Chicago Bulls: 3 underrated veterans to add out of free agency
Underrated veterans for the Chicago Bulls to sign: DeMarcus Cousins
There are two sides to the coin of the Bulls potentially considering signing the former Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets center DeMarcus Cousins. The Bulls definitely need help at the four, and “Boogie” Cousins might have a hard time providing that for Donovan. He could be a clunky fit if he’s not willing to adapt to a particular reserve role as a second or third unit big man that needs to be switchable.
On the other hand, Cousins brings a high ceiling to the table in terms of the type of production and efficiency he can have in a bench role.
Are there signs that Donovan and the Bulls could get an extreme amount of value out of Cousins in a role of need next season? Absolutely.
Are there going to be risks involved with signing a recent journeyman in Cousins? Of course.
This would be a risky signing for the Bulls that could throw some chaos into the organization. Signing Boogie was never a move that anyone considered to be low-risk. The good news is that Cousins has started to become more of an integral contributor in a backseat role in the last couple of seasons.
The biggest problem for Boogie in the last three or four years (really since his time with the New Orleans Pelicans was behind him) was staying healthy. The four-time All-Star has not played in more than 70 regular season games since the 2016-17 campaign. Multiple nagging lower-body injuries (including a ruptured Achilles and torn ACL) have hampered Cousins for the last four years.
However, Cousins did contribute in a meaningful way with the Clippers down the stretch last season. He registered a 1.7 box plus/minus in 16 regular season games played with the Clippers last season. And he posted a career-high 0.4 box plus/minus in the playoffs in seven games played with the Clippers.
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What could also be an encouraging sign for the Bulls, if the coaching staff hypothetically wanted to get quality switchable minutes out of Cousins in the frontcourt, is the fact that his highest on-off court ratings came when he played minutes at the four. In fact, his only two seasons of playing at least 10 percent of his minutes at the four gave Cousins his best net ratings since 2015.