Whomever gave Sasha Vujacic the nickname “The Machine” – whether it was Sasha himself (as it’s been widely reported) or Laker staff (Stu Lantz), the nickname has certainly gotten some play around the web.  I ran across this video yesterday at the Ball Don’t Lie blog:

But on the serious side, Sasha has really developed into a legitimate pain in the ass this year. There is no mistaking Vujacic for a ball boy any longer, and NBA fans from Denver to San Antonio are well aware of Sasha Vujacic now. 

And these fans, they’re using those bittersweet buzzwords in describing how they feel about Vujacic: annoying, dirty, flopper, and hate just to name a few.  And sometimes, all three are used in the same sentence: “I hate Sasha Vujacic, he’s dirty and an annoying flopper.” That’s how you know you’re developing into the next Bill Laimbeer, Bruce Bowen, or Karl Malone.

“(Vujacic’s) the type of guy that flops all the time. Nobody likes that. He’s trying to play that fake kind of defense where he grabs and holds and then when you retaliate, he flops. That’s just his game.” said Eduardo Najera.

To only mention Sasha’s annoying traits wouldn’t be giving the 6-7 shooting guard a fair shake.  After years of being labeled a practice player, or as Phil Jackson called him “an 11 O’Clock Player,” Vujacic’s hard work really started to show on the court this year, mainly his three-point accuracy.  The 24-year old Vujacic has doubled his scoring average from last year (4.3 to 8.8 ppg)  and shot career-highs in threes (43.7%), overall shooting percentage (45.4%) and has been a key, consistent offensive and defensive player in the Laker’s run in the postseason.

Source: TJ Simers on the origin of the Machine (LA Times), Sasha Vujacic The MACHINE Video Blog (YouTube), Original Ball Don’t Lie Machine Blog Post (Ball Don’t Lie), Sasha Vujacic Profile (Yahoo Sports), …featuring Sasha Vujacic as “The Machine” (Ibn Forums)