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Good riddance to narrow-minded Vujacic
By KEVIN DING
WASHINGTON – The reality of his trade away from the Lakers sinking in, Sasha Vujacic said Tuesday night: "Sometimes things have to change in order to restart, rebuild and go forward."
Who knew so much wisdom lay under so much hair?
The Lakers sure didn't.
They became increasingly frustrated by Vujacic's years of inability to listen in that deeper way of listening that triggers actual growth. Even those within the organization who were close to Vujacic began to drift away in recent years, especially last season.
It was inconceivable that Vujacic could go this entire season without being traded given how overpaid he was on such an overstuffed payroll. Matt Barnes' signing back in July – a move not initially in the Lakers' spending plans – ensured this day in December would come at some point.
I was just talking to someone about Vujacic on Monday night, saying that the feisty competitor with such an insatiable passion for playing and especially shooting has had his spirit broken this season. "No fight left in that dog," I said – and not in a good way.
Vujacic acknowledged Tuesday night that it felt "terrible" to be so useless to the Lakers now, invoking his young age (26) as further reason why.
It right now seems unlikely that Vujacic can ever remix that tasty cocktail of intensity and touch while playing for a new contract that made him a downright good NBA player in 2007-08. He has been bitterly drunk with power and privilege ever since.
He has gotten to play in almost every Lakers game the past five years and continued to put in tons of individual practice time ... and ultimately has not gotten better in any way.
That speaks to a mental block, which isn't surprising considering how emotional Vujacic has been ever since being drafted by the Lakers in 2004. Even playing for the same team his entire career, he never found stability.
Why? Because he's the king of sweating the small stuff, and that throne really stinks.
More than any player I've ever covered, Vujacic complained about things that were written about him. That invariably happens from time to time for sportswriters, but Vujacic hasn't been a fan of mine since I reported his on-the-bench dispute with assistant coach Brian Shaw last March in Oklahoma City. Vujacic yelled back at Shaw and pointed a finger in the coach's face, and Jordan Farmar went from being kind of happy that Vujacic's screw-ups were being cited to literally holding Shaw back.
I'd written a column a month earlier about how the Lakers should give Vujacic more chances considering Shannon Brown at the time had proved unable to execute the triangle offense. But Vujacic never was able to regain Phil Jackson's trust beyond situational substitutions as the team went on to win another title last season.
Vujacic got one last taste Monday of being on a championship team, standing right behind President Obama during his speech. Then Vujacic spent his final moments as a Laker sitting on the same Verizon Center visiting-team bench that Pau Gasol occupied back in February 2008, when he'd been just traded to the Lakers and was with the team for the first time. Gasol was healing a sore back then – and having his right ear filled by Shaw with the initial download of triangle-offense data.
Vujacic doesn't depart as memorably as Vladimir Radmanovic did a year later, going through his final Lakers practice in Vans sneakers and then being traded the next day. But Vujacic surely doesn't depart as fondly as Brian Cook, whose attachment to his teammates when traded in November 2007 was such that he showed up at that night's Lakers game at Indiana's Conseco Fieldhouse as a fan – and stood behind the Lakers' bench and leaned over a railing to give hugs farewell.
The time had beyond come for the Lakers and Vujacic to part ways. And besides $9 million in savings this season, the Lakers get the chance to deliver give 15-year veteran Joe Smith his first NBA championship.
"I can't sleep," Smith posted to his Twitter account at 4:23 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday. "Kinda excited about joining the Lakers. Yessiirr ..."
You can bet everyone in the Lakers' organization who grew tired of Vujacic's act will find Smith's enthusiasm refreshing.
What Vujacic needs to find, in the meantime, is a way to be a better listener.
source: http://www.ocregister.com/sports/vujacic-280314-lakers-time.html
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