DeMarcus Cousins’ goal of reducing technicals off to rough start

DeMarcus Cousins of the Sacramento Kings wants to reduce his technical fouls this season to five. Apparently, the count doesn’t include the preseason.

DeMarcus Cousins earned some chuckles when he declared he wanted to receive no more than five technical fouls this season.

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After all, five is a pretty good month for Cousins over the course of his four-year career with the Sacramento Kings.

Cousins has picked up 59 technicals in his career. His 16 last season tied with Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers and Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder for the NBA lead.

He led the NBA with 17 techs in 2012-13, was second in the NBA with 12 in 2011-12 (trailing only Kendrick Perkins of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who had 13) and as a rookie, he was fifth in the NBA with 14.

He’s off to a rough start this preseason, picking up his second early Sunday morning in a preseason game against the Brooklyn Nets in Shanghai, China.

But at least Cousins was amused by the call:

Cousins has gone so far as to put a sign reading “5” in his locker as a reminder to keep his temper in check.

Perhaps 10 would have been a more realistic goal—it would still be a substantial reduction from last season and it might not get him laughed at quite as much.

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