<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>LOS ANGELES -- Lakers restricted free agent guard Sasha Vujacic has agreed to a three-year, $15 million contract after emerging last season as a key member of the Western Conference champions. "We felt Sasha made great progress in this past year, and our coach showed great confidence in playing him the second half of the season," Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said Friday in confirming the agreement, first reported by the Riverside Press-Enterprise. "Assuming he continues to work as hard during the offseason as he has in the past, I don't see any reason that trend wouldn't continue." The 24-year-old Vujacic averaged a career-high 8.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 72 games this season, and 8.1 points 2.2 rebounds and 0.8 assists while playing in all 21 playoff games. Vujacic drew national attention June 10, scoring a career playoff high 20 points including a crucial 3-pointer with a little under two minutes remaining in the Lakers' 87-81 victory over the Celtics in Game 3 of the NBA finals. The Lakers had made Vujacic a $2.6 million qualifying offer, and he reportedly was considering playing in Europe. Kupchak said he didn't know if that sped up negotiations. "I think in this type of environment with restricted free agency, it could drag on and on," he said. "If anything, they needed to know where we stood. There is a real competitive environment outside of the NBA now, and it could be short-lived. We don't know. But we would not have done anything that we didn't think was a prudent business/basketball decision." Josh Childress announced earlier this week he was leaving the Atlanta Hawks for Greek club Olympiacos, reversing the course of the many international stars who have signed with the NBA. Agent Jim Tanner said Childress was guaranteed about $20 million after taxes, and that Childress could opt out of the contract after each year. The Lakers will hold a press conference Monday at team headquarters in suburban El Segundo to officially announce the signing. The Lakers made Vujacic, a 6-foot-7, 205-pounder from Slovenia, the 27th overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft. Vujacic averaged 2.9 points in 35 games as a rookie, 3.9 points in 82 games in his second professional season, and 4.3 points in 73 games in 2006-07.</div> Its official. I dont like what we are paying for Sasha. But the good fact is the lenght. Maybe we have an option for 3rd year. Thougts? ESPN
It seems the Lakers have too many SFs. With Odom, Vujacic, Walton, Vladdy, and Ariza. Obviously Odom and Vladdy can shift over to PF, but Gasol will take a good chunk starting at PF. Odom makes 14.5 mill, Walton makes 4.5, Vladdy 6 mill, Ariza is 3 mill, now add on 5 mill for Vujacic. Looking at 33 mill invested in those 5 guys.
Just hope he doesn't turn out to be like Luke Walton, Laker fans. He might not give a shit about playing good with his money.
You see the thing is: Vujacic has consistently spoken out about his desire and the ultimate goal of winning an NBA championship. If he was true to his word, why the #(*% would he consider teams overseas?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lavalamp @ Jul 25 2008, 05:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>It seems the Lakers have too many SFs. With Odom, Vujacic, Walton, Vladdy, and Ariza. Obviously Odom and Vladdy can shift over to PF, but Gasol will take a good chunk starting at PF. Odom makes 14.5 mill, Walton makes 4.5, Vladdy 6 mill, Ariza is 3 mill, now add on 5 mill for Vujacic. Looking at 33 mill invested in those 5 guys.</div> Vujacic plays SG and sometimes PG. He doesn't play SF when paired with Kobe (SF) and Farmar (PG). I think it is a good idea to trade Walton and Vlad in a package deal that may include Fisher to bring in a 2nd tier PG and a solid backup PF, assuming Farmar takes over the starting role next season.
5 million per year? Ew... Oh well, the good thing about this contract is that it's only 3 years. So if anything, he's at least movable. I'm glad Mitch didn't throw out a 6 year bomb like he did with Luke Walton. Glad to have Sasha back, he better be working hard this offseason. I don't want to see any contract year bullshit like we did with Luke. One is enough
Just to clarify, we still have the full MLE (since Sasha was one of our restricted free agents)? I like that his deal is only 3 years, in case he sucks and then we can trade him after two seasons.
That's a lot of money for a spot-up shooter. At least it's only 3 years though. Would Laker fans rather have locked up Turiaf for 2M less?
I'm happy with this deal. If we coulda gotten 4 yrs./ 17 or 18 mil., I woulda done that. Kobe always says how hard a worker Sasha is, and the kid always gives 110% on the court IMO. I'm happy he's staying on my team.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Mr. J @ Jul 25 2008, 09:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>That's a lot of money for a spot-up shooter. At least it's only 3 years though. Would Laker fans rather have locked up Turiaf for 2M less?</div> Not really man, the second half of his season sucked. He didn't give us much in the playoffs aside from some good defense every once in a while.
huevon, we still have the MLE to use. All of it. Though I doubt we use it. We'll probably get a veteran big for the vets minimum or something As for Turiaf, 2 million less means he back, no question about it.
I can only think of the Center position as the only spot the Lakers could use an extra player. It`s not a dire need, as Pau is capable of covering the minutes that Bynum doesn`t play. Are there any centers available still? or that the lakers could S&T a MLE player for.
Brian Skinner, Francisco Elson, and Kwame Brown (ew) are still available. I'm sure there may be a couple more, but I don't know the complete FA list. Hopefully we'll get something done soon. I want Mbenga back next year as well, although I'm not sure how comfortable I would be having him as backup center. Third string center would be perfect for him
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticKing @ Jul 25 2008, 09:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Over paid. Shouldn't have gotten more than 10 mill for 3 years.</div> Yeah that sounds much more fair, I guess the LT doesn't scare us. We should sign another Big, I like Dacos as a person but I'm not sure about him on the court.
I'm sure other teams would have offered the same amount if given the opportunity. Those who have been with us since JBB know I've been one of Sasha's biggest critics. However, during the playoffs this year he has proven his worth to this team to me. I'm glad Buss is making the moves to retain those members who contributed to our championship run.. What we need now is an enforcer downlow and we need to get rid of a couple of those SF's.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Trench @ Jul 27 2008, 12:54 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'm sure other teams would have offered the same amount if given the opportunity. Those who have been with us since JBB know I've been one of Sasha's biggest critics. However, during the playoffs this year he has proven his worth to this team to me. I'm glad Buss is making the moves to retain those members who contributed to our championship run.. What we need now is an enforcer downlow and we need to get rid of a couple of those SF's.</div> Yeah we do have a ridiculous amount of SFs, and I'm lumping Vlad in that category. The one SF I really want out right now is Luke, but it seems like noone wants him. And when it comes to the SG position, I would've offered that amount for Head. (Another Luther Head joke if no one got that one....but no joke, he's a good shooter)
