Nik Stauskas: Just Needed A Buddy In the Backcourt

Nik Stauskas is back to being a decent 3-point shooter, largely due to having a new friend in the backcourt, Ish Smith.

When it was announced on Christmas Eve that Tony Wroten was going to be released, and the Philadelphia 76ers had made a trade for Ish Smith, some looked at it and scoffed, while others looked at it as a present. Those who scoffed were upset that the Sixers gave up two of their second-round draft picks for Smith, a guy they could have simply re-signed this offseason, but watched as he walked to be with the Washington Wizards, and then the New Orleans Pelicans.

Those who saw him as a gift–maybe due to having a bit more Christmas spirit than the other party–knew he was the point guard the Sixers had been looking for. The past trials, Tony Wroten, Kendall Marshall, Isaiah Canaan, all were one-sided point guards. They could either pass extremely well, or score extremely well. None of these guards could play a balanced point-guard game, and that was devastating to the Sixers offense as a whole.

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One of the biggest pieces of evidence of the offense being devastatingly bad was shooting guard Nik Stauskas, who has had a troubling career in the NBA so far. In his rookie season, he was far from being the high-scoring sharpshooter he was in college, and was traded to the Sixers in a salary dump.

Sixers fans were happy to have Stauskas on the team, and hoped that a better offensive system would cultivate the same college shooter that was somewhere in Stauskas. They would end up being wrong, as we saw Stauskas struggle for the first several months of the season. From October when the season started to December 22nd, 2015, Nik was shooting just above 28 percent from beyond the 3-point line, and we were accustomed to expecting his shots to rim-out whenever he took even a wide-open one from beyond the arc. He was still attempting a riveting 4.5 3-pointers a game, which seemed to all be wasted attempts at scoring.

As Ish Smith came along, we expected his greatest beneficiary to be Nerlens Noel, and Noel definitely did benefit from having a great passer and scorer in Smith. Smith lobs the ball up to Noel perfectly, and Noel has been getting the best looks he’s gotten all season.

But perhaps, the greatest beneficiary from having Smith on the team is not Noel, but Stauskas.

We see it all the time in the NBA, where a dynamic duo in the backcourt can encourage each other and be dominant members of the basketball team. Smith and Stauskas are definitely not there yet, but having a talented, NBA-talent point guard in Smith has really helped Nik get his groove back.

Since Ish joined the team, that 28 percent 3-point shooting has improved vastly. Nik is still not averaging a huge amount of points, but he’s sinking 38.1 percent of his 3-point attempts, and still attempting around four 3-point shots per game. That’s an outstanding improvement, and we have to think that it’s largely due to having Smith on this roster to pass to Stauskas and set him up with good looks. Stauskas is shooting 37.5 percent from beyond the arc off of passes from Smith.

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At the same time, we wonder, why does Smith make such a difference? Stauskas was getting great looks before Ish as well, and often missing shots with no one around to guard him.

It’s having that fully-completed point guard in the backcourt alongside Stauskas that’s take a load off of his shoulders. Since the previous candidates for point guards have been incomplete, the shooting guards have been expected to pick up the slack. If the point guard can’t pass, the shooting guards must. And if the point guards can’t score (which has been the case for many of the point guards) the shooting guard should. Stauskas was trying to make up for the lack of scoring in the backcourt and he had a lot of pressure on him.

It’s been observed by many that Stauskas looks a little nervous and timid at times on the court, but since Smith has taken over the point, he’s looked more comfortable, and probably had a more natural feel to his game that’s allowing him to sink more shots.

As Nik continues to get that groove back, I’m excited to see exactly what the once called sharpshooter can do at his full potential, and paired with a complete NBA point guard. It’s incredible that one player being added to the roster can impact the team on so many different areas.