The Lamar Odom Debacle
The L.A. Times refers to the Lakers‘ use of Lamar Odom as a a primary ball handler in their offense in their first preseason game as an “experiment,” but as we told you in Smack this morning, early on, it was more of a disaster than anything else. The stink of his tough performance against the Jazz on Tuesday is still drawing heat from his coaches.
From the Times this morning:
In 20 minutes, Odom had three points, five rebounds and three assists.
Assistant coach Kurt Rambis said Odom’s game was “fair to middling, maybe poor,” and that Odom “didn’t seem focused out there.”
Jackson took it a step further.“I just got through telling him that this is really basketball now,” Jackson said Wednesday. “He looks like he’s either curling or doing some other kind of sport. He’s not playing basketball.
“The first shot he took was a three-pointer in the middle of the third quarter? That was pretty interesting.”
The Rambis quote made us laugh out loud. Obviously, Phil prides himself on all of his Zen-master antics and mind games designed to motivate his guys, but this was after the first preseason game. The only thing we can think of is that Jackson was so frustrated after L.O.’s Jekyll & Hyde playoffs/Finals run that he feels the need to get Lamar right immediately and he feels the best way to do that is to publicly antagonize him into playing with fire and focus.
Source: L.A. Times
Photo. Tim Tadder
October 9th, 2008 at 10:38 am
fallinup says:
They should just try to trade him. Say, to Chicago for Ben Gordan or something. Ben off the bench for the Lakers would be nasty.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:40 am
fallinup says:
Gordon, I have no idea how that A got in there…
October 9th, 2008 at 10:43 am
the_don_mega says:
nice idea to have BG with ‘em…
October 9th, 2008 at 10:43 am
kermit the washington says:
Yo, I just ain’t feeling LO right now…I really was hoping for that trade for Artest. How nasty would we be with Artest instead of LO?
October 9th, 2008 at 10:44 am
kermit the washington says:
Even when they were looking at Josh Smith, I was like “DO THAT TRADE!”
October 9th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Yoooo says:
Trade him to Golden State for Stephen Jackson. GS needs another decent ball handler since they’re without Monta. Lakers need the toughness Jackson brings along with his toughness. AnD he’s a proven winner at the highest level. He is the perfect fit for LA and LO would be a perfect fit for GS with his ability to do multiple things on the court.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:48 am
DJ STEVE says:
Trade him to Orlando straight up for Turkoglu. Turk is already saying he is gonna test the market. Orlando needs more of a pf and we need a true sf who can stretch the d in the starting lineup.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Drink the Haterade (KB24 Chip 09) says:
Don’t trade for S Jax, BG or Turk. We need a defensive minded 3 and one that hit the three and a good locker room presence. Think Shane Battier, the perfect complimentary player
October 9th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Kobeef says:
LA needs a back-up center or PF and not LO - maybe they can trade LO for a couple of solid bench players (SF and C)
October 9th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Damon says:
stephen jackson could be good in the lakers system.
but a proven winner? he won a championship with the spurs, other than that he hasn’t proven a lot.
maybe its because im a pacers fan and jackson…, you know the rest…
October 9th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Ross says:
Why is Odom the scapegoat for last final’s loss? Its bullshit for people to keep blaming him. Just think, had he scored 40 points in the last game of the finals, the Lakers could have won!
October 9th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Blue says:
Trade him? Really, what team would want him? I think if he had a real fire up his ass, he could be as good as KG. he just has no heart man…none!!!
October 9th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Michorizo says:
Josh Smith would be sick with the Lakers! Or should I say the Lakers would be sick with Josh Smith…
October 9th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Michorizo says:
Or how about Marion … Riley loved Lamar before he had to trade him for Shaq and Lamar seemed to thrive with Wade.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Kobeef says:
@Morchorizo
That is a really good idea. Works really well for both teams - gives Miami a true PF and they can move Beasely to SF and gives LA a true SF in Marion to put beside Gasol and Bynum. And you are correct that Riley was really torn-up about trading Odom.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Kobeef says:
Send Lamar back to Miami !!
October 9th, 2008 at 11:41 am
MoxWestCoastRep says:
I think this is getting blown out of proportion.
LO will be fine once the season starts, he’s one of the most versatile players in the league.
Def not a debacle…yet.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:52 am
kooguy says:
LO for Curry and Lee. NY will get another prodigal son and he could help the run-n-gun Knicks and they could start Randolph at the 5.
Curry and Lee will be very solid backups; think of Curry as as Kwame with slightly better hands.
Bynum / Curry / Mihm
Gasol / Lee
Ariza / Radmanovic / Walton
Bryant / Vujacic
Fisher / Farmer / Yue
October 9th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Shujen says:
Lamar Oden = the lion from the wiz…speaking of that Micheal Jackson goes harder and got more heart.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Big Shot BOB says:
Did blue just say as good as KG? WTF
October 9th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Jimmhumm says:
@ Michorizo yeah I feel that one big time.
@ kooguy If PJ is hating on LO for being lazy why would he want Curry the laziest dude off of the worst team?
October 9th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
BALLZ says:
@ Kermit the Washington…dude that’s the sickest handle anyone uses on this site. You ever read David Halberstam’s “Breaks of the Game?” The section on Kermit is some of the best writing in the history of mankind…
October 9th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
karizmatic says:
Looks to me like Lamar better play or get traded.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
bamba says:
Odom just needs to be FOCUSED not traded
October 9th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
kooguy says:
@Jimmhumm i think curry would be a okay in very limited minutes. he should be motivated in a contract year anyways.
October 9th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
hoopsguru says:
why is everyone all over trading LO? Why not talk about moving Sasha for his crap D on Ray Ray?
3pts, 5rebs and 3ast in 20min…big deal it is preseason, look at Kobe’s line 8pts, 5rebs and 5asts in 24 mins….might wanna put KB24 on the block right away!
It wasnt like the entire team played well anyways. Give the man a bit of a break and wait until the regular season to judge
October 9th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Brown says:
Lamar Odom = the guy they SHOULD have traded for Kwame Brown. I’ve said for years that giving up Caron Butler was a huge mistake.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
that's whats up says:
you can’t spell loser withou LO
October 9th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
that's whats up says:
…and you can’t spell without, without the “T”
October 9th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
JUGS says:
They should have traded him for Ron Artest.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Three Stacks says:
GTFO of here with these trades that make no sense. There’s NO Laker fan that knows his shit that would trade Odom for the likes of Ben Gordon or Stephen Jackson. Curry and Lee!? You guys are insane.
I would have liked to trade him during the offseason, for Smith or Artest. A trade for Turkoglu makes sense, but the contracts don’t match. Only one that would work is Jameer Nelson and Turkoglu for Odom, which the Lakers wouldn’t do unless Orlando throws in a pick as well. And Orlando is thin enough at PG already, they can’t do that trade.
And in hindsight, Caron would be perfect as a 3 for this Laker team right now. But that’s only because LA is suddenly stacked in the frontcourt, Lamar has been more valuable to us the past 3 years.
But if things keep up like this, Odom’s gonna walk, so I hope Kupchak and Phil do something to get something good before the season’s over. If they got Gasol for Kwame’s expiring contract, maybe we can get something better for Odom’s.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
@dam says:
Love it when the lakers suck
October 10th, 2008 at 2:23 am
dagwaller says:
Personally, I like Odom, but haven’t been a fan of his game over the last little while. Reminds me of Tim Thomas.
That having been said, I think maybe too much is being made of one preseason game. The only guys that have a right (in my eyes) to bust on LO this bad are the coaches. I’m sure they know what they’re doing.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Irene says:
“He looks like he’s either curling or doing some other kind of sport.”
… Curling, LMFAO/
Gotta love Phil.
October 11th, 2008 at 1:39 am
Lady Luck says:
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/13441/phils_drama_of_non-drama_in_lakers_line-up