A Position Change Is What Saves Nik Stauskas
Entering his third season, Philadelphia 76ers guard Nik Stauskas as had a reputation of underachieving. What he needs more than any else is position change.
In an underwhelming preseason debut, Nik Stauskas went 0-4 from the floor while only adding 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 assist, 1 turnover in 18 minutes. All four of his misses came from the 3-point line. Stauskas will probably not be with the Philadelphia 76ers if this is indicative of future play. One way to avoid another terrible outing for Stauskas is for head coach Brett Brown to make a position change.
Mike Sielski of the The Inquier and Philly.com has wrote a piece on Brown pushing Stauskas to take on more ball handling responsibility:
This is a combination of several events taking place. In Sielski’s piece, he explained that Brown had Nik Stauskas watch plenty of videos of Spurs great Manu Ginobili during the offseason. In those videos, Brown wants Stauskis to to learn and to be able to mimic Ginobili’s skill set.
Shooting guards with the ball handling responsibilities of a point guard are not unheard of. Besides Ginobili, there are other shooting guards that perform this function well. Future Hall of Famers Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and James Harden all have taken on those responsibilities.
Harden is actually expected to make the full transition to point guard this season under former Sixers assistant Mike D’Antoni.
This is not to say that Stauskas will become one of the super stars, only time will tell if that will happen. Stauskas could improve if he ran the pick and roll that Ginobili runs with the Spurs.
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Generated 10/5/2016.
He could improve his shooting percentage and assist rate, however, there is one glaring problem that may arise with Stauskas making more basketball decisions.
Stauskas’ stats indicate that he has a low assist rate and a high turnover rate. With less then a whole number separating the stats, it’s clear he is not a good decision maker. This could very much backfire with his turnover rate sky rocketing.
James Harden had a similar problem, but was able to counteract it with a high assist rate and scoring numbers. Fans can only hope for similar results, if Stauskas has a turnover problems.
There is other reason why Brown wants Stauskas to take on point guard responsibilities. According to Sielski, it is because of the injury that Ben Simmons suffered early in the preseason. Without Simmons the team is left with very few play makers in Dario Saric, Sergio Rodriguez, and T.J. McConnell. Two of which will most likely be delegated to the bench.
Brown might be scrapping the bottom of the barrel asking Stauskas to pick up the slack. It could work out very well for the Sixers and this is why it could work.
Sielski also had this to say about Stauskas:
"“Stauskas had played a similar style in a similar system at Michigan. There, coach John Beilein had used him frequently in pick-and-roll situations, and at 6-foot-6, Stauskas could either shoot over or zoom past the smaller, slower guards of the Big Ten.”"
While it was against college players, Stauskas gained his fame in college, and the fact that he did run a similar system in college could help him against NBA defenses quicker. Brown could be crowned the genius of the regular season, if Stauskas can pull off this transition.
Next: Simmons Surgery Likely Allows Repairing Shot Mechanics
Nik Stauskas is fighting for a roster spot this preseason, but if he can make this transition he could end up fighting for the starting position. Only time will tell if this will be the case.