Lakers guard Vujacic has a long summer
When the 2006-07 season ended and Sasha Vujacic had his exit meeting with Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson and GMgeneral manager Mitch Kupchak, they gave him a list of things they wanted him to improve before the start of 2007-08.
What was on that list?
Only everything.
So Vujacic went to work during the offseason. He worked on his shooting, dribbling, passing, defense and his fitness.
"The summer was long," he said before the Los Angeles Lakers' 112-96 exhibition loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night at Staples Center. "It was a really hard summer, but now it's paying off. I feel like I've grown up as a person and as a basketball player."
Don't take his word for it.
Listen to what Kobe Bryant had to say.
"Sasha last year made every shot in practice, and couldn't make one in a game," Kobe Bryant said. "Now he's starting to put it together, so it's cool."
Jackson also has noticed a change in the 23-year-old guard from Slovenia.
"He's played extremely well all the way through (training camp)," Jackson said. "He can play both (guard) positions. We'd like him to push it and also play the off-guard role. There are some habits he has and we're trying to break those. He's calmed down now on his shooting. He doesn't rush it or hurry it."
Vujacic's improvement has added a bit of intrigue to a training camp battle for playing time behind starting guards Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher.
So far, Jackson said, there is not a leader among Vujacic, Javaris Crittenton and Jordan Farmar.
"Sasha, Jordan and Javaris Crittenton are all young guards who can really push the ball," Jackson said. "Javaris Crittenton is still learning to read defenses. Jordan is still learning whether he can go in there and attack. But they're all capable of going by the defense."
They are three reasons why the Los Angeles Lakers might push the pace more often this season than in the past. If they can't get an easy basket off the fastbreak, they can always retreat into their triangle offense.
Jackson decided to give the up-tempo game a try after the Los Angeles Lakers signed Fisher in the offseason, figuring the veteran could rev it up when needed. Kobe Bryant and forwards Lamar Odom and Luke Walton also have the skills to play in the open court.
If it doesn't work, Jackson might slow things down and stick with the triangle.
"We think we can be a first-strike type of team, but we're still not convinced we can," Jackson said.
"(Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers was) a good test because this is a team that's going to want to play at a little slower pace."
Optimistic Odom: Odom declined to say when he might be ready to play in a game, but said his slow recovery from offseason surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder was progressing adequately.
He also could not say for certain if he would play in one of the Los Angeles Lakers' final three exhibitions and did not say whether he would play on opening night Oct. 30 against the Houston Rockets.
"That's what I'm aiming for," he said. "I'm aiming for that night."
Odom said team doctors would check him out this week. He has not been cleared to participate in a full-contact scrimmage.
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