Sauce Castillo

Submitted by tspoon on

Stauskas with his first ever back-to-back 20 point games ... 3rd and 4th on the season, after having one of those in his first two years in the league.

Glad to see him having some modicum of success. Getting traded after your first year as a former first round pick had to be very unnerving.

 

rob f

March 22nd, 2017 at 11:55 PM ^

hit the sauce. Thanks.

Besides, I was getting thirsty anyway while watching the Championship game of the World Baseball Classic.

USA is putting a whopping to Puerto Rico right now, it's 7-0 in the 7th inning. But I WON'T talk about the performance of the USA starting pitcher Marcus Stroman...

cletus318

March 23rd, 2017 at 9:27 AM ^

At this point, Philly just has a bunch of lottery tickets. Embiid didn't last the season despite being handled with kid gloves. We haven't seen Simmons, and in the history of the league, we've seen foot injuries go all sorts of ways. I like Saric, but he doesn't look like a foundational superstar. They still have a number or lottery picks forthcoming, but they haven't turned any of them into sure things so far.

bronxblue

March 23rd, 2017 at 11:17 AM ^

Embiid has to go in for a other lower-leg surgery this offseason, and it ranges from 6-8 week recovery to 8+ months.  So relying on him going forward seems optimistic.  Simmons hasn't played a minute of regular-season NBA ball; he has all the tools, but I don't know if anyone knows how good he is.  Saric looks legit, though.  

Stauskas is a great second-line shooter and on a good team could be a nice asset.

 

MH20

March 23rd, 2017 at 9:09 AM ^

Yeah, Tim is definitely flourishing in this his fourth season.  Career highs in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and FG% while getting a career-high 26 minutes per game.

Season Team G Min FGM FGA FG% 3PM 3PA 3P% FTM FTA FT% OR DR Reb Ast TO Stl Blk PF Pts
2016 ATL 69 26:11 5.1 11.3 45.6 1.9 5.3 35.9 1.9 2.6 75.6 0.4 2.2 2.6 2.2 1.3 0.7 0.2 1.2 14.1

 

cletus318

March 23rd, 2017 at 9:12 AM ^

Underwhelmed is a relative term. Of those guys, only Mitch failed to stick in the league, and his issues went beyond the physical. Still, athletically the NBA is a different ballgame, and most college stars don't turn into NBA stars. You combine that with the fact that Beilein has a system that gets more of guys than their athletic talent dictates, and you can understand why those guys haven't done what they did in college.

bronxblue

March 23rd, 2017 at 11:20 AM ^

GRIII is getting consistent minutes in the NBA, same with Stauskas and Hardaway.  McGary got pinched by the NCAA and then couldn't stay sober in the NBA (and even he was drafted in the first round).  Burke has probably had the most "disappointing" NBA career and there is no way a guy who won the NPOY as a sophomore is going to come back to play in college, and his flaws (size, athleticism, defensive indifference) probably aren't going to be fixed in college.

I want Michigan to be producing top players and they progress on with their careers when they are ready.  If that comes "early", so be it.  It's better for the team to show other recruits they can turn you into NBA millionaires than not.

Nobody Likes a…

March 23rd, 2017 at 8:15 AM ^

I live pretty close to Nik’s parents and when he is home or visiting in the summer he works out at the same gym I do. This summer you could tell how much muscle he had put on.

redjugador24

March 23rd, 2017 at 8:54 AM ^

Hardaway Jr. had a great night last night too.....29 points on 9/16 shooting, 2 blks, 3 assists.  Was actually pretty much unstoppable when he was aggressive.  Nice to see UM players having success in the league, certainly can't hurt recruiting.

drz1111

March 23rd, 2017 at 9:03 AM ^

I love me some Sauce Castillo, but he's not experiencing any success. His shooting numbers have ticked up across the board, but not nearly enough to make up for his zeros everywhere else. He's getting minutes with Philly because they're tanking and Stauskas is so bad that playing him more helps a team lose.

cletus318

March 23rd, 2017 at 10:02 AM ^

Comparisons like this belie just how great a shooter a player like Korver (or another popular white guy comparison in JJ Redick) is. Korver is a career 43% three point shooter. His worst season is basically what Nik is averaging from three this year. Nik will likely carve out a lengthy career, but the chances of him ever becoming the shooter someone like Korver is are remote.

Niels

March 23rd, 2017 at 10:04 AM ^

As a long time process truster, I've watched a ton of Sauce live and on TV. It's clear that he is miles (and miles) ahead of SL where he was terrible. My sense is that he got focused on improving his game (and off of twitter) and Brett Brown really helped him. Surprisingly, the biggest improvement was in his shot creation off the dribble which was always there but not supposed to be his calling card in the NBA. While that has enabled him to contribute, I don't think he is good enough at it to assure himself a spot in the league based on that alone. What I do hold out hope for is that he regains confidence in his 3, which if it happens would bring his ceiling to a less accurate Korver +/- (plus for drive penetration, - for defense). I'm not sure if he will be on the Sixers past next year but I think that another year with BB and a team that seems to really be inspiring confidence in him will give him every opportunity to realize his potential.

cletus318

March 23rd, 2017 at 11:47 AM ^

To be fair, that was also Redick's worst shooting season by far. That year is completely out of line with how he performed in pretty much every other season. There isn't anything that can be extrapolated from that year and applied to Nik.

Ali G Bomaye

March 23rd, 2017 at 9:45 AM ^

In most cases, getting traded after a year is a bad sign. But getting traded away by the Kings is one of the surest signs that you're developing into a good player.