At age 21, former first-round pick Rashad Vaughn is trying to salvage his NBA career, relays Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Vaughn was part of the Heat’s entry in the Las Vegas Summer League, hoping to earn another shot after being traded twice and waived twice last season.
Vaughn was taken by the Bucks with the 17th pick in the 2015 draft, but his career tailed off quickly after a promising rookie season. In February, Milwaukee dealt him to the Nets, who sent him to the Pelicans two days later. After being waived by New Orleans, Vaughn signed two 10-day contracts with the Magic, but wasn’t kept when the second one expired.
“This is kind of my journey,” Vaughn said. “I’ve got to take a look at it and see what I did wrong and go from there and continue to try to just persevere from there.”
There’s more news out of Miami:
- Amar’e Stoudemire, who will be back in Miami this week with the Big3 League, is also hoping for another NBA opportunity, Winderman writes in a separate story. Stoudemire, 35, sat out last season after winning a championship in Israel the year before. He said he would be interested in a return to the Heat, but hasn’t spoken to anyone from the team. “As of right now, I’m showing my athletic ability and the way I move,” Stoudemire said. “I think a lot of teams haven’t really seen me play since the last time I played in Israel, so I just want them to see I have great heath and am able to be on that level. Once they see how healthy I am and how good I feel, I think teams will be able to sign me at that point.”
- The Heat have been open about their desire to trade Hassan Whiteside, but Stoudemire believes his former teammate can succeed in Miami, Winderman adds in the same story. Stoudemire said Whiteside needs to work on his post skills this summer and become a more effective inside scorer. “You can’t be satisfied with the money and the fame; you have to be able to work to become great,” Stoudemire said. “And that’s one thing that a lot players don’t understand. You can have amazing potential, but you’re never going to reach that potential unless you put in that work.”
- Duncan Robinson was among the biggest winners in summer league, earning a two-way contract with the Heat. Robinson quickly impressed the team with his outside shot, summer league coach Eric Glass tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “He came in and really played well and shot it like we thought and showed us that he can do a couple other things on the court that we liked,” Glass said. “And obviously a two-way came out of that, which he really earned.”
One of the problems the NBA has, there are kids that never get PT, then flame out that probably could have been serviceable. There is definiately an abundance of NBA level talent. I think you could add 2 teams and not dilute the league. And then you legitimize the salary cap.
I agree 100%. Guys playing overseas could be effective NBA players if there were more roster spots
It has never been harder to get into and stay in the NBA
Definietly. The NBA should add 2 teams in 2020 and then 2 more in 2024. The growth of the NBA has been off the charts, and they can maximize that that growth by balancing the league.And I know this is a radical belief but the NBA should first institute a hard cap AND THEN eliminate the max contract. As they in the Czech Republic about the USSR: Never again, Golden State, Never Again.
I like expansion a lot, two more teams in each league.
Problem is, the NBA already has the odd markets that it uses: Sacramento, Portland, San Antonio, Utah, OKC, and Orlando
It also doesn’t use multiple teams in the Bay Area and Chicago like most leagues do.
So out West:
Seattle
San Diego
New Orleans
St Louis
In the east:
St. Louis also works
Pittsburg
Baltimore
Montreal
So my picks would be Seattle and San Diego in the West and St. Louis and Pittsburg in the east
Amare was awesome for us when he was here. He improved significantly defensively, and I thought he could have played another 1-2 years when he did retire, but he always wanted to play in Israel, and that’s what he did. Him starting also allowed Whiteside to come off the bench, where he was way more effective, and I feel like other similar bigs do better in that role nowadays too. Unfortunately, there is ZERO chance Whiteside would do that now though
Whiteside needs to not be such a black hole. Pass the ball out of the post, or just in general lol. He is a turnover machine in the post, and one of the least efficient post players in the NBA. Obviously, if he can improve in that area, preferably by passing the ball way more often, that would help a lot in the half court. Defensively is the main issue though. He needs to improve as a pick and roll defender, and pay attention to details. He needs to learn to help the helper, and stay down, instead of chasing blocks. That last thing he has gotten better at, so he just needs to continue to do that. Overall, he has to bring effort and energy all the time, not just once in a while when he feels like it, and he cant be pouting literally all the time. Have some genuine joy from your teammates success
As for Rashad Vaughn, I remember the Heat were really impressed by his predraft workout. Their player development program is arguably the best there is, or at least one of the best, so I think he would benefit from staying in the system, if he gets a training camp invite. He needs to improve his conditioning, in my opinion, which should help him on defense, and his decision making, and keep working on the jumpshot. He is still super young, so I think he’ll get another shot at some point
I think 2 more teams would be good, 4 I am not so sure, my picks for new teams would be Seattle, San Diego or San Juan, I think all of them would be great NBA cities.
I could see expansion at some point in the next 5-7 years at the absolute earliest, probably more like 7-10. The hope is to have as much parity in the 30 team league as possible before expanding. If they do bring in 2 new teams, I would guess Seattle and Mexico City, with both New Orleans and Memphis moving to the Eastern Conference.
…and I would guess the current owners would be hesitant to share any new incoming money for a while