Milwaukee Bucks: Grades and reactions for the Tyler Zeller trade
By Adam McGee
What the Bucks traded away (Part One)
A popular figure in Milwaukee thanks to his easy-going, care-free persona, his pre-game dancing and his impromptu Instagram cooking sessions, the sad reality is that Rashad Vaughn showed nothing resembling on-court effectiveness or long-term potential in Milwaukee.
That’s not to say that Vaughn will never bounce back. He’s just 21 years old, and came into the NBA off the back of a single underwhelming season at UNLV that was majorly disrupted by injury. Maybe his youth and the challenges he faced at that juncture of his career will lead him to be a late bloomer, but that provided no extra reason for the Bucks to continue waiting.
In hindsight, selecting Vaughn with the 17th pick in 2015 was a colossal mistake and for many that was plain to see at the time it happened too.
Vaughn was introduced by the front office as a player who could act as a much needed sharpshooter for a young Bucks team devoid of spacing. In reality, Vaughn was never the most efficient shooter and that wasn’t going to be a role he was capable of filling.
Vaughn’s best case would have been to grow into a streaky shooter off the bench, but that’s not easy to do when you shoot 33.7 percent from the field and 31.2 percent from deep over your first 133 NBA games.
Having fallen out of the rotation completely, Vaughn was essentially just taking up a valuable roster spot and money that could have been best utilized elsewhere by the Bucks. This deal sees Milwaukee address that.
As for future potential, Vaughn’s cards were marked from the moment that Milwaukee declined the final year option on his rookie contract. Vaughn was not going to be back in Milwaukee next year, regardless of whether he survived past the trade deadline.
Fans of Vaughn have often argued that he hasn’t received enough opportunity, but the numbers state otherwise. Vaughn averaged 13.1 minutes across 111 games in his first two seasons as a Buck, and shot just 32.7 percent from the field and 30.2 percent from deep. How can greater minutes be justified for a player who underperforms so drastically in his apparent areas of strength?
Beyond that, the Bucks have had the best part of three seasons to evaluate Vaughn’s every move on a near daily basis. If he turns things around and becomes a useful rotation player some day, good for him, but Milwaukee has given him enough time and chances to feel confident in trusting their own judgement.