WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- After a half-season of anticipation, Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins is ready to debut with his new team, and his teammates expected that he can fix into the Warriors' offense.
"Obviously, we want him to be himself," the team's star guard Stephen Curry was quoted as saying by the ESPN on Friday. "We want him to be that player that he knows he can be. Bringing the specific and unique skill will change our look a little bit. We have high-IQ guys all over the floor that will be able to figure it out. It might not be smooth at the beginning because it is going to be different, but he brings another element that we've never had before."
Cousins has not played since late January of 2018 after being sidelined by the Achilles injury while playing for the New Orleans Pelicans. He was named an All-Star last season, but did not play in the game due to injury, and chose to sign with the Warriors last summer.
He is set to debut with his new team against the LA Clippers on Friday.
Forward Draymond Green also believes it takes time to get the 28-year-old center involved into the team's system. He said: "I think [there are] two things: It is a completely different pace than he's ever played since he's been in the NBA, and he's coming off an Achilles injury doing that. That's tough. Nonetheless, he is one of the greatest talents in this league. So we're not going to play at some pace that he can't play at and make him irrelevant to our offense. We're going to make it work."
"He's still going to be effective when he has the ball in his hands, but not as much," Warriors star Kevin Durant added. "Just like it is for Stephen Curry, myself, or Klay Thompson. We're still who we are, but instead of 20 opportunities a game, it might be 13 or 14. So that's how it's going to be with Cousins."
