DeMarcus Cousins Will Be Counted on With Samuel Dalembert Ailing

Filed under: Kings

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- When the Kings added 7-foot veteran Samuel Dalembert and 6-foot-11 rookie DeMarcus Cousins to their woebegone frontline this summer, there was no shortage of in-house excitement over what the moves meant.



No one was predicting an end to the Lakers' reign, or touting their big men as equal to the likes of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, but there was a sense that they could finally compete down low in this league that has fast become the land of the long. The Kings ranked 29th and 25th, respectively, in opponent's points in the paint for the last two seasons, with the since-traded Spencer Hawes and his flat-footed friends almost always leaving the lane as open as their frustrated coach's mouth.



The 2010-11 enthusiasm didn't end with Dalembert and Cousins, as the Kings drafted the nation's leading shot blocker, 7-foot Hassan Whiteside, out of Marshall in the second round and looked forward to enjoying his cup-contesting ways as well. By their own comparison, the pieces new and old had the Kings believing they could be the next version of the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder after winning just 42 games combined in the last two seasons.



"Here We Rise," their marketing slogan went.



But the Kings learned on Wednesday that a strained left abductor muscle that has had Dalembert out since the start of training camp will keep him out another four to six weeks. It's an inauspicious start, to say the least, considering part of Dalembert's appeal when the Kings acquired him from Philadelphia in June was his durability (he has played in all 82 games the last four seasons).

 

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Full story at http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/10/13/demarcus-cousins-will-be-counted-on-with-samuel-dalembert-ailing/