Rashad McCants was scheduled to be in Las Vegas for Summer League, he was on the Cleveland roster. A guy with game but who was not in the league last year due to his reputation as a huge head case -- like coaches asking him to go see a psychiatrist head case (check out the fantastic profile in ESPN the Magazine ) -- was getting a chance to redeem himself.
And he didn’t show up. Some of the Cavaliers coaches were caught off guard, and word circulated of a blown chance -- maybe the last blown chance -- for McCants.
But that wasn’t the case at all, as our own John Krolic found out and posted at his site Cavs the Blog.
Rashad was supposed to show up for Summer League and was expected to be there. His mother, a breast cancer survivor, became ill, and Rashad decided that being with her and her family was more important than being there for Summer League. According to his agent, Rashad informed the Cavalier personnel in charge of picking the Summer League team that he would not be attending, and they were very supportive of his decision. The team corroborated this version of events.
Some of the Summer League coaches, who were not involved in the team-selection process, were confused as to Rashad’s whereabouts during Summer League. When I asked Byron Scott about McCants before the weekend, he told me that he had been made aware of Rashad’s situation before.
McCants can knock down shots. He’s just 26 and would come at an affordable price. Yet he remains a guy on the outside because of a reputation. One he earned, but one he says he is past.
If he was spending time with his ill mother, he deserves a chance. A camp invite contract. He will have to prove he belongs, but he deserves the chance to prove he has matured. And skipping Summer League to be with his sick mother is the mature choice.