Evaluating Expectations For Bucks Rookie Rashad Vaughn

Adjusting to the NBA lifestyle is a tall task for every rookie to get used to.

Not only do they have to adjust to playing against the more experienced talent in the league, they have to prepare themselves for a very long season, the grueling travel that comes along with it and getting acclimated to their new team’s environment at an incredibly young age.

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No matter how NBA-ready a rookie might be, the sudden new experience catches up to every newcomer to the league. How a rookie responds to it all could potentially define the rest of their career.

For Bucks rookie Rashad Vaughn, this year will definitely be a big test.

As one of two rookies for the Bucks this year (Damien Inglis will technically be a rookie since he missed all of last year with a broken foot), Vaughn’s spot on the depth chart as it stands now is a bit cloudy.

That isn’t a knock on what Vaughn can do by any means, but with Khris Middleton and O.J. Mayo also at Vaughn’s preferred position of shooting guard, steady rotational minutes for Vaughn might not come as easy as he and fans would hope they can.

What complicates things for Vaughn further is that both the versatile Greivis Vasquez and Jerryd Bayless are very capable of playing minutes at shooting guard as well and could be preferred by coach Jason Kidd over Vaughn also.

A lot of this potential problem for Vaughn is due to the guard heavy nature of the roster that the Bucks currently have. But could that be a good thing for him going forward?

Part of the appeal that the Bucks saw in drafting Vaughn was that he’s a very dynamic scorer from all areas of the floor and like many Bucks draft picks before him, he has a lot of potential going forward as he just turned 19.

Even in his small sample size playing as a member of the Bucks in this year’s Summer League, Vaughn showed flashes of how valuable of a player he could become for the Bucks in a few years time.

But as long as he’s under the leadership of Kidd, Vaughn will have to buy into the team’s strength, their defensive identity.

Quite a few times last year, we saw Kidd prefer players who were playing both ends of the floor to the best of their abilities. We saw it with Middleton, who at the beginning of this past year, fell out of favor in the rotation (even being benched one game versus Detroit) before picking up his performance as the year went along.

The same goes for then-rookies Tyler Ennis and Johnny O’Bryant at the end of last year, although the Bucks bid for a playoff berth was the more likely reason why both of them didn’t see much time on the court.

How Vaughn responds to that will not only affect his playing time on the court right off the bat, but it could also define his position on the team’s roster as well.

With a team like the Bucks, on the cusp of building a very complete team for the foreseeable future, Vaughn has found himself in a very good spot. Being the youngest player on a very young Bucks team, Vaughn’s development could possibly be more essential for him this year than getting experience.

Yes, all of this is speculation as training camp is about a month and a half away still and who knows, Vaughn could make an immediate impact for the team, but that sounds more like wishful thinking at this point.

But patience is a virtue, and while it looks very crowded in the backcourt right now, Vaughn could easily be the team’s backup shooting guard next summer, with Mayo, Bayless and Vasquez all on expiring contracts.

So while this year could be more of a learning experience for a young player like Vaughn, it sets the stage for what could be a very long career in the years to come.

Next: Should the Bucks Allow Giannis Antetokounmpo to Play Basketball in the Offseason?

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