Jackson: "Radmanovic Didn't Play with a Purpose"

Jackson: "Radmanovic Didn't Play with a Purpose"

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">This is perhaps overdue for some of you, but the time has come to ask if Vladimir Radmanovic is going to get it together. If you got up during the third quarter Monday, you might have missed the 2:49 Radmanovic played in the second half. This follows his 43-second run in the second half Saturday against the Hornets.

I bring this up because Radmanovic?s window of opportunity is going to shrink big-time as soon as Lamar Odom returns from his sprained knee ligament, which the Lakers are hoping will come Friday against Charlotte. Even if he isn?t logging 40 minutes right away, Odom is going to take away significant playing time.

Remember when Odom first got hurt on Dec. 12? Lakers coach Phil Jackson decided to start Radmanovic in his place. That experiment ended after four games. Here are Radmanovic?s numbers in the 21 games since Odom was injured: 7.1 points, 39.8 percent shooting, 18.6 minutes.

Radmanovic finished scoreless with two turnovers against Golden State, missed all four shots he took and played 13:22. He checked in with 9:24 left in the third quarter after Brian Cook picked up his fourth foul. I looked at the writer sitting next to me and said, ``Looks like we?re going to see a lot of Vlad.??

Not so much, after all. Radmanovic missed a 3-pointer and bricked a shot after Kobe Bryant gave him the ball cutting the lane. Maybe it was a coincidence, but the Warriors started a 15-1 run with Radmanovic on the floor. He was called for his second foul as Baron Davis drove to the basket with 6:35 left.

Then came a ``space cadet?? moment. Maurice Evans headed to the scorer?s table as the players lined up for free throws. Radmanovic was so slow to realize Evans was coming for him (with Luke Walton sliding over to play power forward) that Evans almost had to tell him face to face.

He didn?t play again the rest of the night. Jackson wasn?t asked about Radmanovic but did include this comment in his postgame remarks: ``I felt Vlade didn?t play with a purpose I was looking for.??

Radmanovic?s struggles seem to go deeper than a player with a hand injury. He has had moments this season - - the 3-pointers he hit against San Antonio, as one example - - but you have to wonder what his role is going to be once Odom and Kwame Brown return.

Brian Cook will come off the bench and Jackson will get Ronny Turiaf minutes at power forward. Jackson acknowledged that he played Radmanovic ahead of Cook earlier this season for the sake of familiarizing him with the triangle offense. Will that be the case again?

If you want scoring off the bench, you go with Cook. If you want toughness, you go with Turiaf. What do you do with Radmanovic? Now remember that the Lakers made a $30 million investment in Radmanovic through the 2010-2011 season. That?s so far in the future, Barack Obama could be in his third year as president.</div>

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I said it before and I'll say it again. Radmanovic should just stop playing, and go get hand surgery, because he has been absolutely worthless this whole season. In the beginning, the guy was at least making hustle plays. Now, he's just a stiff. He doesn't do crap. He can't play defense, he doesn't hustle, he has absolutely no offensive game. Radmanovic has shown some flashes this season of the player we all expected him to be. But for every 1 good game he plays, he has another 10 horrible games. I really hope he can just go get surgery, and maybe return in the playoffs. At least then he will have some worth

 

HE does not need hand surgery or else the guy would not be playing at all. I feel bad for him becaese the organization had high hopes for him but now it seems that it was a horrible contract. Like you said, he does not hussle, play defense or even block shots. I think he just not accostume with the offense and that is why he is struggling. But hey if we could use him in a trade why not. Vladman, Chris, and Mackie for Paul Gasol.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Pablo23 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">HE does not need hand surgery or else the guy would not be playing at all. I feel bad for him becaese the organization had high hopes for him but now it seems that it was a horrible contract. Like you said, he does not hussle, play defense or even block shots. I think he just not accostume with the offense and that is why he is struggling. But hey if we could use him in a trade why not. Vladman, Chris, and Mackie for Paul Gasol.</div>

He needs hand surgery because the guy isn't doing sh*t on the court. Tell me a reason why he should see any playing time at all. He is just worthless. He is horrible on defense, doesn't hustle, on offense, everytime he shoots, you automatically think "BRICK." I honestly don't really think we wasted our MLE on him. We just need to get him healthy. He is a shooter with an injured hand. So you can't really blame him. The reason why we signed him was for his shooting, and obviously now without his shot, he is worthless. Remember, this wasn't a Mitch Kupchak deal. Both Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson wanted Radmanovic in purple and gold. So obviously they saw something. I just wish the guy can just go get surgery and come back later on in the season. I mean, it's not like we really need him right now

 

Yea, Radman was in need of hand surgery, but he decided to put it off til the offseason. I don't know, I'm not sure if I'm ok with him getting surgery now. If he does that, what happens if one of our other frontcourt guys go down? While he's not been completely effective, he at least logs minutes for us and gives us someone serviceable in case something else happens.

 

<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I heard a great comment in regards to Radman. Laker fans need to be patient with him and realize the approach the Lakers are taking with him, is similar to what the team did with Vujacic last year. I remember a lot of us were wondering why Vujacic was getting a lot of minutes when he kept screwing up. This year, Sasha has made strides in the right direction, and a lot of it had to do with allowing him to fail last year and then build him up in the offseason.

Radman is playing with a hurt hand and did put off surgery, but a lot of his mistakes aren't related to his hand. It's related to him not being comfortable on the court and not figuring out what his role is on this team. However, the team needs to give him minutes to evaluate what he can do for the Lakers, so by the end of this season, Radman will be a lot more effective when he steps on the court. By next season hopefully we'll see why the Lakers pursued him so hard.</div>


Excellent point, too many injuries in the front court. But whats up with Sasha's playing time? Why did they re-invest in him if they weren't gonna give him any playing time. Im started to wonder if the coaching staff thats slacking or the front office. Obviously he can shoot.

 

Yeah, only thing that Radman CAN do is shooting. But he hasn't done this great neither.

OT: You know about his history ? That he grew up being VERY poor and seeing wars and people and all this sh*t. I know what's going on in Yugoslavia and countries like that. It's terrible. He said that he wants to visit and build an orphant (orphant is a house were the homeless and/or without family kids are living, right, in english) !?

But yeah, doesn't give the Lakers anything special. But I've seen his videos. He can shoot THE LIGHTS OUT when his on fire.

 

vlad is known as a shooter and if cant shoot than hes worthless get hand surgery and get rid of that beard and hair cut