The Lakers future looks bright. Or does it?

[WayOutWest]

But what you are missing is the defensive end of the court -- Sasha is a great defender while Radman is horribly pathetic!  There are sharp shooters out there that you can get (the SG is the deepest position in the NBA today) but how many sharpshooters are defensive stoppers?  I think that raises Sasha's importance to LA quite a bit.  I think Sasha is vital to the Lakers future.

Sasha sucks on defense.  Yes Sasha puts in 10X the effort that RadMan does but he still sucks.  Calling Sasha a great defender or stoppper is like calling Avery a great PG.

I think Turiaf is vital as a bench role player -- his hustle, basketball IQ and energy are tremendous coming off the bench.  It's so easy to undervalue these attributes and they are sooo important.  I could overvalue Ariza -- I think he understands the game and I love defensive specialists.  If he could work on his 3 point shooting, this guy could be a clean version of Bruce Bowen.

I completely agree, in fact I wrote that already.  Are you arguing or restating a point I already made?

I understand that a big man like Radman who can shoot from 3 is important -- but that's they way they teach them in Euro land -- just grab another big guy from Europe and you have Radman's replacement!  I just can't stand the guy.

You are falling into Reality's "Flabio" Euro stats trap.  I haven't called you on it regarding Marc Gasol but I can no longer let it slide.

[Randy]

about sasha -- look at some analysts around the league -- you will find comments just like this one:

Most people probably have never heard of Sasha Vujacic, but he is a great three point shooter and a tenacious defender that can guard both the two and the three.

 

He is going to struggle if you ask him to guard some of the fast PG's in the league -- but so will a ton of other players.


Radman has always been a one-dimensional player -- he shoots well from 3 point range but that's it.  He is a poor rebounder and a poor defender.  Sasha is not only a much better player than Radman but more important to the Lakers.

[WayOutWest]

about sasha -- look at some analysts around the league -- you will find comments just like this one:

Most people probably have never heard of Sasha Vujacic, but he is a great three point shooter and a tenacious defender that can guard both the two and the three.

 

Anyone who thinks Sasha can guard a 3 in the NBA has a pretty worthless POV IMO.  Not to mention you claim "some analysts" yet provide only one example with no credit to boost.  Are you the analyst Randy?

[Randy]

about sasha -- look at some analysts around the league -- you will find comments just like this one:

Most people probably have never heard of Sasha Vujacic, but he is a great three point shooter and a tenacious defender that can guard both the two and the three.

 

Anyone who thinks Sasha can guard a 3 in the NBA has a pretty worthless POV IMO.  Not to mention you claim "some analysts" yet provide only one example with no credit to boost.  Are you the analyst Randy?

Actually, it was someone from ESPN -- I don't know what is happening with my connection today but I have posted a couple of posts and it has either not taken the post, not posted my reply or only posted part of my reply.  I'm not going to look it up again -- you can believe whatever you want to.  I wouldn't have made that statement about guarding 3's -- I think most 3's are too big for Sasha although there are some 3's that he could probably get away with guarding but not many.  Today's 3's are too big and too strong for Sasha.  I was listening to an LA sports guy the other day being interviewed about whether or not they could keep Sasha and he said that he thought LA needed too -- he was too good of a shooter and defender to let go.