Sasha "The Machine" Vujacic Leaving To Europe? WTF

[what would jack bauer do?]

If we don't resign sasha we're stupid. We're competing for championships, now isn't the time to pull some stupid bull**** signings like Aaron Mckie or Smush Parker players. I understand letting Turiaf go because he's not necessary with Odom, Gasol, and Bynum (and hopefully Kwame), but we gotta hold onto our shooters. The offense just won't work if we don't have solid shooters out there. Sasha has proven he's our most consistent shooter and he's just as fearless as Fisher out there.

Look at what happened to the Heat when they lost Kapono, yeah the guy is ridiculously overpaid, but people forget before Wade tore his shoulder on Battier last year, the heat looked terrible without their top shooter. They had Posey but no Kapono and their offense was still funky. Pure shooters are hard to find nowadays.

Who cares if we got burned on the Luke and Radmanovic deals. Right now we need Sasha. He's one of the best shooters in the league and he has some playoff experience. He has triangle experience. 4 mil a year is well worth it. Otherwise, if he wants more we should've went after guys like Pietrus or Azubuike when they were still available. Or if we want to be cheap about it, we better make a trade happen to bring in another sleeper shooter like Matt Carroll or something... but I doubt we have assets for. So, when you think about teams like New Orleans bringing in guys like Posey, then we better at least keep our roster as strong as it was last year.... I sure as hell don't want to be worse than we were this year.

[microfib4thewin]

Lack of bench depth is not something you should aim for to build a contending team. Boston's bench was overall mediocre, but they made savvy signing and those guys were able to step up in a game when needed. We could do a win it now method and fill the bench full of minimum paid veterans, but we are looking to contend with the next 4 to 5 years, and I would have been more hopeful we surround this team with geriatrics if we are defensively oriented, but we're not. I am quite aware Sasha did nothing for 3 years before playing at this level for half a season, and he could turn out to be another Luke, but I believe they should sign him anyways for 4 to 5 years. For one, at the moment Sasha would not be considered overpaid at 5 mil a year, he can shoot, plays annoying but not fundamentally good defense, and even though he can hurt the team by building a bricking streak, he doesn't go back to being passive and not even attempt to contribute because he's afraid he will miss again. For two, Odom's contract will be coming off the books, which can help relieve the payroll situation. I don't think we will trade for a talented SF in return with Kobe and Pau's contract eating up over half the cap space, with Bynum's extension that's close to 48 million for 3 players. You think Buss is desperate to add another 9-13 mil contract on top of that? Lastly, the thought of losing Sasha reminds me of the situation with the Suns where they removed most of their perimeter threats because they wanted to save money after their signing blunders. Fisher is getting older, I don't know what to expect from Vlad anymore, and we need more attacking the basket from Farmar, losing Sasha could hurt us alot in terms of spreading the floor.

Things always come with a risk, and I say, it's better to make a bet on Sasha playing better than whoever we replace him with.

[Jajwanda]

That's probably a fair bet to take. I don't doubt that too much.

There's also the option of dealing Odom for all of the backup pieces that we need plus maybe a pick to make Radmanovic into something decent.

All just a thought really. My preference would be to keep the team together and maybe ante up to 4.5m if it takes that much.

[Chubby Chaser]

I have no problem with management letting Turiaf walk for that amount of money. He was a great player for our team but he was absolutely replaceable. Lakers management should do whatever it takes, within reason, to sign sasha. If we paid luke that kind of money, then Sasha definitely should make the same. He was an important cog in our success this year. He comes off the bench with a green light mentality and just starts firing away. Hopefully he keeps this mentality if he stays and not fade from it because he got paid and is not in his contract year anymore. Sasha is our best 3 pt shooter and his aggressive mentality off the bench is exactly what we need to inject some life into us in the second unit. DO IT MITCH!

[Jajwanda]

Here's the question I'd ask though. Isn't Ricky Davis a very similar player in that he's ready to fire away?

[wfiles]

Re-signing Vujacic means the Lakers will lose Odom next year. There's only so much money to spend. It's harder to replace a starter than a bench player.

[Jajwanda]

Well say that Kobe opts into a new deal that saves about 4m right there.

That means were at about 52m. With Odom let's say 60m with his first year salary and then 73 or so with Bynum. If we don't do anything with Kobe's deal sure that's likely about 77m or so, a few million over the projected luxury tax.

If you add Sasha, the first round pick, and a backup big man then yes that's definitely luxury tax once again. So the answer is probably yes. It's Sasha or Odom. My preference would be Odom in that case.

[crazyeights]

Here's the question I'd ask though. Isn't Ricky Davis a very similar player in that he's ready to fire away?

I hope you're **** kidding about Ricky Davis. Someone, I don't know who, has been throwing his name around and nobody has really responded...Ricky Davis is the exact opposite of a winner.

There's a reason he's been on 5 different teams, and the Heat two times. He's a headcase. One that's talented so every team thinks they can reform him, make him work...but as Riley found out this year, not even his genius mind could do it. I'll take Artest, because the guy can play defense, but Ricky Davis does not. He's a gunner.

I wouldn't call Sasha a gunner, I'd call him a sniper. You can't teach clutch. Sasha is one of the only players on our roster that I would have shoot a last second shot. The guy is money and he's only just begun. He's no Vlad or Luke. This isn't a one year thing. This is the summation of his career, his entire struggle unto this point. He's still got things to prove. He's been playing professional basketball since was 16! Yes he can shoot, but it's because he knows he can make the shot. He's a competitor.

Whereas Ricky is selfish (triple double anyone?). No way do I want him anywhere near our team. We're trying to seal the deal next year, not just stick around.

Wean need to stop being cheap, d sign Sasha right now. We don't have time to teach the triangle offense next year. We need to start raising banners.

Kobe isn't getting younger. Odom is gone after next year. Bynum's deal is up in the air. I have very limited confidence that management is going to be able to juggle all of this next year if we don't win a championship.

That's the only thing, IMO, that's going to keep this core together. And Bynum is the future of the franchise, if the FO **** that up, then we're completely screwed, because we're not getting a lottery pick like that for a while.

Just say "no" to Ricky Davis.

[what would jack bauer do?]

Yeah ricky davis could probably do the same thing as Sasha and fire away, but I still take Sasha because he's a guy that's truly passionate about the game. Sasha could care less about his stats he just has a stubborn attitude to score and win the game no matter what. Sasha has always had the fire and motivation to win, it didn't just come out this year. He didn't step up just because it was his contract year, he works on his body and game every summer to be a winner. We could probably use a solid athletic defender and scoring threat off the bench like Davis (specifically one that create their own offense), but Sasha is hands down a superior 3pt shooter and for that valuable fact alone we gotta stick with Sasha. I sure wouldn't be confident with Kobe or Gasol kicking it out to Davis even though he has a decent percentage.

[bullzman23]

Perhaps this could open up the Odom for Hinrich/Nocioni door.

[Slava]

Perhaps this could open up the Odom for Hinrich/Nocioni door.

Nice. Whats the Bulls' POV on this deal?

[bullzman23]

Perhaps this could open up the Odom for Hinrich/Nocioni door.

Nice. Whats the Bulls' POV on this deal?

To clean up the logjams. Odom is the best player in this deal, but not by far.

Our biggest weakness is that we have too many players that need minutes that aren't going to be part of the future (Hinrich, Noce, Hughes). Getting rid of two of those players would make things easier for our guard rotation and would give us an offensively capable bigman. Reinsdorf also is unwilling to pay the lux. tax, so at the very least we'd be trading two long term contracts for a short-term one.

[Kobay]

No choice, we have puke and vlade hogging 10 mil until we see flying cars.

[hermes]

4 million is not what's he asked for. He's asked for 5m for 5 or 6 years.

He's asked for the Luke Walton deal. Sorry to display the much hated scenario of the luxury tax but that's essentially paying 6/60 for Buss. He just won't do it.

wasn't that with his old agent, does he still want the same money now that he's switched?

[hermes]

Here's the question I'd ask though. Isn't Ricky Davis a very similar player in that he's ready to fire away?

ricky is similar to smush parker in that he's a team killer

[Joe Kleazy]

We could use sash at the point again and sign him by moving farmar / radman for stephen jackson.

[Italianhanger]

some sort of revenge for losing turiaf
Biedrins
in a possibilty we cant sign sean williams
i dont see us signing him, he's too good to be true

[hermes]

wouldn't we have to trade for sean williams?

[laduane1]

Pay the machine Mitch...

[Jajwanda]

I've been searching for some possible solutions and one decent one could be to sign Kareem Rush and trade Radmanovic for Marko Jaric. Rush was solid in Indiana last year and knows the triangle well. Jaric would be a great fit at the 3 spot for us and would really help out Kobe as Walton does, but can actually defend at the same time amazingly enough (cough... Luke cough....).

Not glamorous but very affordable.

Or there's also another possibility where we're able to deal Radmanovic's 3 year deal for Matt Caroll's 5 year deal. Caroll can shoot the lights out but can't really defend. It doesn't cost us anything for now.

As for Ricky Davis, he was a cancer. That was years ago. Lately he's shaped up and hasn't done much of anything stupid. In fact most teammates complement him.