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Okay so I hear a lot of people bagging on Lamar for his inconsistency, but over the course of the last three seasons, I have noticed a sort of rhythm in Lamar Odom basketball - a nearing Trade Deadline and a sharp dip in his production. I believe there's a definite correlation there.

To preface: This is not an excuse for Lamar's poor play nor is it a call to arms. It is merely looking at a trend that I have noticed in his on-court demeanor that is also reflected by the stats.

Also: the Trade Deadline changes slightly every year, this year it's February 22nd, usually it's around this point. Since February is only 28 days (except this year - remember it's leap year people) I'm just calling his stats from the month 'Before' the TD.

(I'm only doing this because I would have to go through all the old gamelogs and make the averages myself, and in the end the TD's effect could easily remain the entire month.)

Now let's take a look at the numbers:



This is the season where it all started. By now Caron Butler was long gone, Brian Grant never existed and Lamar was what was left of the Shaq trade.

The Lakers had chosen Lamar Odom, so it was time to produce...when either he couldn't live up to that sort of pressure or whatever way you can try to rationalize it, this was the time when people started calling for Lamar's head.

But the Lakers held on to him and he bounced back after the TD and played well in the playoffs. I think people had higher hopes for Lamar after his impressive showing against Marion in the post-season, but tragically the loss of his son completely changed Lamar's world.

Obviously that caused him to refocus his life on family over basketball. He didn't touch a basketball that whole summer and came into camp skinny and out of sync.



This actually ended up being his 2nd worst month of the season, statistically. Though he started off the season looking like an all-star, things didn't pan out going down with injury and only playing 10 games combined in December and January.

He never returned to his all-star numbers, but he did bounce back in March.

Yes, his poor play could have been due to recovering from injuries, however I'd argue that seeing as how he's performed great while hurt that same season in the playoffs...that Lamar's greatest challenge will always be mental.

Then we have this season:



So far we've only played 10 games, and we don't even have his February numbers, but he's already down from 15.4 PPG and 48.9%. Now of course a great factor in this season is Bynum's going down with injury, but that does not explain for Lamar's disappointing performance and overall inability to step up.

The point is: Every year Lamar sucks around this time of year. I believe that it's because of his fragile nature that is taxed greatly by the added pressure of being in trade rumors.

Don't you find it interesting that Lamar's name hasn't been nearly as active in trade rumors this season?

Sure it could be because of his diminishing role because of the emergence of Bynum, but wouldn't that make him more tradable? I just find it difficult to believe they were looking to trade him in years past when he actually was our number 2 option.

I think the Lakers are trying to learn from past mistakes.

As Lamar has admitted after another off-season of trade speculation, the rumors hurt his feelings. He takes it personal, so therefore the Lakers are doing what they can to keep him out of the New York Post, try as Peter Vescey may.

Fact is, we're probably never going to trade him, and if history has shown us anything he's bounced back from these low points and performed well in the playoffs - and that's when it counts.

Despite all of our best instincts...Lamar may just surprise us yet. That maniacal son of a bitch.

So, who believes?!.....Anyone?

As far as this season goes, Lamar Odom has taken his game from inconsistent to consistently awful. Maybe, he will bounce back a bit from what he is doing right now, but what difference does it make? It has been over 3 years and it is painfully obvious that he is just not the kind of guy who step his game up when his team needs him to. He has a couple of good games in the playoffs, but we never win because of him. And would people stop talking about him beating Shawn Marion? Marion is the Sun's fourth scorer while Odom is our second, they don't even get the same amount of touches!

I agree with you about one thing, I don't think Odom will ever be traded, the same goes for Kwame Brown. Their performances are so awful that nobody would be willing to trade anything serious for them. And besides that, our management and coaching staff are madly in love with the both of them that they won't consider trading them unless we get a huge rip off in that deal, which basically makes a trade impossible.

I think the biggest problem in Odom is his lazyness. He hasnt improved his game ever since he came into the league and I see no sign from him that says he will change that anytime soon. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't work hard, you are not going to become a Kobe. Odom is inconsistent because no part of his game is a sure thing and he just has to go with the flow from night to night. He could be a good passer, rebounder, defender and scorer, but he can't do none of them with any consistency because he isn't good enough at doing any of them consistently.

Before people start predicting what Odom is going to be like after the TD, let's see how his game is right now. His jumpshots have gone down the toilet long ago; his defense is an absolute joke; his driving game is diminishing; he has the ability to finish around the basket of a 5'6" guard. How does one turn all of that around? Would his jumpshot magically start to fall in? Or will people stop blocking his shots around the basket? This season is going to be a horrible one for Odom and sadly, even all of his 4 points 2 rebounds and 2 assist games won't convince people that he needs to go.

I was thinking the same thing yesterday crazyeights...which is wierd this year considering because this is probably the first year I can remember where LO's name has NOT been circulating in trade rumors at this time.

LO just looks to be coasting right now...like nobody's home upsatirs.

Great post but he needs to step up... Nobody is feeling the loss of Bynum more than LO... We need him right now...

Nice post

You'd figure he'd be used to it by now....


Maybe its strategy on his part..... Maybe he figures if he plays sucky going up to the deadline, no one will want him and he wont get traded

Very good thread LOCO .

zen_4_10 wrote:I was thinking the same thing yesterday crazyeights...which is wierd this year considering because this is probably the first year I can remember where LO's name has NOT been circulating in trade rumors at this time.

LO just looks to be coasting right now...like nobody's home upsatirs.

I think Odom has been coasting this season, probably due to his diminishing role. Then when the bottom dropped out (Bynum's injury) it thrust Lamar back into the spotlight unexpectedly.

I think Odom has yet to readjust to his current role, because his struggles are compounded by his laziness (as slifersd pointed out) and his inability to deal with the TD pressure. It's no mistake that he's been consistently crappy this time of year. I think Lamar loves the LA scene and loves playing with Kobe Bryant. He's scared to leave. So he plays with that added pressure.

Though with all of that, I think he's egotistical enough to believe that since he's naturally gifted that he can afford to coast in the middle of the season and then "step it up" around playoff time.

Also I think it can't be understated how much not having the ability to make the all-star team affects his play. Last year he was great at the beginning of the season because he was driven to make the all-star team, but when he got injured that dream was shattered.

The beginning of this season he was hampered by injury and that poor play actually caused a huge blow to his ego, having to embarrassingly shave that star off the back of his head once and for all. I think now we're dealing with an athlete who was already fragile and now is trying to redefine his own self.

Or maybe he's just **** lazy ... either way, from here he can only go up.

LO's been in the league far too long to pull off this kind of BS every season. He's hurting none other than the interests of the team if he's letting all the trade rumors get into his head.

interesting stuff. two things to think about with the first year stats you posted......................it was lamar's first year playing the triangle and he admitted it took him at least a half season before feeling comfortable with it. the other thing was that phil was playing him at the sf spot for most of the first half of the season and then woke up and switched odom to the pf spot where he blossomed. i think those two things really made a difference in his second half of the season production that year.

i'm pretty baffled by odom's play this year. i've been very dissappointed so far.

Those are great points, I know there's a million variables that we'll never know, or be able to factor in.

But that still goes along with confidence. Again this year he's been hampered by starting injured, then playing at the SF spot. So one could argue that the same is happening this year.

He played better for a stretch when we first moved him to PF, and then Bynum emerged and made us raise our expectations for everyone on the team.

I just have seen this happen at this time a year three straight seasons, so I'm not going to throw in the towel on Lamar yet, even if he's not the solution to our current problems.

crazyeights wrote:
He played better for a stretch when we first moved him to PF, and then Bynum emerged and made us raise our expectations for everyone on the team.

I just have seen this happen at this time a year three straight seasons, so I'm not going to throw in the towel on Lamar yet, even if he's not the solution to our current problems.

good point about when he played pf with bynum. seriously, it looked like a very cohesive unit and those two ate up the boards.