If you have been watching the NBA Playoffs, you probably have started to notice Sasha Vujacic. The Yugoslavian-born Laker has been making a little noise in this postseason.

While Sasha’s numbers don’t exactly jump out at you (8.7 points and 2.3 rebounds through the playoffs), his presence on the floor cannot be missed.

Here you got a 6’7” guy, who is a deadly outside shooter and a solid defender. But more importantly you have a competitor. He’s goes hard, he’s gritty and he will not back down.

We have seen him get into several altercations with players throughout the year including Renaldo Blackman and Rafer Alston.

The more I see Sasha, the more I wonder how good of a player he can be. Are we talking permanent role player here, or do we have the next Detlef Schrempf?

First of all, I want to make it perfectly clear that it pains to give this man props. He’s not exactly very likable if you don’t root for the gold and purple. Vujucic is arrogant. He carries himself with an attitude and he loves to provoke his opponents. It definitely doesn’t help his cause that he calls himself the Machine.

On the flip side, Sasha’s got heart. He dives for loose balls, he takes charges and he plays within the system. Although his cockiness is the characteristic that annoys people, it is also the characteristic that makes him so good.

One of the most impressive moments came in Game 5 of the second round series with the Jazz, where he finished the game shooting 1-11 including 1-8 from downtown. Sasha was never discouraged and kept firing shots with confidence even though they weren’t dropping. The next game he torched the Jazz, hitting 5-7 shots en route of eliminating them.

Another telling sign for Vujucic is his improvement. Ever since he was drafted in the first round in ’04, Sasha has improved his point production and three-point percentage. This season was definitely his breakout year, as he doubled his points per game average from a season ago (8.8 ppg from 4.3 ppg) and upped his three point shooting by over 6% (43.7% from 37.3%).

Despite his obvious improvement, Sasha still has holes in his game. His sub-par passing ability, along with the fact that he is weak off the dribble, narrows his chances of being a starting point guard. He must learn how to create his own shot if he wants to be complete off-guard.

Sasha is only 23, and has time to develop his overall game. All things said, I think that Vujacic has the potential to become a third or fourth option down the road for the Lakers or some other team.

But don’t look for Sasha to leave Tinseltown anytime soon, seeing that Derek Fisher is getting up there in age and the fact that Mitch Kupchak and Phil Jackson love this guy. If I were a Lakers fan, I probably would too.