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76ers' Nik Stauskas takes a step up in this third NBA season

Nik Stauskas understands he has a long way to go as a basketball player. But after an underwhelming rookie season with the Sacramento Kings and a slightly better second season with the 76ers, he has seen incremental progress this season, and so has coach Brett Brown.

Nik Stauskas understands he has a long way to go as a basketball player. But after an underwhelming rookie season with the Sacramento Kings and a slightly better second season with the 76ers, he has seen incremental progress this season, and so has coach Brett Brown.

"I feel I have been close for a while to getting where I want to be, but it hasn't all clicked yet," said the 23-year-old Stauskas, who played two seasons at the University of Michigan and was the Big Ten player of the year as a sophomore when he averaged 17.5 points. He was drafted No. 8 overall in 2014 and traded to the Sixers after his rookie season.

Brown agrees that Stauskas is far from a finished product but said he is an intriguing player.

"I see Nik as being still very young," Brown said. "I feel when we look at him at 28, I think you will see a hell of a player."

Despite being a top-10 draft pick, Stauskas averaged just 4.4 points and 15.4 minutes as a rookie in Sacramento. He was traded to the Sixers in the offseason and averaged 8.5 points in 24.8 minutes last season, shooting 32.6 percent from three-point range. That was marginally better than his rookie performance (32.2 percent).

This season, Stauskas is averaging 9.3 points in 27.3 minutes and shooting 37.9 percent from beyond the arc.

"I see right now he has as much game as anybody on our team on the wings," said Brown, whose team visits NBA champion Cleveland on Friday. "He can put it on the floor, make the three, make the pass, can run the pick and roll, and I am now making him a point guard."

Stauskas has added recent point guard duties because backup point Sergio Rodriguez has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury. Earlier in the season, Stauskas also filled in at the point when Rodriguez was sidelined.

"I am ruthlessly on him [about] his defense," Brown said. "I will never let go of that, and slowly I think that, too, is getting better."

The 6-foot-6 Stauskas, a native of Canada, had his confidence take a hit during a rookie season, when he struggled for playing time on a 29-53 Kings team.

With more of an opportunity on the Sixers than he had in Sacramento, Stauskas' game has grown.

"This year, I have been a little more efficient shooting the ball. I think I made good strides on the defensive end, and I have been more comfortable making plays and attacking the basket," Stauskas said.

Stauskas is looking to be more consistent. After scoring 20 points in back-to-back games at Orlando and at Oklahoma City on March 20 and 22, he totaled 33 points in his next four games.

"The great players do it every single night," he said. "That is what I am striving to get to."

Covington, Okafor out

The team said that Robert Covington would not make the trip to Cleveland and Toronto. Covington is bothered by discomfort in his right knee.

Jahlil Okafor and Rodriguez also will not be on the trip. Oakfor has missed the last four games with a sore right knee.

mnarducci@phillynews.com

@sjnard