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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2160033-nik-stauskas-biggest-takeaways-from-the-nbas-rookie-transition-program

This was posted on the Raptors forum by godkingleonidas, and I thought some Kings fans might enjoy reading it too. Stauskas goes over 15 of the things that he learned with fellow rookies. He seems like a really well-spoken kid. Sounds like he'll be giving some great interviews/quotes in the near future.

edit: here's the link to the original posting on the Raptors forum: http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1341221

I view Stauskas as someone who gets it. I'm really excited to see his career start here.

Hopefully Nik and Ben pleasantly surprise me this season. I'm not personally confident in either as prospects as of now and worry about the position, we will see how it plays out

That's a terrific interview. I enjoyed getting the insight into what goes on at the rookie orientation. Nik has a great perspective. I hope he delivers on the court.

Kings2013 wrote:Hopefully Nik and Ben pleasantly surprise me this season. I'm not personally confident in either as prospects as of now and worry about the position, we will see how it plays out

I can understand your feeling in regards to Ben at this point. But with Nik that isn't at all fair. You are or ejecting some theoretically "better" player that we could have had instead and not even giving the kid a chance to suit up for the team and start his NBA career.

We really need as a fan base here to start backig off and give th new ownership and front office a fair chance to get the ship righted here.

We are all pretty sore from the way the Magoofs acted here the last five to seven years.

But they are gone now.

It's time to turn the page and try to see things as new through a fresh viewpoint.

OGSactownballer wrote:

Kings2013 wrote:Hopefully Nik and Ben pleasantly surprise me this season. I'm not personally confident in either as prospects as of now and worry about the position, we will see how it plays out

I can understand your feeling in regards to Ben at this point. But with Nik that isn't at all fair. You are or ejecting some theoretically "better" player that we could have had instead and not even giving the kid a chance to suit up for the team and start his NBA career.

We really need as a fan base here to start backig off and give th new ownership and front office a fair chance to get the ship righted here.

We are all pretty sore from the way the Magoofs acted here the last five to seven years.

But they are gone now.

It's time to turn the page and try to see things as new through a fresh viewpoint.

From watching him 4 games in Summer League I question whether or not he has the physical attributes/athleticism to positively affect enough areas to be a quality starting SG as of now. This is subjective but I wasn't enamored with what I sensed of his motor/work rate, and he went stretches of games without being noticed at all and IMO didn't show enough aggression. He wasn't in great condition and this is only a few games of his first Summer League so hopefully I see things different once he gets into camp

I have to be honest.

Your first line of your post made me lose all respect for your judgement of basketball players at the professional level.

Four games in summer league is virtually meaningless. Honestly for the guys who are on guaranteed contracts and part of the team I don't want to see them killing themselves there and risking major injury.

He played within the team plan and they won the league title from the eighth seed. That doesn't leave me with many questions.

OGSactownballer wrote:I have to be honest.

Your first line of your post made me lose all respect for your judgement of basketball players at the professional level.

Four games in summer league is virtually meaningless. Honestly for the guys who are on guaranteed contracts and part of the team I don't want to see them killing themselves there and risking major injury.

He played within the team plan and they won the league title from the eighth seed. That doesn't leave me with many questions.

Your post made me lose respect for your posts as a member of Realgm.

Folks are allowed to state their opinions without having to worry about being disrespected due to the content of their thoughts. Everything I've state about Nik on the thread, and damn near everything I post about players on the site come from the point of view of opinion. I hope the front office does know more than I do

I've seen/read enough to form a preliminary viewpoint on the kid, and I will state that viewpoint as long as it doesn't violate the rules and respects the rights of other members.

Fair enough.

Everyone has their opinions and can express them freely.

People think Sac took him too high.

I actually think he should have gone top 5.

Will be borderline all-star in 3 seasons IMO.

Let's go Nik!

Slightly OT, but I really wish the NBA would do more for rookies coming into the league and help them adjust to being wealthy and famous. Many of these kids come from backgrounds where they had no money and the world had no knowledge of their existence, and now they're suddenly part of the 1% with media scrutinizing their every move. It's really hard to manage that transition on your own, and it's really no surprise so many of them end up broke and in legal trouble shortly after they leave the league.

Can anyone tell me what the big difference is between nik stauskas and young matt carroll?

Both are great shooters with a quick release, have below average athleticism, average ball handlers, same size (and lack of length), both can attack the basket at college and summer league level. Carroll's a better rebounder, stauskas seems to have better court vision.

Even their college stats are pretty similar.

Also, carroll had a much better summer league back in the day, although i'll admit that's not a valid argument since he was 4 years older at the time than stauskas is now.

All in all, they seem pretty much the same to me. Just to be clear i'm not trying to provoke anyone, it's an honest observation.

Vinsanity_GOAT wrote:Can anyone tell me what the big difference is between nik stauskas and young matt carroll?

Both are great shooters with a quick release, have below average athleticism, average ball handlers, same size (and lack of length), both can attack the basket at college and summer league level. Carroll's a better rebounder, stauskas seems to have better court vision.

Even their college stats are pretty similar.

Also, carroll had a much better summer league back in the day, although i'll admit that's not a valid argument since he was 4 years older at the time than stauskas is now.

All in all, they seem pretty much the same to me. Just to be clear i'm not trying to provoke anyone, it's an honest observation.

For one, he doesn't have below average athleticism. I'd maybe say average, but not below. He's got much better court vision and handles which I care about more than rebounding from my shooting guard. Overall, Carroll was a one dimensional player while Nik seems to be a much more dynamic playmaker.

Needs to get better on D but I think he's got the brains for it.

Nik Stauskas reminds me of a former King, Danny Ainge. I think that is Nik's ceiling. If he can reach that he'll be a solid pro for a long, long time. Hopefully he has the same fire Ainge did.

Stauskas' handle for a SG is well above average. His athleticism is good enough to sustain a long career given his other skills.

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I don't really see it though, matt carroll looked like he had and1 mixtape type handles in workouts back in the day. Just like probably pretty much any nba player. Athleticism looks the same to me, especially the white sg/sf's greatest weakness --> lateral movement, but yeah it's probably closer to average. I guess time will tell.

Anyway, thanks for the answers, i'm looking forward to see him prove me wrong.

I see Stauskas being a poor man's Ray Allen (Sonics Ray Ray). Hopefully not too poor man's. I'd take $0.80 on the dollar being his ceiling.

Vinsanity_GOAT wrote:I don't really see it though, matt carroll looked like he had and1 mixtape type handles in workouts back in the day. Just like probably pretty much any nba player. Athleticism looks the same to me, especially the white sg/sf's greatest weakness --> lateral movement, but yeah it's probably closer to average. I guess time will tell.

Anyway, thanks for the answers, i'm looking forward to see him prove me wrong.

We are going to start to find out in two weeks. I don't want to see a meek spot up shooter but a 2 who can defend, rebound and create adequately. Given my confidence level in Ben a lot may be riding on Nik early, and I hope he shows me something as well