Lamar Odom

[Rox_Nix_Nox]

First off let start out by saying that i like lamar I think he is a great person and has been a warrior for the lakers. But I'm thinking that he may have no future with the lakers because he just lacks the mental focus that I feel a championship team needs to have. I would not trade him for Marion because Marion just feeds off Nash, I would trade him for Artest though. Neway my question is if lamar is ever traded were does he rank in your mind as a Laker? He is respected like a fisher,fox,horry,green,cooper,scott etc. Or is he another chuky atkins or gary payton. I was just wondering.

p.s I have him with the respected lakers

[LAKERSindaHOUSE]

I think that you're wrong when you say that he lacks the mental focus that a championship team needs. In the playoffs last season and the season before he played extremely hard in every game. He came up huge in those games. He was our number one rebounder in pretty much every game, helped kwame get most of his points in the 06 playoffs, and he scored a lot. He outplayed marion in both series' and I think that that shows that when the playoffs come around he's one of the players thats going to step up and play at the top of his game, not worse.

[Slava]

I respect him a lot considering that he put his career on the line to play in the playoffs last season but Horry, Fisher, Fox kinda respect is an entirely another prospect and I hope LO earns it by helping us to a championship.

[slifersd]

When we made the Shaq and Kwame Brown trades and kept him on the team, we thought he was going to be the number two guy who will be one of the center pieces of our rebuilding. So far, he has failed to deliver. He is not the second option we needed because he only plays well once in a while, and even when he plays well, he isn't exactly KG. At this point, he has become nothing more than just an overpaid role player for us. For 13 million a year, we can and should do a lot better than that.

I used to like Odom a lot back when he was in Miami, but he has lost my respect since he got here. Everyone talks about how "heroic" his performances are during the playoffs outplaying Marion and all. But what everyone has neglected to mention is that Marion is only a third or even fourth option for Phoenix while Odom is supposed to be our second option. More importantly, his performances don't win us games. He did play hard during the playoffs, but playing hard every single night is what a professional basketball player is supposed to do. Odom only plays hard during the playoffs while cruising his way throgh the regular season is unprofessional and that's why he lost my respect.

I hope the entire Lakers organization come to their senses and trade Odom for JO before the end of the season. Odom is not a star and he never will be. He has a good game occassionally but he is not worth the money we pay him. To get to the next level, we need to get that true second option like JO instead of hanging onto a career underachiever like Odom.

[Rox_Nix_Nox]

I think that you're wrong when you say that he lacks the mental focus that a championship team needs. In the playoffs last season and the season before he played extremely hard in every game. He came up huge in those games. He was our number one rebounder in pretty much every game, helped kwame get most of his points in the 06 playoffs, and he scored a lot. He outplayed marion in both series' and I think that that shows that when the playoffs come around he's one of the players thats going to step up and play at the top of his game, not worse.

true true but i still can't trust him as i cant trust kwame. I think to make that leap to the championship level we need to part ways with these two that's all i'm saying. He was ballin' in that series so why isnt he playin the same way now? If Bynumite and fisher werent covering his ass then i think most people would see it

[Spanish_Laker]

He is a truly warrior. He has fought hard for the Lakers every time, every night, when we were struggling and now while we are rising again. I like him, I respect him, I thought we should have traded him away a couple of times indeed but he is our glue man, our second key player so I would not trade him unless we receive stars named Gasol, James Garnett, Carmelo, Pierce or MacGrady.

Marion, G.Wallace, Artest, Jefferson, Deng, J.O

[Kirk Moon]

First off let start out by saying that i like lamar I think he is a great person and has been a warrior for the lakers. But I'm thinking that he may have no future with the lakers because he just lacks the mental focus that I feel a championship team needs to have. I would not trade him for Marion because Marion just feeds off Nash, I would trade him for Artest though. Neway my question is if lamar is ever traded were does he rank in your mind as a Laker? He is respected like a fisher,fox,horry,green,cooper,scott etc. Or is he another chuky atkins or gary payton. I was just wondering.

p.s I have him with the respected lakers

we are hearing this for the last two years, over and over again ...

welcome to the board.

[eckoner]

If Lamar was only making around 7 million per year i dont think we would be having this discussion.

[hermes]

i doubt he will ever garner the amount of respect that horry and fisher, etc have

unless he can be a big part of another series of championship runs

DO IT LAMAR

[KobeFan]

Lamar is a very skilled player (an above average #2). It's taken this team a couple season's to execute Phil's offense and utilize each other's strengths in the Triangle.

Let's hold judgment about Lamar's "championship mentality" (whatever that means) until we've seen the team hit the playoffs with the chemistry they have now.

[zen_4_10]

If Lamar was only making around 7 million per year i dont think we would be having this discussion.

[Tommy Trojan]

If Lamar was only making around 7 million per year i dont think we would be having this discussion.

[TommyTheCat]

I would trade him for Artest though.

the lakers had their chance for that and phil nixed the deal

[MAMBAEMD]

If Lamar was only making around 7 million per year i dont think we would be having this discussion.

I think if he played more consistently and aggressively every game and if he worked hard on his game in the offseason to improve, then we would not have this discussion.

If he made only $7 mill/yr but we still thought of him as the second option and counted on him to make smart basketball decisions as a second option behind Kobe, as Laker fans we'd still be very frustrated.

Look at Kwame. He makes $9 mill and most people are so frustrated and dissapointed with his play that they would trade him.

Our dissapointment with Odom is only partially due to his salary, but mostly due to valid but unmet high expectations of him.

[lataflava00]

With bynum coming out as a true number two option, lamar may finally find his set role with the team and flourish.

we should give the rest of the season and see how he does. over the past 10 games or so, he's done exceptionally well IMO

[salsaking]

Any true Laker fan knows that Lamar Odom is LA MIERDA (he is crap). All he does is gobble up $$$ while disappearing every other game. This is the last guy we need on this team, Lakers need to ship his a** out asap.

[dockingsched]

lamar odom has been as consistent as anyone for about a month now. he's playing great incase people haven't noticed.

[Mindflayer]

^ Apparently they spend to much time posting on the internet and not watching Laker basketball.

[Teen Girl Squad]

lamar odom has been as consistent as anyone for about a month now. he's playing great incase people haven't noticed.

I have and Im impresed. This coming from someone who really doesnt care for Lamar on this team. He just might be finding his groove.

[MAMBAEMD]

^ Apparently they spend to much time posting on the internet and not watching Laker basketball.

Laker fans have been watching years of inconsistent play from Odom.
True that he has been playing better the last 2-3 weeks but that does not erase many years of inconsistent play with the Lakers and with other teams.

I think there is some merit to the discussion that because of the emergence of Bynum and Farmar and due to the great play by DFish that Lamar is not under the microscope as much (it also helps that the Lakers have been winning) and that helps relieve some pressure off of him. This only supports the notion that he is not a very good second option and functions much better as a 3rd or even 4th option.