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Now that Michigan has been eliminated, I think the Stauskas decision will be pretty important for the overall strength of this draft. He is one of the top 3 SG's and he is the best pure shooter in the draft. At 6'6 he has great size for a combo guard and he is more athletic than a lot of people give him credit for. Defensively, he has some major issues that he will need to work on, but he has the athleticism to hang around I think. He also put on around 15 lbs of muscle last offseason and I am sure if he declares he will know he needs to put on more.

I see him as a poor man's Klay Thompson (due to Nik's mediocre defense) and he also reminds me of Evan Fournier who is buried on the Denver bench in my opinion.

Recently I have seen him being picked to be drafted anywhere from 14th-21st. What do you all think?

Klay Thompson is actually a pretty good comparison.

No is not.
Klay is fairly better as athlete, especially quicker.
Stauskas has SF quickness and speed and he is clearly a SG.
I think Belinelli is the most accurate comparison.

Fischella wrote:No is not.
Klay is fairly better as athlete, especially quicker.
Stauskas has SF quickness and speed and he is clearly a SG.
I think Belinelli is the most accurate comparison.

Stauskas has a 38 inch vert now dude. Maybe last year you could say that about him but Nik is quick, crafty, scores and gets into the lane at will and very very athletic. He is more than just a specialist at this point.

Wonka wrote:

Fischella wrote:No is not.
Klay is fairly better as athlete, especially quicker.
Stauskas has SF quickness and speed and he is clearly a SG.
I think Belinelli is the most accurate comparison.

Stauskas has a 38 inch vert now dude. Maybe last year you could say that about him but Nik is quick, crafty, scores and gets into the lane at will and very very athletic. He is more than just a specialist at this point.

Agreed. Stauskas is a sneaky good athlete.

Cammo101 wrote:Agreed. Stauskas is a sneaky good athlete.

Just call it like it is. He's more athletic than a normal white guy. The idea of sneaky athleticism is just a little silly to me. I've never heard any black player described that way.

Don't take that the wrong way. I like Stauskas a lot, and would probably pick him in the fringe lottery range if he decided to declare for the draft. He has good size and mobility, and with his height he should be able to get his shot off against NBA players. I think he is fast enough to get shots at the rim, but his main NBA skill is 3PT shooting.

What the hell his leaping ability got to do with his quickness?
Stauskas got slow feet, period.
He will have problems defending, and attacking at the next level, he has a good ballhanding ability, but he is not crafty or quick enough to create for himself or others at the next level, and he hasnot the elite quickness to come out of screens without the ball.
He needs the right system, the screens, to create and move on the court.

Fischella wrote:What the hell his leaping ability got to do with his quickness?
Stauskas got slow feet, period.
He will have problems defending, and attacking at the next level, he has a good ballhanding ability, but he is not crafty or quick enough to create for himself or others at the next level, and he hasnot the elite quickness to come out of screens without the ball.
He needs the right system, the screens, to create and move on the court.

I completely disagree. I think he is quick and athletic enough to create for himself and others. No, he doesn't have elite quickness but not many NBA players do? I think he will be just fine.

CBB_Fan wrote:

Cammo101 wrote:Agreed. Stauskas is a sneaky good athlete.

Just call it like it is. He's more athletic than a normal white guy. The idea of sneaky athleticism is just a little silly to me. I've never heard any black player described that way.

Don't take that the wrong way. I like Stauskas a lot, and would probably pick him in the fringe lottery range if he decided to declare for the draft. He has good size and mobility, and with his height he should be able to get his shot off against NBA players. I think he is fast enough to get shots at the rim, but his main NBA skill is 3PT shooting.

I like him better as a slasher, but sure, he can shoot threes.

doordoor123 wrote:

CBB_Fan wrote:

Cammo101 wrote:Agreed. Stauskas is a sneaky good athlete.

Just call it like it is. He's more athletic than a normal white guy. The idea of sneaky athleticism is just a little silly to me. I've never heard any black player described that way.

Don't take that the wrong way. I like Stauskas a lot, and would probably pick him in the fringe lottery range if he decided to declare for the draft. He has good size and mobility, and with his height he should be able to get his shot off against NBA players. I think he is fast enough to get shots at the rim, but his main NBA skill is 3PT shooting.

I like him better as a slasher, but sure, he can shoot threes.

Wha? His main tool is his shot. He was an elite shooter in college, especially from three. I think slashing is his second weapon.

CBB_Fan wrote:

Cammo101 wrote:Agreed. Stauskas is a sneaky good athlete.

Just call it like it is. He's more athletic than a normal white guy. The idea of sneaky athleticism is just a little silly to me. I've never heard any black player described that way.

In college there's Jabari Parker, James Michael McAdoo, etc etc.

In the pros there's Landry Fields, Brandon Roy, James Harden, Evan Turner, Paul Pierce, Courtney Lee, James Johnson, Scott Machado, etc etc.

I'd even put Z-Bo in that category. Greg Monroe too.

/thread tangent

Just saw the DX scouting video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-ymNs3Bce8

Shows off some his athleticism during the part highlighting his slashing ability. Couple impressive dunks around the 8:00 minute mark, mostly though his ball handling has improved to the point where he does look pretty quick getting in the lane. The kind of player who can use the athletic ability he does have fully because of his handles, creativity and BB IQ. Passes the ball better than some pretty highly touted PG's I can think of as well, and I base that statement more on watching a lot of Michigan gms this year than that dx vid.

Defence, obviously, is a major work in progress. Like Aaron Gordon shooting level work in progress. His shot alone should give him quite a bit of playing time to try and iron out some of his weaknesses imo.

rockmanslim wrote:

CBB_Fan wrote:

Cammo101 wrote:Agreed. Stauskas is a sneaky good athlete.

Just call it like it is. He's more athletic than a normal white guy. The idea of sneaky athleticism is just a little silly to me. I've never heard any black player described that way.

In college there's Jabari Parker, James Michael McAdoo, etc etc.

In the pros there's Landry Fields, Brandon Roy, James Harden, Evan Turner, Paul Pierce, Courtney Lee, James Johnson, Scott Machado, etc etc.

I'd even put Z-Bo in that category. Greg Monroe too.

/thread tangent

I'm not saying that it is impossible to describe black players that way. Most of the synonyms used to describe white players could easily be applied to a lot of black players as well (gym rat, gritty, blue-collar, hard-nosed, scrappy). It just seems that whenever I've heard "sneaky athletic" it has meant "white guy that is actually athletic", not "guy that is more athletic than he looks."

Fischella wrote:What the hell his leaping ability got to do with his quickness?
Stauskas got slow feet, period.
He will have problems defending, and attacking at the next level, he has a good ballhanding ability, but he is not crafty or quick enough to create for himself or others at the next level, and he hasnot the elite quickness to come out of screens without the ball.
He needs the right system, the screens, to create and move on the court.

If you think Stauskas isn't crafty, it makes wonder how much you even seen him. Crafty is one of the best descriptions of how he plays I can think of. Maybe we have different definitions of the word, or at the very least different expectations of how often you're going to notice any individual players craftiness in game.

I said crafty enough, of course he is crafty, I compared him to Marco, but he is not crafty enough, to surpass his limits as an athlete for the two-guard position and create off the dribble.

Billy Shears wrote:Just saw the DX scouting video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-ymNs3Bce8

Shows off some his athleticism during the part highlighting his slashing ability. Couple impressive dunks around the 8:00 minute mark, mostly though his ball handling has improved to the point where he does look pretty quick getting in the lane. The kind of player who can use the athletic ability he does have fully because of his handles, creativity and BB IQ. Passes the ball better than some pretty highly touted PG's I can think of as well, and I base that statement more on watching a lot of Michigan gms this year than that dx vid.

Defence, obviously, is a major work in progress. Like Aaron Gordon shooting level work in progress. His shot alone should give him quite a bit of playing time to try and iron out some of his weaknesses imo.

Ugh.
Defense*

Ugh.
Uggh*

He could end up somewhere between Belinelli and Ginobili. Or a poor mans Brandon Roy to prevent comparing him only to white guys

I like the Belinelli comparison but Stauskas is going to be bigger once he hits the weight room and is a better vertical athlete which leads me to think that he could be effective at the rim in a way that Marco cannot.

I personally really like Stauskas. Would probably take him about 10-12. Love his shooting ability and size. I think his defense will be fine.

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