DeMarcus Cousins says he and Tyreke Evans have to carry Sacramento Kings

The Sacramento Kings are probably going to go only as far as center DeMarcus Cousins takes them. The Kings have struggled during Cousins's first two seasons in Sacramento and have perennially been positioned in the lottery, but now the promising center is ready for a big season.

Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated gets an excellent in-depth look into Cousins. Cousins talks about how his camp with USA basketball went (hint: not as well as he would've liked it to) and what he learned from the whole process. Cousins discussed his growing stature in the league and how he's starting to get mentioned on a shortlist as one of the NBA's best young centers.

Cousins also opens up on several topics, like Sacramento's latest draft pick Thomas Robinson, the Paul Westphal incident that might have ended up getting his coach fired, the workout regiment that helped build his body this offseason, how he and Tyreke Evans need to lead the team and what he thinks about the Lakers.

"At the end of the day, everybody in that locker room knows this team is myself and Tyreke's. I don't give a [expletive] about no articles [asking whose team it is]. This team goes as far as we carry it."