Now that his time with the team has come to a close, there’s no better time to reflect on Rashad Vaughn’s two and a half year-stint with the Milwaukee Bucks.
As you all know by now, Monday evening was the end of the road for a somewhat beloved, yet ultimately flawed player in the recent history of the Milwaukee Bucks.
By making the acquisition for big man Tyler Zeller from the Brooklyn Nets, the Bucks sent out third-year guard Rashad Vaughn to the lottery-bound team, along with a protected second round draft pick that will likely convey at the end of the 2019-20 season.
The move brings a close to a once thought promising career that has heavily soured over time as we all had waited for Vaughn’s presence to impact the team to some degree to no avail.
Selected with the 17th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, Vaughn, a product out of UNLV, was billed as a necessary addition for a Bucks team that was devoid of adequate of floor spacers and effective perimeter shooting after the midseason acquisition of Michael Carter-Williams and the subsequent set of moves the team made during the 2015 offseason.
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With the benefit of hindsight, the selection of Vaughn, along with the ill-fated acquisition of guard Greivis Vasquez from the Toronto Raptors, offered us our first real look at the growing influence now former Bucks head coach Jason Kidd held over the organization.
Setting aside those ever-present gripes for a moment, Vaughn delivered glimpses of the scoring potential he possessed in his preseason play during his rookie year, perhaps summed up best by current Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy at the time:
"“We’re going to be dealing with him for a long time in the league. He’s got a quick release and can really, really shoot the ball.”"
But Vaughn failed to carry over that shooting confidence and level of production throughout his rookie campaign as the Bucks’ season slid further and further into a disheartening disappointment during the 2015-16 season.
Anyone hoping Vaughn could rebound from his rookie year struggles in his sophomore season was sorely mistaken as it was more of the same for the Minneapolis native, despite incremental improvements in his shooting numbers (there was nowhere else to go than up, right?) and having his role within the team significantly diminished in comparison to his first year in Milwaukee.
Considering how his career had trended to that point, the fact that Vaughn took part in the team’s Summer League squad for the third straight year gave us a glimpse of the perilous footing his career was heading towards while with the Bucks, a sentiment that was set in stone when they decided against exercising Vaughn’s fourth-year option before the start of this season in mid-October.
With Vaughn’s future in Milwaukee all but officially slammed shut from that point on, the bulk of playing time the former McDonald’s All-American had seen this year had been in garbage time under Kidd and now interim head coach Joe Prunty.
Now that the Bucks have actually moved on from Vaughn for all intents and purposes, Vaughn’s journey in Milwaukee should be looked as a cautionary tale for the Bucks as they continue to navigate through the waters of having to maximize the superstar window of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
After all, the pick of Vaughn was the start of a troubling trend regarding the Bucks’ last three first round selections, all of whom have been deemed to be longer-term projects like Vaughn had been at one point in time.
Whether you place blame on the process of what led to him being selected by the Bucks, his individual development failing to pay off dividends or all of the above, the fact that the team was never able to build anything out of Vaughn is something that hopefully will inform their draft process as they set on to correct the course following the firing of Kidd last month.
Regardless, no matter how his time in Milwaukee went, it’s hard not to feel for Vaughn as he’ll undoubtedly look to salvage what’s left of his NBA career in the few months he’ll be in Brooklyn before becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer.
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And with that, it’s time to wish Vaughn bon voyage. Those pregame dancing routines surely won’t be the same without you.