Double double toil and trouble.

It sounds like a witch’s spell. But in basketball, a double double is a good thing. It means a player scored at least ten points and grabbed 10 or more rebounds.

Tonight while watching the Sacramento Kings lose 85-69 to the Memphis Grizzlies, the announcers were making a big deal out of the fact that the Kings’ starting center, DeMarcus Cousins has had a number of games where he has achieved a double double. His season averages are approximately 17 points and 10 rebounds per game. He got 22 and 12 tonight.

But if you are a starting center in the NBA, shouldn’t you be expected to achieve a double double? You’ve made it to the upper echelon of your sport. You are among the best of the best. Even if the NBA has become more of a shooting guard/power forward league, I would still think your squad would be able to count on the tallest guy on the team to get into double digits in both points and rebounds every game.

I like Cousins. I don’t like his tattoos, as I’ve written about before, but I think he is a decent player. I just don’t think his double doubles should be a reason for celebration. They should be the norm.

For Cousins, if there’s no double double, then there should be trouble.