Report Card - Lamar Odom

Adios Lamar. Don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out.

That's pretty good AK. Spot on. I've always thought that Lamar was a great third option, and he'd rock if he could play that way.

I only wonder whether Bynum and Gasol can share space up front. I think, even more than the point, that's the biggest question we have going into the season.

4 years ago I posted,

Dear LO,

Please MAKE 1000, 20 foot jumpers a day this summer. See you at the all star game.

Same message applies.

Much to celebrate Laker fans,

Happy 4th.

Ex,

I hear what you're saying, but I don't think LO's playoffs were terrible, all in all. Take away the C's (a trickle down effect where nobody played well, frankly) and you're left with a couple of bad games against the Spurs (along with some good ones) and pretty good series against Utah and Denver. I don't think that's enough to knock him down from a very good season.

AK

Aloha AK,

Solid job as usual. I am very glad that you pointed out LO's defensive side. He is a good defender. If we had had Drew back and L.O had been able to play Pierce no way he would have hoisted the MVP. Would L.O have shut him down? No, he just would have made him work harder and he wouldnt have been as successful. Thats one of the reasons I am not really screaming for a densive specialist at the 3. My only concern with L.O at the 3 is his inconsistant outside shot, that could be a liability in the triangle.

MH

AK,
THey weren't terrible, they were mediocre. THat's not A- material, and playoff performance needs to be a major part of the grade for a player like Lamar on a team like the Lakers.

Oh, and BTW, the Lakers LOST that Tuesday night game, after Lamar partied all night long on Sunday.

From the previous thread:

Happy 4th of July from SoCal everybody.

I listened to some of those Rick Fox interviews live and they were absolutely brilliant. But I don't think that the Lakers are that far off in the mental toughness department. He's right that they need more toughness. They have Kobe, Fish, Farmar (the only one who was scrapping with PJ Brown in the finals) at their core. I think Bynum has shown flashes of mental toughness, and I think Pau is mentally tougher than he is physically. If the Lakers can bring in Posey and one good tough-minded banger, they would be fine. Maybe sign Posey to the mid-level, and trade Lamar Odom for a good tough enforcer-type power forward.

Absolute Truth,

No, I'm perfectly aware of LO's T-shirts. But there's a HUGE difference between having someone else sell a shirt design you helped come up with and LO spending his all downtime out promoting and pimping the shirts. You made it sound like the latter, which wasn't the case.

As for the party, do you really know LO was out "all night," much less couldn't recover TWO DAYS later for a game? I'm guessing you don't, which is why I said, you're presenting this in exaggerated fashion. The TMZ clip shows him arriving, not leaving. How do you know he didn't stay maybe an hour, then take off? If you have a 6 am flight, is it really that big a deal whether you go to bed at 12:30 or 2? Either way, you're gonna be tired and likely sleeping on the plane. And you have 48 hours to recover.

Look, I get you don't like LO's game and you want him traded. Fine. That's your opinion. Run with it. But make your case by what actually happened, not by twisting stuff into the worst context possible in unfounded fashion.

AK

I'm sorry, but I just have no sympathy for a guy who spends the 2 most important weeks of his professional life trying to find a way to capitalize and make money off the situation instead trying to figure out how not to play like a total turd on a stick.

Absolute Truth,

Shut it man. As Ak said, he wasn't out on the streets with a lemonade stand-type of booth, selling the shirts himself 'till the wee hours of the morning, he helped with the design. Chill out. If that's the worst he's doing two days before a game then I'm cool with it.

I say we keep LO and see how things work when AB returns. LO isn't as bad a defender as people might think, and I think AB's return will have the same impact KG had on the Cs. Once your big man shows the desire to tough it out and play lock-down D, the rest of the team will take notice, just as they do when Kobe turns it up a notch on the defensive end. Keep him, if it doesn't work, then we'll explore our options at the trade deadline.

Happy 4th everyone!

-bozz-

Man i that this. we loose and everybody wants to trade people. Pretty easy to see why the laker fans got critiziced for not being loud enough. We have a bunch of bandwagons fans. The true fans are the ones who watch every game from their tv cuz they can't afford to go to staples.

You all have to ease up on L.O. If it wasn't for him there is no way we would have gotten pass Utah. L.O. brings it night in and night out, results aren't always there, but nobody could question his heart. We need him on our team, without him we won't get far.

Why can't you guys just be happy for what they accomplished this year? and support them for next?

Go Lakers.

So where is he supposed to play? He can't shoot the three for crap so what good is he at small forward? The Lakers don't need a 6'10" defender on the wings who's only offensive game doesn't extend 15 feet from the basket. His contract is a liability, period. Why wait until February to ditch him? Nobody has any interest in keeping him, and for good reason.

Absolute Truth,

Say what you want about his game and how it fits in with the Lakers, but don't attack Lamar's character or work ethic.

Some guys have certain game habits while others don't. Did Mickey Mantle or even Michael Jordan go home early to sleep in before every important game (instead of, say, heading off to Atlantic City to gamble)? Obviously not. You can't presume Lamar was necessarily being irresponsible just because he was off doing something distasteful to you.

Did you ever stay out late the night before an important exam or deal at work? Lamar's a character guy and who are you to tell him what he can and can't do? Last time I checked, you weren't paying his contract.

All in all, the Lakers don't need negative fans booing them at Staples during the playoffs, or unabashedly trashing players who helped them make it to the FINALS when a lot of commentators predicted that they wouldn't even make the playoffs. Let's be grateful that the Lakers aren't the CLIPPERS and that we have an awesome chance to win the whole thing next year:)

What has LO done for us lately?

A- season. B+ playoffs. C Finals (no pun intended)

To beat a dead horse deader, when the man faces up and is no threat to shoot, he's got an exploitable weakness at this level of play.

He'd cut down the offensive foul yielding drives, and there'd be better spacing for the bigs.

The latter will be THE big issue next season.

LO is at the stage of his career where guys like Malone and MJ developed a go to mid range weapon. It's time.
see Walton, Luke.

How EXTREMELY misleading!

At the top of the page, the KTLA thingy, it says, right in the headline: "Kobe says he's better than Kevin Garnett", then you watch the useless thing and it's a hodgepodge of useless news and NOTHING ABOUT KOBE.

I'm boycotting these things from now on. I encourage everybody else to boycott it as well, that is EXTREMELY MISLEADING and the other USELESS news they put on there is right off the Drudge Report... HOW LAME!!!

AK,

Are you sure? If he improves just a smidge on his numbers...Lakertom will give him the max haha, jk. Joking only.

You're right.

Here's my question as you're one in the "know" lol...does LO work out? I mean what's his work ethic like? The guy has obvious weaknesses. Weaknesses that has arguably been around his whole career...why doesn't he work on it? <-----Things that frustrates us fans.

oh... well, ok then... LOL! It reminded me of the shows like Entertainment Tonight that are unwatchable, we're gonna tell you about this but FIRST! we're gonna tell you about this but before we do that we're gonna tell you about this which is something we'll talk about later in the show but right now, let's play this music going into commercial... and after the break, we'll tell you about this! and on and on...

One other thing, what was it? Oh yeah, Lamar Odom SUCKS! Well... definitely not "A" material, he takes too many games off, I'd give him a solid "B" for this year. He had streaks of games where he was very good but then he would disappear for another stretch of games and there is never a pattern of when these bad stretches are going to happen. He'll have good games against good teams, then play bad against bad teams. Yet... then he'll go through another stretch where he disappears against bad teams and everybody says he'll kick it into high gear against the good teams and he does and then we forget that sure as the sun rises, he will disappear again, without warning...

He's almost like a more dependable Vlad Rad. If Vlad Rad could put up 20 points every third or fourth game and disappear for the others he would almost be as valuable as Odom. Yeah, Odom does little things but other guys could come in and do some of that stuff if Radmanovic was dropping say 4, 3 pointers in a quarter, things like that...

AK,

What grade would I give LO? Fair question. Before Gasol arrived, a B-. Regular season with Gasol, a B+. Playoffs, B+.
Finals, C+. I guess that would average out to a B.

My curve is, "What is the best this guy can achieve under the circumstances?" LO had his share of games once Gasol arrived where he played up to his potential. But consistency is the key. When Lamar consistently plays up to his potential, both offensively and defensively, I'm ready to give him an A or A-.

But too often, Lamar is victimized by his demons. Shaving that silly star on his head, thinking that would propel him into the All-Star game was a full-blown demonstration of the insecurities that have blighted his career. Mentally and emotionally, LO has proven time and again that he simply doesn't believe he is championship material. Until HE believes it, it won't happen.

Think of all the post-game sessions you attended where Lamar admitted his head wasn't in the game, or spouted the generalized confession "We got our asses kicked," without owning up individually to his part. Well, those were games where the Lakers got their butts kicked when LO simply didn't show up. For a while, it got to the point where I didn't even want to hear him say anything after a game.

Garnett, Allen, and Pierce during the regular season and during the finals found a level of consistency as a unit that the Lakers Big 3 didn't. LO played too big a role in that shortcoming to merit more than a B.

AK -

This is one grade that I heartily agree with - LO's the only guy on the Lakers who can guard players like Dirk, Tracy, Brand, Boozer, and a few others (in the west). Extremely versatile; selfless; great teammate.

LO as the team's 4th option is BETTER than any other team's 4th option (as an individual player). I challenge anyone to come up with a better 4th option than LO.

I'm greatly looking forward to the start of a healthy campaign this fall for the Lake Show!

I thought grades were given based on whata player did during the 07/08 season, correct? If that's right then i have to agree with AK. Yes, Lamar has had a few bad seasons, heck I even called him dead weight, but he has gotten better this year. Give him the credit he deserves for the good work he did this year and hope that next year he continues to grow.

Rick, I rahter like the fact that he says things like "We got our butts kicked", they win as a team and they lose as a team.

Thank you AK,

I've been saying all along that the LO is a really nice player. This season he averaged more rebounds and assists than Gasol. And if I'm not mistaking they weren't to far off in blocks either.

The lakers would be nuts not to see what a liineup of bynum,gasol and odom could do. At the very least there should be a massive improvement in rebounds for the lakers next year(which i feel was a main factor that they lost in the finals).

People jump on LO becuase its become the "popular" thing to do. Pau and fish had just as many bad games a LO (if not more) but they won't get nearly as much heat as LO on this blog. LO is not a perfect pf/sf but he's better than most.

I also think this is one of those times were the lakers would be better off keeping LO than trading his contract away. Even if he dosen't fit with pau and bynum as a starter (even though I think he will) he could be a great 6th man and you stated. Andif all of those options fail and he just dosen't work out on this team the lakers get 14 mill in cap space next year to extend bynum and then maybe sign artest or marion next year.

The kings will not make any trade with the lakers -people need to just forget about that. The kings will send him to the heat, knicks or even the spurs before they would send him to LA.

For THIS season an A- is just about on point. People are just pissing on him now becuase he didn't have a great finals. Nobody on the team had a great finals not even kobe. Odom stayed attacking the rim the whole series its just that many of his attempts rattled out but it wasn't from a lack of effort thats for damn sure.

Some of you seem to be confusing "character" with "being fun to hang out with". My definition of character, in professional sports, is someone who busts their butt and gives their "maximum." That means during the game and during practice, and it means working on their weaknesses. It also means minimizing distractions as much as possible. It is not specifically related to the level of talent or the level of performance. I don't see a lot of that in Lamar. I see someone who cares, during the games, but not enough to put in the extra work to address his weaknesses.

Lamar Odom had a very good season coming off shoulder and knee injuries. Both of the injuries prevented Lamar from practicing on shooting, lateral movement, etc...as he was working on rehab.

He started the season slow and started to pick up his game before the Pau Gasol trade. Both complemented each other well and he became very good toward the end of the season. With LO, Gasol, and Kobe in the line up, the Lakers were winning at an .850 clip.

Early in the playoffs he excelled. Many here were saying he became the Beast we always wanted as we beat Denver.

He played excellent ball against Utah, matching the Jazz physical nature. The Lakers would not have beaten the Jazz without Lamar.

San Antonio, the Lakers won with team defense with Lamar a big part of it. The Lakers corrected the rebounding problems that hurt us against Utah, Lamar leading the way.

After the first round, Odom said each game was a new experience for him, but he did very well until the Finals.

He was up and down, but mainly down and very disappointing to me. Most of the games he was on the bench due to foul problems and never really established his game.

My first thoughts on AK's grade was it was too high, but after breaking down the whole season, its hard to argue with anything lower. LO was a valuable piece to the Lakers. The Lakers would've never made it through the tough Western Conference without him.

Don't tell Denver, Utah, and San Antonio, the Lakers are not a mentally tough team. Losing to Boston had a lot to do with lack of team experience, not to LO being some lousy player as some have said.

Should we trade Odom or enjoy the 'Great Experiment'?

If you listen to Mitch, the answer is no. He and PJ want a full year to go with the experiment.

His value is high on the trade market, with the expiring contract and I'm sure is why many writers were speculating about a trade.

But I feel his expiring contract has more value to the Lakers.

If the experiment works and the Lakers become dominant, you could re-sign LO for less. If it doesn't work, Dr Buss could use some lux penalty relief, while not bringing LO back.

Sure you lose a quality player, but Dr Buss might value the relief more. He could better then afford to sign a MLE replacement. Business of the game may make the decision for Buss.

My take: If LO is not traded before camp, the Lakers will not make a major trade by Feb. too unsettling to the team chemistry.

LO stays, he works out great, and Odom re-signs for less. Personally, I can't wait to see how the 'Great Experiment' works out. LO at the one? Interesting.