By Joseph Staszewski
The beginning of Scott Machado’s professional basketball career has been a series of starts and stops.
The Queens Village native and former Iona College point guard spent a regular season in the NBA with the Houston Rockets, saw post-season action with the Golden State Warriors, played in the NBA Development League and suited up overseas in a two-year span.
For a player who once led the nation in assists with the Gaels, it has been hard to get comfortable.
“There is nothing like being with one team all year, being able to learn everybody, being able to get comfortable and really be the player that I am,” Machado said. “Being able to jump from place to place is kind of hard, especially being your first two years out as a pro.”
He is hoping for another crack at the NBA this year after being cut by the Utah Jazz just before the 2013-14 season. Machado earned an invite to play with the Toronto Raptors in the Summer League this July, but didn’t get a chance to perform as well as he is capable of.
He was suffering from an upper respiratory infection that made it difficult to breathe. Machado described it as his heart tightening up. He had just five total points and three assists in 53 minutes of action.
Machado was more of himself Tuesday at the Nike Pro City league at Baruch College. He dropped in 24 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out seven assists for Queensbridge in a 123-104 loss to the X-Men.
He doesn’t think his rough time in the summer league will affect people’s opinion about him.
“It’s disappointing, but I feel like the NBA remembers who I am and they are going to remember who I am,” Machado said. “Wherever I’m at next year, I’ll make sure they know where I am at.”
It has been hard to keep track of that recently. Last year was a difficult one for Machado, with the death of his father and having to recover from a sport hernia that left him sidelined for three months.
He spent the bulk of last year with the Santa Cruz Warriors and the Idaho Stampede of the NBADL after being cut by the Jazz. Machado traveled overseas to France to be the back-up point guard for ASVEL Basket in the country’s Class A league when Idaho did not make the playoffs.
Machado is happy to have had the NBA experience, which included scoring in the playoffs for the Warriors. He isn’t content but determined to finally stick with an NBA roster and play meaningful minutes.
“Every player wants to play in the NBA,” Machado said. “I never really got a real chance to play during crunch time. That’s still something I want to accomplish in the NBA.”
