LA TIMES: Odom as PG Role a Reality?

[AceFresh]

Odom has been shifted to ball-handling guard, part of an experiment conducted by Coach Phil Jackson in a monthlong petri dish called exhibition season.

Odom, who has already clashed with Jackson in training camp, has brought the ball up court for the Lakers in their first two days of practice.

Derek Fisher has shifted to a shooting-guard role on offense and Kobe Bryant has moved to small forward.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakersfyi2-2008oct02,0,3274713.story

Interesting,
Thoughts?

[dockingsched]

i just finished reading it. i think its beyond dumb by the author to suggest that suddenly the opposition is going to put a pg on odom just cause he's bringing up the ball.

[Dr Aki]

wasnt this a failed experiment some time ago?

maybe odom will be more comfortable this time around...

[what would jack bauer do?]

Well, if Odom is able to successfully play the role of the on the ball guard it does free up Kobe and Pau to be in the post more often I guess. Those two are our best passers out of the post, but I still don't get how doing this would give us an advantage. Odom will have a size advantage over 90% of the small forwards of the league regardless. The question is whether Odom can guard 3's over the course of the whole season. Doing that puts a lot of stress on his knee and I think it also takes more energy than boxing out the bigs.

We clicked so well with Kobe essentially playing pg for us last year, but I guess an advantage from this move is conserving Kobe's energy and longevity. If this experiment works it puts Kobe back into full throttle scorer mode, but we'd still be missing that elite defender to take that responsibility off Kobe.

[That Nicka]

uhm... This doesnt change anything... Because the triangle is a free flowing offense, everyone will still be in their regular spots and take the shots they are accustomed to taking... The only difference is now Lamar and Derek will bring the ball up instead of Derek and Kobe...

This should be more effective for us though because Kobe can setup at the free throw line extended, on every play, where he is most effective

[Chubby Chaser]

Not a fan of this. The closer Lamar is to the basket the better. I hope Phil starts the season with Lamar at the 3 to at least give it a shot. Although his defense isn't as good as Ariza's, we still have Pau and Bynum to help if he does get burned. He's also lengthy enough to recover if he gets beat. I think he'll be fine at the 3. Much better than he would initiating the offense at the top of the key and getting a lot of wide open threes.

[coy01]

i don't understand why the article acts as if this is something new... odom has pretty much played point-forward for a full season already. also, true, the author is idiotic stating that the opposing pg will guard him? who the hell is this guy. anyway i actually like the switch back, it will get odom involved more and it won't clog up with paint with all our big guys. and i really don't think ariza should start, he should be energy off the bench.