Radman, turning point?

[milesfides]

"We've been looking for some consistency," Jackson said of his enigmatic Serbian swingman. "We need him to play well, and we want to have some idea of what's going to happen, and whether we can depend on him."

Jackson said he's repeatedly suggested Radmanovic should talk to the Lakers' team psychologist to get to the bottom of his inconsistent effort: "You really need someone to get in there and work on your head."

But Radmanovic was his usual madcap self after the game, joking that he and Jackson had done their own pregame version of "Anger Management," referencing the film starring Lakers fan Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler. Whatever the cause, the results showed up in his best game of the season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=280406023

Radmanovic played so well tonight, I have to assume something happened, somewhere. That's when I came across the recap from espn that posted above. Did Phil finally get through to Radman?

A guy who could put up 0 rebounds in 25 minutes of play grabbed 14 boards tonight.

I really don't get what's up with this guy. He goes so weak towards the basket, his layup attempts are afterthoughts. He makes Derek Fisher look like Tony Parker. Then sometimes he'll cram it in for a surprising athletic dunk. On defense, this guy can watch opponents make layups - literally stop and watch, and sometimes he challenges shots very well.

Sometimes he just looks like he doesn't care about the game, his teammates, or winning at all. Like he doesn't want to play basketball. This is infuriating to me, as a fan. What's worse than a guy who sucks and doesn't care? A guy who can be good, but doesn't care. That's just something spiteful in that.

And yet, out of nowhere, he CAN play a great game. But nothing he did tonight was a fluke. He's 6-10, he could be active on the boards if he wanted to. He can stroke shots, that's not a surprise. But he hustled a lot better - he was just into the game. Like he was actually playing basketball instead of his jogging half-assedness of every other night.

Now, considering this guy plays 1 good game for 10 bad ones, at least in my book, I'm not ready to believe he's turned the corner yet. But I have to say, considering the context of his play, following Phil Jackson's apparent challenge to him, I'm at least hopeful that better things are in store for Radmanovic.

I still don't get him, I don't understand him at all, but I just hope he plays hard, every night, like so many of his teammates who are busting their asses out there. Actually, I don't think he even played that hard tonight, but behold, the benefits of some effort.

[FukaX]

this was the vladi kobe had envisioned when he personally called vladi to sign with the lakers.

[Slava]

He's an enigma, one of a kind. If he could borrow Sasha's passion and effort, he could do this on a regular basis.

[CITYOFANGELSX3]

Seems he needs a fire lit on him during every game.

[snaquille oatmeal]

"1 good game for 10 bad ones"

Vlad Rad = the old Odom minus B-Scott

[chefy]

I dont know what is wrong with rad, sometimes when hes on the floor its like the lakers our playing 4 vs 5

[Danny Darko]

-= original quote snipped =-



Vlad Rad = the old Odom minus B-Scott

Nope nobody around here has Vlad's back regardless of snowboarding accidents and Borat impersonations on court.

[Danny Darko]

Vlad>> than Luke this year. He totally does have mental lapses, but if we come to a game 7 and need a 3, I fully trust him to hit it.

[milesfides]

Interestingly enough, latimes did pick up on this too:

"We have a guy that's a team psychologist that comes, and Vlade turns him down all the time," Jackson said. "I tell him, 'You really need someone to get in there and work with your head because no one's doing anything with your head for a while. Something's wrong with it.'

"Brian Shaw tells me you've got to slap him up alongside the face to get him to play hard. That's the couple times he's played hard, is when he's really gotten beat up a little bit."


Assuming they're not being literal, I guess he was motivated by being verbally abused before the game. While I think that's a bit sad for a professional athlete, at least we do find that motivates him; Brian Shaw should do that every game.

CC, I too would trust Vlade to hit any three; I think his teammates do as well. It's just that everything outside of shooting, he seems to not give a crap about: rebounding, defense, making good passes, driving to the basket with intent.

But he did care about the game last night.

Anyways, people do have Radman's back through thick and thin: they're riding the Radman bandwagon.

[Erik Eleven]

Nate McMillan had him playing fiercely in every game.

He should take some focus factor, multivitamins or anything else every day so that he stays sharp. It's all in his head. The guy can really play.

[hermes]

Anyways, people do have Radman's back through thick and thin: they're riding the Radman bandwagon.

you bet we are

[milesfides]

Nate McMillan had him playing fiercely in every game.

That's a really good point. McMillan seems to do that really well, getting his players focused and juiced. His teams always play above their heads with max effort.

Phil's zen approach probably is the worst for Radmanovic.

Do it Shaw!

[Slava]

He played pretty well under Mike Dunleavy too and Rad himself admitted in his post game interview that he had a little "session" with Phil before the game and Phil basically said a lot of things he'd rather "not reveal", which got him pretty fired up for the game.