Nik Stauskas Coming into his own in Philadelphia
As I mentioned before, Stauskas barely earned a spot on the 76ers' 15-man roster this season, and much of the 76ers' fanbase was hoping he would be cut.
Fortunately, Sauce Castillo seems to FINALLY be finding a role for himself in the NBA. After a slow start to the season, Nik has scored in double-digits in each of the last four games. He is providing an offensive spark off the bench and seems to finally be hitting some 3-balls.
He even came in for heavy praise on a major 76ers fan blog.
While I'm not sure he will ever be a consistent starter in the NBA, he will definitely have a respectable career if he can continue with this trajectory.
A couple of side notes:
-Brett Brown (the 76ers coach) encouraged him to start playing like Manu Ginobili, who Brown coached in San Antonio. That seems to be working.
-At one point both he and Trey Burke were on the court at the same time. Trey Burke was called for a blocking foul when he tried to take a charge from Stauskas. I didn't see them acknowledge each other at all, which was somewhat disappointing.
November 17th, 2016 at 10:17 AM ^
Yeah, but does he go to practice?
November 17th, 2016 at 10:20 AM ^
Burke has been terrible and will probably be out of the NBA next year. Hopefully Levert has a good career if he can stay healthy but kind of crazy glenn robinson has had the most stable career of those guys.
November 17th, 2016 at 10:29 AM ^
I would say THJ has had the best career up to this point, which is only slightly surprising because I thought Stauskas would be very good. Timmy has found a good role on a solid team and stable franchise. He's a pure scorer off the bench and pretty much has the green light to shoot whenever he's in the game. Hawks fans love him (I am a Hawks fan in Atlanta).
Burke has been very bad, but he always was going to have an uphill battle because he's small and isn't an explosive athlete.
November 17th, 2016 at 10:39 AM ^
Would agree that Hardaway has been the closest thing to a real contributor of recent UM products. He has a chance to have a nice 12 year career as a solid rotation player. Getting out of New York and into the hands of a good coaching staff was the best thing that could have happened to him.
November 17th, 2016 at 12:18 PM ^
It must really help to not have a coach who is trying to get with your girl.
November 17th, 2016 at 11:06 AM ^
completely forgot about THJ, good call
November 17th, 2016 at 11:26 AM ^
November 17th, 2016 at 2:39 PM ^
Hardaway just does everything well enough to warrant court time, and getting away from the Knicks helped immensely.
Burke said he wanted to be Iverson when they talked to him at the draft, and that isn't something any player can/should aspire to be in the current NBA landscape, especially if you aren't an elite athlete.
November 17th, 2016 at 6:08 PM ^
You can't be that in any landscape without being an elite athlete.
Russell Westbrook is the only person on earth that I'm aware of who can say that and have a real shot at doing it.
Iverson was a freak athlete. He could've easily been Randle-El on the football field, maybe even better.
November 17th, 2016 at 6:23 PM ^
November 17th, 2016 at 6:31 PM ^
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November 17th, 2016 at 10:31 AM ^
Huh? GRIII has appeared in 90 games for 3 teams and is averaging under 10 minutes per game for his career. That ain't stable. Trey may not be playing well, but his 220 appearances (including 111 starts) and 27.5 MPG is far more "stable".
November 17th, 2016 at 11:25 AM ^
...he's also in a bad spot right now. The Wizards' bench isn't used to playing together and needs time to figure things out. There also seems to be a negative cloud around the whole team right now.
November 17th, 2016 at 4:48 PM ^
Not really that odd. Robinson has the "ablilities" that NBA teams want. He is athletic and that generally gets you more leg. Nik will have a 15 year career if he can hit around 40% from behind the arc. Burke has the least room as he is too short and really not athletic enough to find a long home in the leg. He has to work harder than others and I am not sure he wants to do that.
November 17th, 2016 at 5:53 PM ^
been much better in the nba if he was properly fed at michigan.....lol
November 17th, 2016 at 10:22 AM ^
Good for him. I didn't think he would make the 15 man. Hopefully 4 games isn't an abberation and instead becomes the new normal.
November 17th, 2016 at 10:28 AM ^
Not sure I'd expect much friendly interaction from former college teammates in the middle of a game.
November 17th, 2016 at 10:33 AM ^
Try smiling more. It's good for the soul.
November 17th, 2016 at 10:46 AM ^
I wasn't surprised. But even just a couple words would have been nice to see.
November 17th, 2016 at 2:24 PM ^
just because it was the one interaction between the two on the court that we saw, doesn't mean it was their only interaction of the day.
November 17th, 2016 at 10:32 AM ^
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November 17th, 2016 at 10:50 AM ^
"and much of the fanbase was hoping he would be cut."
WTF is this shit? I highly doubt that, and it casts a shadow over the rest of your comments (which are helpful to those of us who do not regularly keep up with the NBA).
November 17th, 2016 at 10:52 AM ^
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November 17th, 2016 at 10:57 AM ^
November 17th, 2016 at 11:00 AM ^
He was a controversial keep. I wanted to keep him, but he was RIGHT on the bubble and Brandon Paul (who was cut) played well in the preseason.
November 17th, 2016 at 11:20 AM ^
Derp. My bad - I thought you meant our fanbase, not the sixer's fanbase. Apologies, and I'll take my negs accordingly.
Again, thanks for the update!
November 17th, 2016 at 11:53 AM ^
That didn't even occur to me as a possible interpretation. I made an edit so that it's crystal clear who I was referring to.
November 17th, 2016 at 11:18 AM ^
Why do you doubt that? He was on the bubble to even make the team and didn't have a great preseason.
November 17th, 2016 at 11:19 AM ^
November 17th, 2016 at 10:59 AM ^
good advice, there.
November 17th, 2016 at 11:09 AM ^
I think behavior in recent weeks has told us all we needed to know about Burke. He is an all-time Michigan great but, at the time, the team winning and his individual success disguised an attitude that wouldn't fly in more trying times. No shock that attitude carries through to his interaction with former teammates.
November 17th, 2016 at 11:19 AM ^
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November 17th, 2016 at 2:46 PM ^
I don't think him not doing whatever people think is appropriate to "recognize" a former teammate is relevant, but I do think Burke saying UM didn't prepare him for the NBA off-the-court and that he was fed "jail food" while also admitting to checking out mentally that last season was just dumb. Doesn't make him a bad guy, but athletes at UM are taken care of, and throwing shade at your old school to prove a point that college athletes are abused seems unnecessary. You can just attack the overall NCAA system.
November 17th, 2016 at 6:44 PM ^
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November 17th, 2016 at 11:23 AM ^
What behavior are you referring to? (serious question)
If you're referring to him talking about not being prepared for the NBA and jail food, to me he was speaking towards the college athlete experience in general and it doesn't say anything good or bad about his "attitude"
November 17th, 2016 at 11:37 AM ^
Trey Burke is a great player who made it through 2 seasons at UM without anyone getting to know anything about him. That is his own prerogative, but also leads to situations where he hasn't earned the benefit of the doubt when he gets himself in trouble down the line.
He had legitimate gripes with the student-athlete experience and yet chose the worst possible way to make those public, in the process sullying the program's reputation. I definitely believe that winning titles and awards over that three-year period masked some serious problems from multiple players, not just Trey.
November 17th, 2016 at 6:46 PM ^
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November 17th, 2016 at 11:40 AM ^
'Jail food' is also a load of BS. Athletes at Michigan dine on steak, chicken, salmon, pasta, fresh vegetables and homemade desserts most nights. Don't use rhetoric to make Michigan the 'bad guy' when it's really the system you're mad at.
November 17th, 2016 at 2:40 PM ^
Times have changed...Burke POY yesterday 5 minutes, 2 points
Stauskas 24 minites, 15points
Hardaway, Jr. 21 mminutes, 13 points
November 17th, 2016 at 2:49 PM ^
Was going to write one myself. Given where he was in SL, count me mildly shocked as to how well he is playing. The crazy thing is that he is passing up WIDE OPEN 3's. If he starts hitting them again (which must be a confidence thing), then I think he could have a meaningful NBA career...
November 17th, 2016 at 4:20 PM ^
November 17th, 2016 at 6:18 PM ^
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November 17th, 2016 at 7:45 PM ^
Did you go to the game? Or watch on TV? I wouldn't read much into the acknowledgement, that type of thing usually happens way before or way after a game. Most players try to stay as competitive as possible during a game - or risk the wrath of hot takes by fans.
November 17th, 2016 at 8:33 PM ^
It would be really cool to see Nik develop some court chemistry with Embiid.
November 17th, 2016 at 11:25 PM ^
pass the sauce