Rashad McCants Blows Another Chance

Filed under: Cavaliers , Rockets , Timberwolves , NBA Free Agents In the next issue of ESPN The Magazine , Chris Palmer explains why Rashad McCants isn't playing NBA basketball any more. The piece, which is online , certainly paints McCants as misunderstood and perhaps even pitiable. McCants, a national champion with the University of North Carolina in 2006, hasn't played since finishing 2008-09 with the Kings and becoming a free agent. The Rockets brought the guard to training camp before the 2009-10 season, but McCants suffered an abdominal injury before camp opened and couldn't compete for a job. The entire 2009-10 season went by without a single minute of McCants in the NBA . Yet McCants has never been arrested, never been suspended for disciplinary reasons, and never been benched for anything other than a perception of bad attitude. The refrain throughout Palmer's story is that McCants has been dealt a bad hand by an NBA that doesn't understand him. Former Wolves coach Randy Wittman is the enemy for taking away McCants' captaincy. Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle is a part of the problem for asking McCants to see a psychiatrist before Dallas offers a contract. Basically, McCants can't catch a break, but has little culpability in the matter. McCants was offered a spot on Cleveland's Vegas Summer League team this summer, perhaps a break which would have led to an NBA comeback. The Cavs, after all, need to replace a certain big-name scorer. But McCants never showed up to Cleveland's mini-camp before Vegas, and didn't contact the team until it was already in Las Vegas playing games. Cavs assistant coach Paul Pressey told the Cleveland Plain Dealer he had been looking forward to coaching McCants in Vegas because he's a "heck of a talent."