Vaughn shoots for more minutes
Rashad Vaughn isn’t one of the six players competing for one spot on the Milwaukee Bucks’ roster, but the third-year guard is still trying to find his place.
Following two seasons of watching, learning and playing just enough to put up generally underwhelming numbers, the 21-year-old is approaching this season with a sense of urgency. Vaughn wants to contribute and do so on a more consistent basis.
“I’m excited and I’m prepared,” Vaughn said, affirming the notion that this is the year he needs to make a jump. “With a couple years under my belt and being under a lot of these guys and learning from them, I think I’m ready. I think I’m ready to come in and help . ...
“Just kind of looking to come in and show the coaches (I can) get bigger minutes and a bigger role.”
During his first two seasons, Vaughn, a 6foot-6 guard, averaged just 13.1 minutes while appearing in 111 of 164 regu-
lar-season games. Last season, his role diminished compared to his rookie season, as he logged half as many minutes (458 to 1,001) and played in just 41 regularseason games, with 17 of those appearances lasting fewer than five minutes.
Considered among the top long-range shooters in the 2015 NBA draft following one season at UNLV, Vaughn hasn’t yet found consistent success with his three-point shot. He’s had to adjust to playing off the ball, and his numbers have floundered in limited opportunities, settling at 32.7% overall and 30.3% on three-pointers.
“It’s tough transitioning, but it’s just something that I need to do for this team and that’s just something I’ve been focusing on — just being able to knock down shots and create from that,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn took this summer seriously as a time to prepare to prove he was ready for a larger role. He changed his eating habits, worked on his body and spent hours in the gym refining his game.
It’s still early, but the results are beginning to show. Vaughn carried the Bucks in summer league, demonstrating his abilities as a scorer as well as a playmaker. He averaged 16 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals in 25.3 minutes per game while shooting 51.7% overall. Over the first three games, he made 5 of 12 three-point attempts before closing 1 of 8 over the final two to finish at 30.0% during the team’s trip to Las Vegas.
In the Bucks’ first preseason game Monday night in Dallas, a 106-104 loss at the American Airlines Center, Vaughn built on that summer performance with a team-high, 20-point night. He didn’t enter the game until the second half, but in the third quarter alone he scored 11 points. He hit back-to-back catch-andshoot threes off feeds from Kendall Marshall and closed the quarter with a strong drive for a layup despite being fouled.
“He’s been working extremely hard this summer and it shows,” coach Jason Kidd said Monday night. “He just feels very comfortable. He made a lot of great plays, reading how the defense was playing him and he was aggressive and that’s what we need from him.”
As much as he wants a bigger role with the Bucks, Vaughn knows such a position is earned, not given.
“Preseason is very important just to come out and show basically what you’ve been doing for the summer,” Vaughn said. “Starting from training camp and going into preseason is definitely going to be the time for me to show the coaches that I’m ready.”