Sasha impressed me in some of the summer league and exhibitions I saw. I wonder why coach Rudy T. doesn't play the rookie more? In the Utah loss, he had 4 pts. and an assist in 3 short minutes. He's a tall point guard, too, and would match up well against other PGs. What do you guys think?
Disagree. Sasha isn't anything more but of the distant future for the Lakers right now. He impresses me with his energy, his speed and quickness, and his ability to keep pushing the tempo, but if he remains looking like an 80 pound stick, allowing defenders to jet past him from the top of the key, then he deserves to be sitting on the bench.
I haven't seen him play yet, but I could picture him being like a Carlos Defino type player for the Pistons.
i agree with you batman9970. i have allready said that he is great offensive player and have quality to play more. i know becaouse i saw play him in europe where he become a profesional when he was 15 years old. and i also can say that he played very well in italian leauge by snaidero, but i also know that italian league isn't NBA. I feel that he deserve chance to show what he can as soon as possible
Granted, Sasha still needs lots of improvement. His defense is questionable, and he needs to bulk up some more. With his current physique, he looks so small standing next to Kobe even though they have the same height. But, as Emo noticed, he has innate speed and quickness, which will translate into decent defensive skills with time and training. With his passing skills and court vision, he can be a sparkplug off the bench when the Laker offense is stagnating, as in the Utah game. As he gets more upper body strength, he can pose match up problems against other teams' smaller point guards. And did you notice, the kid rebounds, too. IMO, Coach Rudy T would do well to give him some PT.
i love sasha. he's going to be a great player one day. none of you have hit the real reason why he's on the bench though. i don't know who said he is a poor defender but that couldn't be further from the truth. he is a solid perimeter defender with the foot speed and footwork to keep up with smaller quick guards. my best guess is that sasha has lost some of his confidence after his poor showing in the last 2 pre-season games. rudy t is also more comfortable with tierre brown since tierre has played for him before. one of the glaring weaknesses in sashas game is his tendency to overdribble when he gets nervous out there. he holds the ball too long. my best guess though is that he will regain his confidence, regain rudy's confidence, and learn to get out there, initiate plays quickly, and hit some wide open jumpers for us sometime in the near future. i just hope they dont IL him when devean comes back because that would kill his confidence and hinder his development. i really would like to see rudy t just throw him out there soon.
