Nik Stauskas Feels Like a Target as a White Rookie

[Beat LA]

Oh boy, here we go -

Sacramento Kings rookie Nik Stauskas played well in his preseason debut Sunday, scoring 12 points off the bench (including a pair of three-pointers) in front of friends and family in Vancouver, BC.

Stauskas knows it won’t be easy making a name for himself in the NBA.

The first-round draft pick says opponents will go extra-hard at him for a couple of reasons – his rookie status, and skin color.

Per the Sac Bee:

“It helped just hearing the love that I had from the crowd and seeing my family in the stands,” Stauskas said. “It was cool.”
 
The former Michigan star said nothing surprised him about his debut.
 
“I understand that I’m a rookie and I’m white, so people are going to attack me at all times,” he said. “Just coming out there in the game, I felt it right away.”

http://www.slamonline.com/nba/nik-stauskas-feels-like-target-white-rookie/

[D.o.s.]

Something something Isiah Thomas on Larry Bird something something

[Nerf DPOY]

All he needs to do is go off a few games and that'll all be over, if it's even happening anywhere outside his mind in the first place.

[indeedproceed]

He's probably right, in that he'll be a target a little bit because of his draft position and race, but I don't think its any different than any of the million other ways guys are 'targeted' in the NBA. Bruno Caboclo, a dude nobody has heard of who gets drafted 20th overall and gets a crapton of press and attention from fans, you think he's not a target for the right kind of guy?

These guys need ways to motivate themselves every night for like 6 straight months. They're gonna find some pretty petty crap to get behind.

[nickagneta]

Grow up Nik!!

[gpap]

I am not touching this one with a 100 mile pole.

[fitzhickey]

Grow up Nik!!

+1

[sofutomygaha]

He's absolutely a target! Just like JJ Reddick was!

(... because he's kind of ****)

[fitzhickey]

He makes millions of dollars a year playing a game, this guy should get over it.

[AngryAndIrritable]

His ill-judged statement on the subject will probably turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's a  coward's move to use race as a get-out clause for any potential lack of success. It just seems like he's concocting his own excuses already and in a rookie that is terribly defeatist behaviour.

[Roy H.]

It is neither necessary nor appropriate to reference a player's race when commenting on that player's play or role.

Locked, probably out of an over-abundance of caution.