LakersNation Preseason Battle: Morrison vs Vujacic

LakersNation it’s almost that time again. In 7 days our world champion LA Lakers will take to the “court” for media day. All the guys back (sans Trevor) in the same setting to begin the 2nd of 5 possible titles. When the media lights go off (which is never in LA) the battle will begin: Adam Morrison vs Sasha “mis-chine” Vujacic! Nation this is a legitimate battle this year. Sasha will not be able to rest on his knowledge of the triangle alone. he is going to have to bring that 3pt shot to the court.

Summerleague Highlights Adam Morrison has his “leg” back and that stroke is looking good. Watching Adam during summerleague play (it’s to be considered) because Adam was the “name” on that team. According to Lakers.com Morrison averaged 20.8pts/5rbs a game. He shot 42% at a clip of 29-69 from the floor, including 8-19 from 3. Most importantly he was showing no ill affects of that acl tear over a year ago.

Sasha on the other hand, struggled the entire 2009-2010 season, including the playoffs. I won’t even take the time to put up Sasha’s numbers because if you are a fan, you don’t want to be reminded of those performances. His summer has not gone the way he hoped. He went to play for his “home” squad, the Slovenian national team dismissed him. Sasha was having issues with his knee and felt that the team doctors for the National team was not giving him the proper treatment, so they sent him home. So his season was probably the worst he has had since getting consistent playing time, ends up getting hurt, so dismissed from the National team (all while being a world champion), so your confidence may be shaky right now. But I will say this, he is passionate about this game. He scrambles hard on the defensive end, he just needs to play under control.

Sasha better not sleep on Adam, we know they have had a few “verbal” confrontations in practice Adam vs Sasha so I expect this to be a great battle to see who becomes Kobe’s backup…lol.

 

FISHING FOR VUJACIC

Hello Lakernation. Wow Game 7 with the Rockets, and now a nail-biter with the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, which had me wiping my brow after the victory. Today I want to just express a few thoughts about a couple of things. First I will explore how the Rocket series really helped us to win a game like last night, and then talk about why we ALL should be happy we have Derek Fisher on this team, and why it may be time to let Sasha go!

I would never want to admit that I WANTED the Lakers to go to seven games with the Rockets, but nonetheless having to fight our own “demons” in this battle is truly part of why we were able to win last night. After all the defensive lapses we had during that 7game series, made us understand that against this Denver Nugget team, we would never get away with it. In the first quarter when we were down by 8, then by 13 i seen a different Laker team. I noticed that Phil called a timeout before it got out of hand, and that the guys would make a basket when it was needed most. 2 games ago, that lead would have ended up being 20 before the end of the first half, but though we were severely outplayed offensively, we never lost our hunger to take the lead! Which gets me to my next point:

Derek Fisher, wow he just continues to hit those TIMELY shots for the LAKERS. This man is having the worst offensive output he has had in the playoffs in years, but when we needed him the most, he came through, not once, but twice. The 3pointers he hit were at crucial parts of the game. His defense was not spectacular, but he did not get beat like he stole something either. But we can never understand the LEADERSHIP that Derek brings to this team, and that is priceless. We must understand that he is getting older, so their will be some deficiencies in athleticism, but skill only gets better. He also took a charge, to stop a run that Denver was on, so I do value having him on this team. We must remember that it’s all about matchups, and even Jordan had some difficulty stopping Brooks one on one. But against Billups we need Derek’s big body to bang against Chauncey. So it should be a better outting for him.

Now Sasha Vujacic…shaking my head! I have been waiting on him to come out of this “slump” since he started the season. We all know he was hurt at the beginning of the season, but we are now 7gms away from a championship & that shot is still not falling. Sasha was hired for one reason, to hit 3’s, so how valuable is he, when not hitting them? I must admit I love how fiesty he is on defense at times, but I am just as upset with some of the uncalled for fouls, because of how EMOTIONAL he can be on the court. Yet, he was hired for ONE main component of his game, and since that has been missing for an ENTIRE season is it time to package him up, & make a trade? Does he have any trade value? Well one thing is for sure, at anytime during these playoffs he could go off, and we will have to wait and see. But right now he gets my “smush parker” award. Hope he comes and plays the way I know he is capable of. So right now we are simply FISHING FOR VUJACIC! ANYONE GOT ANY GOOD BAIT?

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