<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>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>He's right. Vlade just looks terrible out there. I've hated him from the beginning. I know he has the whole hand injury thing, but I still don't know why he's getting PT. Especially considering he's overly aggressive and tries to create his own shot way too much, failing miserably. So far that pickup isn't looking too good.
