LAS VEGAS– DeMarcus Cousins averaged 26.9 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.5 blocks and was a dominant low post presence for for the Sacramento Kings and has been penciled in as a starter for the 2016 Olympic team in Rio. But the powerful 6-11, 270-pound center doesn’t feel like he gets enough respect for his accomplishments.

Cousins was voted second team All NBA by a 130 media balloting, finishing behind 6-11, 265-pound center DeAndre Jordan of the Clippers, a defensive stopper but questionable scorer. Cousins was frustrated and felt he had been all but forgotten on a below average, under achieving team that has not made post season for the past 10 years.

“I don’t even know what an expert is any more,” Cousins said. “I mean, I had some guys, didn’t even vote for me, and that’s
absurd. It’s a joke. It really is. It’s a popularity contest. It’s the guys who like them, it’s the guys they like, the guys they get to see on a nightly basis. I still don’t feel I get the respect I deserve. But I’m going to keep grinding. I’m going to stick with it.”

Cousins should be the center piece of the Kings franchise. But Kings’ GM Vlade Divac, who drafted 7-0 Willie Cauley Stein last year, used a lottery pick two picks in this June’s draft to select 7-0 Greek center Georgios Papagiannis and his second first round pick, 7-0 Skal Labissiere of Kentucky.

“Lord give me strength,” Cousins tweeted on draft night.

Earlier this week, Cousins was asked about the Kings’ moves on draft night. Though he admitted what the Kings did left him confused, he said he would focus on what he could control.”I do my job,” Cousins said Monday. “I don’t really understand what’s going on. I just control what I control. I let them do their job.”

His comments were seen as just another example of him being an unhappy camper.

“I’m trying to figure out what I said wrong. Of course, they’ve twisted it into something negative, in some type of way,” Cousins said. “I’m clueless. It’s to the point now, where I don’t want to say anything about any situation. Then I’ll be the bad guy about that as well. Anything I do. Anything I do, it’s … it’s whatever, man.”

Conventional wisdom suggested the Kings were exploring the idea of trading Cousins, who may soon emerge as one of the top 10 talents in this league but is the only player on the Olympic roster who has never participated in the NBA playoffs. Cousins has gone through six years of mood swings and tantums in Sacramento, which has gone through a carousel of six different coaches since he arrived from Kentucky as the fifth pick in the 2010 draft. But there still hasn’t been any movement.

In some respects, Cousins have been able to use this week long Olympic mini-camp as a reprieve. He has come here in the best shape of his professional career after choosing to spend his off season in Vegas, where he began taking hot sculpting yoga classes– an intense workout that he describes as a combination of yoga and pilates in a room therapeutically heated to 105 degrees and 40 percent humidity. The stretching and strength exercises are so demanding Cousins said lifting the five pound weights can feel like they’re 100 pounds. “It’s incredible,” he said after practice at the Mandenhall Center on the campus of UNLV. “You feel strong. You’re detoxing every day. It’s just been great.”

Cousins weight loss regimen has helped him shed 20 pounds. “I feel great,” he said. “I feel a lot lighter on my feet. Of course, I’ve slimmed down. I’m a lot more flexible, so it’s all coming together for me.”.

Cousins is getting his share of love from Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski, who said Cousins ‘has improved tremendously since his last international experience. I’ve gotten to know him a lot better as a player and a person.”

Cousins was a revelation on the 2014 World Cup team, coming off the bench for starter Anthony Davis and playing a huge role as a physical enforcer in a 129-92 gold medal victory over Serbia, grabbing a team nine rebounds and controlling the interior with blocks, rebounding and defense when Davis got into foul trouble.

But there was a time, back in 2012, when Cousins’ international career looked cloudy. After Cousins participated on the U.S. Select team against the 2012 Olympic team, Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo called Cousins out personally for his attitude, saying he had “some growing up to do.”

Cousins took offense to those comments and asked Colangelo about them. After much debate among USA Basketball executives, Cousins, 22, was extended an invite to take part in the mini-camp with a chance to land a spot on Team USA.

“You bury the past and go forward,” Colangelo said. “He’s invited and he’s definitely on the list. New year, new summer, new opportunity.”

This summer, with Davis injured, Cousins and Jordan have given Team USA two legitimate low post players. Cousins is a powerhouse scorer inside and Jordan is a rebounder, shot blocker who can run the floor forever without getting tired.

Their presence is a stark difference from Team USA 2012 London Olympic team where the closest thing Krzyzewski has to a true center was 6-9 Kevin Love and he was forced to play a three forward lineup of Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony for long stretches.

Cousins and Jordan should gobble up most of the minutes at that position and could help make this U.S. team the best defensive team Krzyzewski had coached in three Olympic cycles and could give Cousins a chance to reinvent himself. “I feel I’ve become a better player from this experience,” Cousins said. “I get to play for my entire country. You’d be a fool to ever pass that up. I’m extremely honored. I’m a prideful guy. I plan on representing well. I’m just excited about the whole thing.”