DeMarcus Cousins intends to reduce the mistakes from his rookie season now that he is a second-year pro.

Cousins was foul and turnover prone, plus he shot just 43 percent from the floor.

"I'm actually hoping for all of that," he said about improving in those areas. "But it's really just me playing smarter. But I've got to play a lot smarter."

Cousins is the type of player that learns more from experience than instruction, according to Paul Westphal.

"It's hard for him learn by somebody telling him something, but he does learn," Westphal said. "One of the things about last year was I knew DeMarcus was going to have to play through some mistakes in order to find where the boundaries are. I expect his improvement to be in the areas of shooting percentage, turnovers and fouls."

Cousins reflected on situations where he didn't play as smart as he was capable.

"I'm playing against some of the smaller big men, and I'm trying to take them off the dribble," Cousins said. "I should be using my body, using my strength. It's just knowing what to use."