Sasha Vujacic’s personal life may be at an all-time high — he’s dating Maria Sharapova, it doesn’t get much better than that — but his professional life is at its all time low.
Earlier this year, Phil Jackson said he had too many guards and somebody was going to get cut out of the rotation. That somebody is Vujacic. He has been relegated to mop up duty at the end of blowouts, seeing minutes when the only thing on the line is if the Lakers fans in attendance get free tacos. Two years ago he was part of the closing unit for the Lakers in the NBA finals, now he is part of the Lakers Taco Unit.
The reason for the relegation is pretty simple — his shot has deserted him. The man nicknamed The Machine by Lakers broadcasters because he couldn't seem to miss in practice now can’t seem to buy a shot. The Machine is broken. (By the way, Vujacic did not give that nickname to himself, despite what some national broadcasters keep repeating.)
Two seasons ago, Vujacic was hitting 43.7% from three point range, This season that is off to 36.8%, not a bad rate for most guards but not nearly good enough for a three point specialist. And inside the arc his shot has fallen apart — he is shooting just 32% on longer two-point shots (down from 46% two years ago) and he is shooting just 25% on layups at the rim this year. Not that he gets to the rim that much anymore.
The Machine doesn’t think he needs some oil, he thinks he just need minutes. When asked after games what is wrong he comes back to saying his numbers would go up if he just got more playing time. He says he finds it hard to show what he can do in limited minutes, cold off the bench at the end of games.
But Sasha had minutes, in practice and in games to start the season, and his minutes got cut as Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown made better use of their opportunities. Basketball ultimately is a game about making shots, and Vujacic isn't doing it. Now the Lakers are playing great basketball — they have won nine in a row and looked like the most dominant team in the NBA — so Phil Jackson is not likely to start dramatically changing his rotations. You go with what works.
And what has not worked is Vujacic. Which is why he is sitting.
Kurt Helin lives in Los Angeles where he is runs the NBA/Lakers blog Forum Blue & Gold (which you can also follow in twitter).
