Nik Stauskas gets front page NBA.com treatment, listed as #1 SG in draft by David Aldridge
At least as of this minute (9:49 Pacific), Nik Stauskas is the cover boy on NBA.com, with a link to an article by David Aldridge ranking the 2014 draft's shooting guards.
Aldridge puts everyone in the pot, not just seniors or those who have declared, and ranks Nik ahead of Gary Harris, Kentucky's dynamic freshmen, and Arizona's Nick Johnson, amongst others. Probably the most interesting quote comes from an unnamed Western Conference Executive:
"He's got a little edge on his shoulder that you've got to have when you're a 6-6 white wing player in our league," a Western Conference exec said. "He's not going to be a (defensive) liability, but he's also not going to be the guy you put on the other team's best wing player."
White guys need an "edge". Got it.
Tried using my windows "snipping tool" to capture the page image for this post but MGoBlog doesn't seem to want to let me paste it into this window. Hopefully it's still there if you click this link: http://www.nba.com/
Direct link to the Aldridge summary of Shooting Guard prospects: http://www.nba.com/news/features/david_aldridge/david-aldridges-big-board-shooting-guards-2014-draft/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt3a
May his NBA career be long and prosperous.
...and swear words!
Nobody show this to Nik.
Oh he gone...
So is he gone or not?
30 Helen's agree, he gone.
Gone he. -Yoda
Il allé.
/ French
El se fue.
White guys need an edge. Any player with a chip on his shoulder can be viewed in a better light with regards to work ethic. Stauskas' chip just happens to partly be related that he's viewed as unathletic because he's white.
Lance Stephenson is black, but the "chip" he has from not being drafted (particularly by his hometown NY Knicks) has driven him to work extremely hard.
Perhaps the executive spoke poorly, but you can't interpret that quote as anything but singling out white players. If the idea was to communicate that players regardless of race need an edge, there would have been no need to include the "6'7" white" part......
Larry Bird has repeatedly talked about how he would get pissed/insulted if the other team had a white guy trying to guard him. I'm sure plenty of black players would have a similar attitude going up against Nik one on one. We all know exactly what the writer was talking about. Defending white NBA players from the horrors of racism seems like a waste of time and acting like stereotypes don't exist (and that, especially in this case, they are often grounded in fact/experience) is just childish.
I would hope any NBA player would play angry against whoever was guarding them, regardless of race. To suggest that this stereotype is grounded in fact (What is the fact? Are white guys worse?) is just as laughable as the old "black quarterback" bs.
There were 25 guys who made the All-Star game this year. 2 of those guys didn't have at least one black parent. One of those guys is from Germany. Not exactly a reflection of population statistics in this country (or for our neighbors to the north). And it isn't because GM's, coaches, and fans think someone's skin color makes them too dumb to handle the position.
If you don't think being called "snowflake" or far worse on every single possession and having guys gun for you because of how you look requires a slightly different kind/level of mental toughness than just being a regular anonymous NBA player then I don't know what to tell you. You seem to be unaware of the world we actually live in or totally immune to nuance.
If Nik Stauskas is talented enough, he'll be a good player in the NBA. If he isn't talented enough, he won't be. If Nik were black, or German, or Chinese, or American, that story doesn't change.
If Nik threw up three goggles, slapped the floor, and sucked, he won't make it. Conversely, if Nik is quiet, reserved, and talks zero smack, but has the talent and drive, he will make it.
Dirk Nowtizki and Steve Nash are two of the most "edgeless" laid-back (white) guys in the world and have three NBA MVPs between them, because they were/are good and have the drive to succeed.
You do realize that the proportion of NBA players that are white does not come close to representing the overall population right? Basketball was adopted a long time ago as the most popular sport amongst black people. There are a lot reasons for that which probably cross the "no politics" line, but it is true that a higher percentage of black people play/participate in basketball than do white people and a higher percentage of black people are successful at it than are white people. With that comes a type of "reverse racism" where white people aren't given the benefit of the doubt when they walk on to a basketball court. Accordingly, the reverse may be true, that white people are assumed to be lesser basketball players and will be granted next to no respect until it is earned, especially at the highest levels of basketball. This may not necessarily be true in the locker room or off the court, but you can be damn sure Nik Stauskas will need to play with a bit of an edge (at least at first and until he proves himself) to gain respect and be "welcomed" into a group of peers that don't look like him and may come from very different backgrounds. Is this all an unfortunate reality? Maybe, but the NBA is not the US Congress, or academia, or your standard corporate office.
Also, to say Dirk Nowitzki doesn't have an edge is pretty ridiculous. Dirk has learned to play mean when he needs to and is pretty agressive on the court.
You're still here?
As I brace to be negged to oblivion, being painfully aware of the ignorance (lack of knowledge) prevalent in America concerning the history of 'race'; I posit: Race is a false concept. A social construct relatively new to human beings. The term, 'white people' did not exist prior to the late 1600's (look it up for yourself). Prior to that, people were referred to by their ethnic group (Italian, Serbian, Yoruba, Moor, Egyptian, Greek, etc). In fact, colonial America was rife with mulatto children in the 1500 and 1600's prior to the advent of 'race' and the separation movement. Laws were enacted in the 1650's to stop interracial marriage. It took several of these laws before the people accepted the concept as anything more than absurd. Now, we act as if this is reality.
Secondly, I think what the executive was pointing out is that, like with Kentucky, the average 6'6" NBA player can jump out of the gym and has athleticism to spare. Nik is a superb athlete, but he cannot sky like Kentucky's players of similar size. Players with heritage from different geographical regions of the planet have different physical attributes. As far as I am concerned, Nik is the truth. But he is no Michael Jordan. Different skillsets.
who jumped to block his pump fake.
A deadly, quick-release shot is a great athletic equalizer. Of course, it has to be deadly and quick release, kinda like saying buy low, sell high.
I admire your approach and trying to put the statement in the best light. It's probably also worth stating that it's unfortunate that the individual obviously looks at things in terms of race in an area where race is so obviously unrelated. Doubtless, many older executives in basketball were raised and trained to see race first (as all of us are, to some degree). I would hope, though, that we could move past such a black-and-white (pun intended) view of the world.
"I don't see color"--which is, of course, the joke.
The goal is to be free of discrimination--not necessarily color blind.
This ain't "reverse racism". I'm comfortable Nik won't be discriminated against in the NBA---he wasn't here at Michigan. That doesn't mean his race won't continue to come up--just as Bird, Nowitzki and Nash all were above.
that the reason the nba demographics is different than college basketball is based on reverse racism and not merit.
You're infering that. I'm certainly not implying that at all. I'm saying that due to factors such as black males being, on average, better basketball players than white males, a white male with the same amount of talent as a black counterpart may need to earn respect from his black peers moreso than the black counterpart would. I'm not saying this is an absolute, but I have experienced this stereotype and the resulting assumptions about my basketball skill firsthand when being a minority on a basketball court.
I'm also not saying that NBA front office types think this way. At the end of the day, either you can play or you can't. I do think that an "edge" or "chip on your shoulder" or whatever you want to call it can be a good attribute for a white player when trying to show you "belong" in a sport where people who look like you have not, historically, been as successful as black players. This is what I think the NBA exec that was quoted in the article was getting at.
Frankly, I'm guessing Stauskas LOVES this challenge and the chance to surprise people with his skill. All it takes is one game, sometimes one shot, to earn that respect. Then it's off to the races.
I can agree to most of that. I still think at the end of the day, if you can play you can play. The most mental aspect of it to me would be a white player having to accept that the lockerroom culture is going to be dominated by his black teammates. But I'd assume he is used to that by now.
Oh, here comes that guy of so-so skill. We'll just let him take the last very-well compensated spot on the team because he "looks the part".
I didn't know Hollywood actors had such an advantage in NBA tryouts.
I think you're missing the point (mine at least). None of this discussion matters unless the player in question has NBA caliber skill. Of course you need a competitive edge to play at a high level in any sport. The point the NBA exec was making, however, was more of "chip on your shoulder" argument - that having one is helpful and beneficial for white players (who clearly have the skill needed to be successful in the NBA) to break into a largely black game and environment. Sort of the mental disposition of "these guys may not accept me now, but wait til I pull up and hit a three in their face". Like I said above, once that happens, it's off to the races. Not all players have that mentality, so having it can be a good thing. Simple as that.
I don't know where you're getting the view that the attitude alone is the key to success in the NBA.
people are waaaaaay too sensitive about race. it isn't racism every time a difference between 2 races is brought up. is it not ok for certain groups of people to be better than others at something?
they are inherently better rather than because of millions of complicated mitigating environmental factors.
Yeah, it's totally cool. White people are better at not going to prison.
/s
I think he will entering the professional basketball draft.
He gon[na come back to colleg]e.
Nicely done and I hope that is true.
JUST ONE MORE SEASON, NIK. Come on. If they all return next season, they will win the conference again and get back to the final four. If they want to leave after junior seasons, fine. I just want at least one more season with these guys because a healthy McGary would make a huge difference and would have against those UK bastards.
Read the bolded letters and omit the bracketed text...
Yeah, I can read, brah.
Damn you, Albridge...damn you.
to being a successful 6'6 white wing player in the NBA is to be athletic and good at basketball. But, hey, that's just some random guy's opinion.
Oh fuck David Aldridge, what does he know?! Stuaskas please stay.
On a serious note it would be pretty cool if stuaskas really was the first SG taken in the draft.