Gee, we hate to make a habit of praising the management of local pro sports teams, but we have to express approval at the Lakers’ coming to terms with Sasha “The Machine” Vujacic.
Sasha will get $15 million over three years, which sounds about right.
Vujacic had threatened to jump to Europe, a la Josh Childress (formerly of the Atlanta Hawks), and maybe that is what the Lakers needed to come up with enough money to keep their shooting guard.
I like The Machine for several reasons.
1. Sasha is a brain-dead gunner. One of those guys who believes every shot is going in. Who is truly surprised when he missed. I love that attitude in a shooter, particularly a three-point specialist.
2. The Lakers desperately need a three-point threat who isn’t Kobe Bryant. They need to stretch defenses. Vlad Radmanovic was supposed to do this, and he has had sporadic success. Jordan Farmar can make a three now and then, but the one guy who actually changed game plans was The Machine — who made threes at nearly a 44 percent clip last season, eight-best in the NBA. (And No. 2 in the league in threes per 48 minutes, at 4.4.)
3. Sasha is improving the rest of his game. He has become an adequate (and extremely annoying) defender, a flopper, a grabber and a poker who gets under other guys’ skin. He can get the rim occasionally. He is beginning to find open teammates.
Mostly, this guy is fun. Watching Kobe is seeing a great artist. Watching Sasha is seeing an entertainer. He’s all raw emotion and boundless energy, careening around the court and getting ready to launch another three.
(Remember, it was his 20-point outburst that won Game 3 of the NBA Finals for the Lakers, making sure they wouldn’t be swept by the Celtics.)
Losing Ronny Turiaf, another “energy” player and good guy … that’s OK. Ronny is limited. He’s a 6-9 center, and that doesn’t really work in the NBA.
Losing Sasha would have been a blow. The Lakers are back to the point where they shouldn’t let good, young (24) talent get away, and now they have The Machine around for another three seasons. This is good. Very good.
Now, to get Andrew Bynum healthy …
1 response so far ↓
1 Char Ham // Jul 27, 2008 at 9:29 PM
Sasha is a catalyst player in that he will often get a basket, make an assist, take the ball, that jump starts his team mates into getting the basket “filled.” I didn’t feel badly about Ronnie leaving as his influence was minimal compared to Sasha. Good teams need that catalyst player, and Sasha fills that role.
Leave a Comment