Before he left Argentina for a week of training in Brooklyn back in late December, Juan Pablo Vaulet was hitting only about 25 per cent of his shots from three. He was making only 57 percent of his free throws, up over the last two years when he hit 52 and 50 percent. That wasn’t going to work.
Now, six weeks after his return to Bahia Blanca, Manu Ginobili’s old team, there is a discernible improvement. Maybe not dramatic, but his numbers are up. For the most part, he’s been more aggressive. His per game scoring average hasn’t changed much. He’s still at around 10 a game,
In the 13 games, he’s shooting 54.9 percent from two-point range, 33.3 percent from three and 64 percent from the line, all up from his games prior to the Brooklyn visit. Although the Nets would not even comment on his visit, Vaulet talked to local media about how the Nets treated him.
The 6’7” swingman, still only 20, said he received both individual training, sometimes with two coaches helping out, at the HSS Training Center, traveled with the team and spent New Year’s with fellow Argentine Luis Scola. He spent a week, from December 27 to January 2, in the U.S. He also underwent a check-up on his surgically repaired ankle which he described as giving him “peace of mind.”
What’s next? No one is saying. He won’t be playing for Bahia Blanca next season. Team owner and former NBA point guard Pepe Sanchez has said it’s time for him to move on. Sanchez also told the Argentine press that he recommended the Nets sign him to a D-League deal, that both the Argentine and European leagues are not well-suited to his “super athletic” style.
Ginobili, whose brother is Vaulet’s coach, described Vaulet as among a small group of young Argentines with “talent and potential,” but noted as well they have a long way to go. Vaulet returns to Ponce in Puerto Rico this weekend for semifinal action in a FIBA-sponsored tournament, the League of the Americas.
The Nets traded two second round picks and laid out $880,000 for Vaulet’s draft rights in 2015.