The Buck Stops Here Roundtable #4: Summer League Wrap-Up

Rashad Vaughn’s rollercoaster ride with his shot continued in Las Vegas, peaking with a 24 point performance against the D-League Select team. With a year of NBA experience under his belt, did you expect more from him in Summer League? Does he need to spend more time in the D-League next season?

AM: It’s been very rough with Vaughn. I’m reaching a point at which I might just pretend he’s not even on the roster so that I can only be pleasantly surprised if he offers something positive. (The bad news being that’s what I did with Damien “The People’s Champ” Inglis.)

Forget all the talk when Maker was selected though, let’s not forget that the consensus was that Vaughn was a reach with the 17th pick in 2015. Although the stakes are higher reaching for a talent in the top 10, there are greater options left on the board meaning there’s a higher likelihood of finding a gem that some teams may have missed. By the time you get to 17, what are you reaching for that 16 other teams didn’t pick up on? It’s the ultimate swing for the fences. It’s akin to throwing a dart with your eyes closed in the hope of hitting a bullseye rather than the side of someone’s head.

Vaughn was one of the youngest players in his draft class, and he’s still only 19. He was and is a project. Saying that, I’m starting to believe that he’s being judged and measured up by the wrong criteria. He may not turn into the type of high percentage, dead-eye shooter that it seems like the Bucks wanted him to be. If he could become a more efficient volume shooter who’s also capable of putting the ball on the floor, at least then we’d be able to spot a clear role for him in the bench rotation both now and in the future.

TWindisch: Rashad Vaughn needs to stop having any expectations around him. He’s not a shooter, he’s not a sixth man, he’s not even a legitimate NBA role player at this point. Vaughn is a prospect, and a very young one at just 19 years old after his first NBA season.

Vaughn showed that he’s still as raw as last season. That’s disappointing, but not entirely surprising. He’ll have more chances to develop his game, but with the Bucks hopefully improving and Malcolm Brogdon coming for his minutes I’m not sure just how many chances he’ll be getting with Milwaukee if he doesn’t start to show improvement.

JT: You obviously don’t want to have lofty expectations for anyone in Summer League, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed with Vaughn’s performance throughout this year’s Summer League.  Yes, his role with the Summer League Bucks won’t be the same during the regular season, but Vaughn’s shooting, the area where many thought he could make a difference coming out of college, has been very poor over the last year-plus and it was very discouraging to see him struggle shooting once again while in Vegas, albeit in a very small sample size.

Vaughn’s still only 19 years old (he’ll be 20 by the time the season starts), but I’m getting to the point where I think Vaughn would be best used in the D-League until he proves otherwise.

Next: Looking At The Other Guys