Ex-Houston Cougar Marcus Cousin is now a Houston Rocket, signed to a cheap non-guaranteed three-year contract. The question with Cousin becomes what the Rockets see in him long-term. Obviously the path to the NBA at center isn't too littered with roadblocks in Houston, but they immediately sent him to the D-League to help the Rio Grande Vipers' playoff run and recalled Hasheem Thabeet to Houston to help the Rockets...erm...finish out the season.
↵What can we expect from Cousin? Ridiculous Upside's Scott Schroeder is SB Nation's resident D-League knowledge source, and luckily, he wrote a post on this very subject:
↵↵↵While Thabeet's rather raw, Cousin was probably the most polished post possibility in the D-League this season.
↵As I wrote last month, The big man is about as close as one will get to a traditional center from the D-League as Synergy Sports Technology shows that his top four offensive options are post-ups, cuts, offensive rebounds and being the roll man in pick-and-roll. The he relies on most is the jump hook but he has a good amount of post moves that he's relied on this season.
↵Defensively, Cousin is fundamentally sound in the low post despite the low number of blocks and steals. Where he struggles however, is when he's matched up with quicker players that can take him off the dribble (as Draft Express noted earlier this season).
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As I said, it's hard to tell whether Cousin is actually a long-term project for the Rockets roster or just a mercenary for Rio Grande at this point, but he sounds a lot like the opposite of Chuck Hayes. He probably doesn't have the size to bother the best post players, but he could help the Rockets against some guys that Hayes would normally struggle against. All-in-all, likely a solid investment.
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