Sixers basketball will return (sort of, it’s just preseason) on Tuesday night in the nation’s capital. Speaking of which, it’s pretty pathetic how excited I am to tune in. At PCOM, today’s big news had to do with who won’t be suiting up against the Washington Wizards: Nik Stauskas, Pierre Jackson, and T.J. McConnell.
Of the three, Stauskas is the name that matters most. According to Brett Brown, the 21-year-old shooting guard suffered a stress reaction to his right tibia last Thursday during the team’s training camp at Stockton University. He will miss the next two weeks of the preseason. Here is what Stauskas told CSN Philly’s John Finger:
“It just popped up in training camp and we’re trying to be cautious with it. It’s tough, but I played a lot of basketball this summer and I didn’t take much time off. That’s probably the reason why it happened.”
We already documented Stauskas’ relatively successful time with the Canadian national team this summer. Brown said that the decision to sit the second-year pro is precautionary, and Stauskas believes he will be ready to go for opening night in Boston on October 28th.
The good news for Stauskas is that Brown’s vanilla playbook is as simple as NBA offenses get. This situation won’t be like a rookie quarterback holding out from training camp. Also from Finger’s piece:
“We haven’t put in anything complicated because it would be unfair of me to put in anything complicated. They want a base and they want solid. They want to be coached like NBA players on spacing stuff and basic NBA rules and terminology. Our system is very simple, as I’ve said, but it’s very accountable within that simplicity. It’s real NBA basketball, but it’s basic.”
Jackson (groin) and McConnell (sprained left foot), two players vying for a roster spot in the Sixers’ crowded point guard rotation, will also miss the Washington game. Brown has said that he anticipates keeping three point guards for the regular season.
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