1/9 Pacers @ Lakers 7:30PT

[Erik Eleven]

Has anybody else noticed how badly we miss Odom?

[semi-sentient]

Speaking of Josh, his interview just now with Patrick O'Neal..

"How does it feel inside, knowing that you get DNP's, and don't get called upon except for in spot minutes?"

Powell: "Hey, I'm in a great situation. I just go and work hard in practice, and if my number get's called, I'm gonna do my best to come in, perform and play hard."

Quickly becoming one of my favorite players.

[dingclancy]

Without Odom (and Walton/Farmar) we are in the same tier as the other teams in the West. So they cannot be complacent. They will still win most of their games, but they cannot expect to walk over their opponents.

[snaquille oatmeal]

Has anybody else noticed how badly we miss Odom?

I know what you are implying, point taken, but it is not all about missing Odom. we are also missing whoever we would get to replace Odom if trade him.

[semi-sentient]

BTW, this is game-winner #23 for Kobe.

Full list here: http://www.dolem.com/kobe/

If anyone can provide video footage of the shots, I'll be more than happy to host them on my site.

[Sedale Threatt]

Has anybody else noticed how badly we miss Odom?

In what regard?

[semi-sentient]

Has anybody else noticed how badly we miss Odom?

In what regard?

Probably play-making and defense. I'd assume that when Odom comes back, Vujacic will be less of a chucker/ball handler and he's always been an underrated defender IMO.

[semi-sentient]

BTW, we shot 62% as a team yesterday if you take out Vujacic's 3-12 chuck-fest. In fact, he is the only player to not shoot at least 50% from the field.

Once Farmar comes back (hell, or Walton), I'd like to see him get less minutes. He simply isn't producing for us on either end of the floor.

Also, the shot distribution for our starting lineup was close to perfect yesterday. I'd like to see more of that, personally. I might give Radman and Fisher another shot or two to even things out a little more, but I wouldn't complain if that's all they took the rest of the season. These are our (are our, are our, are our, are our, are our) 2 best 3-point shooters, so they did their job in the offense. Defense is a whole 'nother story though, but everyone sucked yesterday so I won't harp on it.

Radman: 3/5 FG (2/4 3P)
Kobe: 10/20 (1/4 3P) -- a little too trigger happy when you account for FTA
Bynum: 8/10
Gasol: 9/13
Fisher: 3/6 (1/2 3P)

Oh, and Josh Powell is a stud. IMO, he's an upgrade over Turiaf, primarily because he has a better mid-range shot and he rebounds well, particularly on the offensive end. Turiaf was a poor rebounder and very foul prone, so it's nice that Powell is an option for us when our bigs are injured or in foul trouble.

[Sedale Threatt]

Eh, I don't really find myself missing Lamar much at all. In fact, last night it didn't even occur to me that he was out -- probably because I was so preoccupied with our crap defense, but still.

At this point, provided Powell is capable of giving us 15-20 solid minutes a night, I'd much rather ship Lamar off for either a legitimate starting SF or PG or a two-player backup combo.

He brings a lot of positive qualities to the table, and but when it comes down to brass tacks I just don't trust him to come through.

[iamworthy]

Phil is going to have to get Josh Powell some minutes even when Odom come back.

[Anklebreaker702]

Phil is going to have to get Josh Powell some minutes even when Odom come back.

100% without a doubt. I think he's as good or better than Ronny

[semi-sentient]

At this point, provided Powell is capable of giving us 15-20 solid minutes a night, I'd much rather ship Lamar off for either a legitimate starting SF or PG or a two-player backup combo.

Oh, I'm with you on that one.

If we can trade Lamar and also ship off either Radmanovic or Walton in the process, then I say go for it. That's a hard trade to do though, even if it's just Odom by himself as we'd likely need to get back 2 players just to make salaries match. My gut tells me we're just going to let him expire and offer him a much lower salary (~$7 million) or just let him sign elsewhere.

I think Powell will be ready as early as next season to play those type of minutes though, keeping in mind that he's still probably getting accustomed to the system and getting his game/conditioning in NBA form.

Unfortunately I don't see any kind of upgrades at the 3 spot based on what we have on the team already. Most of these guys have zero trade value and their contracts suck (Radman and Walton -- Vujacic as well), so we'll just have to hope Ariza develops that jumper. We blew our chance to get a solid starting SF by signing Vujacic instead of Posey (assuming he would have taken MLE from us).

[Sedale Threatt]

We're pretty much stuck with Walton and Radmanovic for the duration. I can't believe there's an NBA GM who would be stupid enough to take either of them. Unless Billy King still has a job; I forget. (Side note - Damn, Radmanovic was terrible last night. It pretty much summed up his entire game -- lazy, stupid and error-prone.

I could tolerate Odom coming back at a discount. It's not like he's hot garbage or anything. I generally appreciate him, and fewer minutes means fewer opportunities to screw up and/or disappear when it counts. So in a way, the sixth man role is ideal for him (at the right price).

It's just that he, or rather his expiring deal, represents the last chip we have to improve this team in a meaningful way for the immediate future, and I think most of us are in agreement that we could still use some improving.

I don't know who or what that would entail. I never really put a huge amount of thought or effort into the whole hypothetical trades thing. Vujacic, I didn't think was a bad signing at the time. He had a good year last year, looked like he'd turned the corner and was a key player in our run. I guess he fooled us like Walton fooled us.