (Patterson and Rockets guard John Wall played with Cousins in 2009-10) and a chance to show that he had recovered from the injuries to fit in the NBA as it had changed for big men in the time he had been hurt.
To get that chance, he had gone from being an All Star (in 2017-18) to a 10-day contract more swiftly than any player ever had.
“I’ve put an incredible amount of work to get to this place,” Cousins said on Tuesday. “I feel great, my body feels great. I’m in probably the best shape I’ve been in my entire career. At this point, it’s about going out there and, you know, just putting everything together and just trying to continue to show that I’m healthy and I’m here to play this game at a high level. I understand the situation that I’m in. Whatever opportunity is given to me, I plan on just taking full advantage of it, just controlling what I can control.”
With the Rockets, he had shown flashes of his offensive talents, most notably when he scored 29 points with 17 rebounds and five assists in a win in Dallas when he filled in for Wood on the second night of a back-to-back. His playing time, however, could be inconsistent when Wood played, with Cousins often struggling to defend with the second unit and especially against small lineups.
He averaged 9.6 points on 37.6 percent shooting and 7.6 rebounds in his 25 games with the Rockets. He had seven points, making three of four shots, in his debut with the Clippers.
“He deserves another chance to be on a good team and hopefully, contribute for their playoff run,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “I was definitely happy. He provides a lot. He’s a big body. He can make 3s. He can defend bigger guys in the post. If you take teams that have post-up bigs or big, physical bigs he can defend them. I’m definitely happy for Cuz to be able to go to a high-level team like the Clippers.”
He will likely have to embrace inconsistent playing time based on need. Clippers coach Ty Lue described Cousins as a combination of the centers he has but there was a hope, he said, that Cousins will remain past his initial 10-day trial. The Rockets, however, had no issue with Cousins’ willingness to accept his role, even if he eventually decided to seek a change.
“Cuz was good for everybody,” Silas said. “The role Cuz had was a hard role. There were games it would be harder to play him. There were games he would be playing well and Christian was the starter and Cuz was the backup, and there were times it was a little bit difficult for him because of that. I totally understood that. He handled it well. The conversations we had were productive. I would tell him where he stands and he was always, “I got you, I understand.’
“The leadership part of it was kind of handling that situation right, leading by example and not getting down about the circumstance. He was at times playing at a high level and he was still the backup. Then he became a starter when Christian went down and (Cousins) became the starter and we were losing and it was hard. He stayed professional all the way through and I’m appreciative of that for him.”
For Wood, that professionalism included “lessons” ranging from scoring to communicating, making him think happily of their half season as teammates. It also made him hope for a chance to compete as opponents.
jonathan.feigen@chron.com
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