DeMarcus Cousins tore his Achilles on Jan. 26. Nearly nine months later, the Warriors issued the following statement Tuesday:
DeMarcus continues to make good progress with his rehabilitation program. After spending the last few weeks doing various individual on-court activities and drills, he will, in the near future, be integrated into controlled aspects of team practices, although not scrimmages at this point. Additionally, he will continue with his off-court strength and conditioning.
Kerr has made it clear that when Cousins is fully healthy, he'll be the Warriors' starting center. But not all of Cousins' minutes will come at the beginning of the first quarter and beginning of the third quarter.
It sounds as if Kerr and the coaching staff already are formulating a plan for the four-time All-Star.
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"I think you'll see us use him in that David West role from the last couple of years, when David anchored the second unit," Kerr told Tom Tolbert and John Lund on KNBR 680. "I think you'll see us play through DeMarcus, and we'll put him on the low block and have guys cutting around him."
Per 36 minutes last season, West averaged 5.0 assists per game.
Per 36 minutes last season, Cousins averaged 5.3 assists per game.
[REWIND: Bob Myers had a mandate for Steve Kerr's phone call with DeMarcus Cousins]
Golden State Warriors
"But the other thing that we can do -- we haven't really had a big capable of doing since I've been here -- is put him in some high screens and pop him out to the 3-point line," Kerr said. "He's a really good 3-point shooter; he's got amazing soft hands, soft touch -- and he can pass from out there too."
Cousins attempted 69 3-pointers over his first five NBA seasons combined. In 2015-16 alone, he shot 210 triples (and made 70).
In 2016-17, the two-time All-NBA big man averaged 5.0 attempts per game. And last season, he was at 6.1 per contest before his injury.
So perhaps Cousins will play the first six-ish minutes of the first quarter and then start the second quarter. And then he will play the first six-ish minutes of the third quarter and then start the fourth quarter.
There are many different directions the Warriors can go.
"It's gonna be fun to experiment with him and to try to find the right niche for him," Kerr added.
Drew Shiller is the co-host of Warriors Outsiders. Follow him on Twitter @DrewShiller