I think the speed of the NBA game really caught Nik off guard and forced him to try to play catch-up and overthink which cratered his 3-point shot. Also the Kings were probably the worst franchise for him to go to his rookie year. George Karl was not the right coach to get the most out of him and it’s well known about the clashes between Nik and Cousins.
Yeah, just comparing his situation and Duncan’s… The Heat brought Duncan along in a multi year plan (to be fair he was a very cheap investment) and had a long term plan for him.
The Kings just didn’t really have any long terms plans and were a generally dysfunctional franchise from top to bottom.
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There’s definitely a perverse situation with NBA franchises where the teams with no assets (and generally poor management) are willing to gamble on really high variability guys, but precisely those teams are the worst places for guys like that to develop.
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I don’t buy that Cousins being mean drove Nik to “sub-NBA level player”. It’s a compelling story about a lightning-rod player, but I just have a hard time buying it. As others have noted - I think the Kings general ineptitude (they draft high every year and basically the only high pick I can think of that hasn’t been a disaster is DeAaron Fox) is the major point here.
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I think this is poignant. It’s easier to stash an undrafted rookie, temper expectations, and build them up than it is to do with a top-10 draft pick. The expectations and development are just completely different. And then most importantly the financials…teams will keep around a guy who makes 300,000 on a two way that they can get out of anytime compared to 3 million a year rookie deal.
Honestly, I think the bigger point is that the Heat have spent more time, effort, and money developing undrafted free agents (they have Kendick Nunn, Derrick Jones, and Robinson all this year) than the Kings do lottery picks. Players themselves deserve a ton of responsibility for succeeding and failing, but when one franchise has a better hit-rate on post-draft FA signings than another has with lottery picks…it certainly says something macro-level about how the franchises are run.
Is Kawhi an elite offensive player if he’s drafted elsewhere?
I don’t think the Cousins feud was the main factor either, I just mentioned it to highlight how awful a franchise the Kings were. I don’t think the Heat could have done much better with Nik to be honest. If he can’t get his shot to fall, there’s really no role for him on an NBA roster.
Well, “his shot” would be very different on the Heat (or the Mavs or any similar good team looking for role players around a couple ball-dominant stars) than it was for the Kings. I think that is as or more important than whatever development/coaching he would have received. He’ll never have the role he did when he was B1G POY, but if he’s willing to accept that I don’t see why he couldn’t add value to some team on an unguaranteed contract.
He’s going to get paid big time once he hits the FA market. He’ll be highly sought after as a floor spacer and 3 pt shooting.
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We talk about how athletic guys are, and I really think Duncan’s athleticism was underappreciated; he has always been a very smooth customer. A mostly intuitive call, but I don’t think Nik had that; what Nik had at the college level was brass b*lls.
And–it might be me–but getting seriously bullied might not be the whole story, but it sounded traumatizing. You could see how something like that could snowball for someone coming in still very young.
Nik had more hops than Duncan in college.
Nik was always just a little bit stiff, IMO.
With the draft starting, I have to hope maybe Charles Matthews gets an invite to some training camps. Are there any updates with him? Or is Europe looking more like the likely destination?
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I was just thinking that too. He could find a bench stopper role on a team if he’s healthy.
Looks like DJ is staying a Buck for now.
4 years later…we finally get Cassius Winston & Moe Wagner pick and pops.
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Wonder how things pan out for Teske
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Wasn’t there news earlier in the year that he signed with a European team?
Hold up, have to start a new thread: “Taking Lakers on as my new second team”
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The Sky Hook returns to LA!!!
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