DeMarcus Cousins won’t be asked to play major minutes for the Bucks, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic. He’ll give them 10-15 minutes a game and help lessen the load on Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis. They have been manning the middle in the absence of Brook Lopez, who has been sidelined with a back injury. Cousins signed a non-guaranteed deal on Sunday.
Cousins took part in a workout led by assistant coach Darvin Ham on Saturday in Las Vegas, Marc Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated tweets. Assistant GM Milt Newton and VP of Global Scouting Ryan Hoover attended the workout. Cousins had a phone conversation with coach Mike Budenholzer afterward.
We have more info on the Central Division:
- Nikola Vucevic hasn’t looked right since returning from a bout with COVID-19, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times opines. In his third game back on Saturday, the Bulls big man took only nine shots, scored seven points and committed three turnovers. The Heat paid special attention to him defensively. “I do think he’s getting his footing back under him,” coach Billy Donovan said. His 13.4 PPG are his lowest since his first season with the Magic in 2012-13, Cowley notes.
- Justin Holiday has been giving advice to Pacers rookie Chris Duarte about his new bench role, Brendan Rourke of the team’s website writes. “When you’re young, you focus a lot on being the starter and doing stuff like that,” Holiday said. “I’m just trying to give him a different sight of how he can still help. He’s still just as valuable even though he doesn’t have that starting role.” Holiday has been inserted into the starting role in place of Duarte.
- A four-game layoff to rest a sprained left thumb helped Pistons second-year guard Killian Hayes, Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press writes. ‘”It was good for him to take it off, he’s feeling much better now,” coach Dwane Casey said of Hayes, who had six points and eight assists in 29 minutes against the Lakers on Sunday. “We’ll see if he can jump-start it to do it again. He was playing pretty good, especially defensively.”
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