He was attacked for his hard foul, what do you expect him to do, let guys get in his face and push him aruond? Did you turn a blind eye to everything he said after the game? You could tell he felt bad about the situation and understood why the Blazers came at him, after having a chance to reflect on everything. Human nature would have caused me to do the same thing in the heat of the moment. Check around with Laker, Magic, and Arizona Wildcat fans about Ariza's record and personality.
Lamar and Ariza is a separate issue. Shannon is a journeyman who was ecstatic that he came to LA and played well in a small amount of time. $1.5mill for Brown wont change much of anything
Thats the million dollar question. Odom said towards the beginning of the year he would take a paycut to stay with the Lakers. Then after Bynum went down and Odom was in the starting lineup and had a couple of 20+ point 17+ rebounds he changed his tune. He stated something like he was content coming off the bench when Bynum comes back because he was able to show that he is a very quality starter. Sounds like he wants to get paid IMO. its gonna be a tough decision.
Anyone think the Lakers win this year without Odom? I always thought he was unfairly scapegoated last year (because, you know, otherwise some of the blame might've had to go to Kobe) and I think he proved his worth pretty clearly. I think he stays with the Lakers, but I'd love to see some team throw big money at him, and I wouldn't even mind if it was us. He's a great talent, and a nice guy, except when the sugar rages take him.
And you know this how? You talk to him? And why would we want a pothead moron on our team? [video=youtube;vEYFxOAgDV8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEYFxOAgDV8[/video] ----- [video=youtube;cKvC7EwOjqc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKvC7EwOjqc[/video] ----- [video=youtube;T83wyYFI2gQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T83wyYFI2gQ[/video] ----- [video=youtube;NQtRXQpZHHg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQtRXQpZHHg[/video]
Ooh, YouTube mixes are fun! [video=youtube;V82_RWac8Ls]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V82_RWac8Ls[/video] ----- [video=youtube;R4mH_3nnwJg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4mH_3nnwJg[/video] ----- [video=youtube;14d2ydDk56o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14d2ydDk56o[/video] ----- [video=youtube;NckvyZUFA9Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NckvyZUFA9Q[/video]
You can find You Tube clips of ANY player and make them look like a God. What you cannot do is, find You Tube clips of players doing idiotic things like Odom has done in my post. So, you fail.
Odom has already said he will only play for a team where he can see the ocean from his house. Pretty much narrowed down his options to LA and Miami.
He can live wherever he wants. If you're paid more than $10M a year you can have houses all over. He's also said he wants to stay in LA, that his family likes it there. Fine. He can buy a new house in Portland and install a video camera pointing at the sea out of his LA house's window.
Ariza is a decent defender who shoots 30% from 3pt for his career. He got hot in the playoffs, and it will make him a lot more money than he is worth.
There is also the issue of LaMarcus. He has gone on record as stating he really, really doesn't like Odom as a person. I don't think they would get along as teammates to be honest. If needed I can find the quote. It was from a story in the Oregonian last year after a game where Odom and LA faced off near the Portland bench. If Portland did sign him, he would take Harvey Grant's place as my least favorite Blazer of all time. This is mostly due to the fact he is one of my most hated players of all time. Odom has done less with more for his whole career. It's not like he has been rock solid year in and year out.
This is where I must disagree. You can dislike a guy for being an underachiever - but what is the point of disliking a guy for being over-rated? Odom is a very good 3rd banana on a good team. He does a lot of things well, and is exceptional at nothing. I never bought into the hype that he was some kind of "star-in-the-making." As you, and others, have pointed out, there are plenty of reasons to dismiss Odom as a douche....but being a mediocre player doesn't really qualify. (sorry, just a pet peeve of mine. Over the last 40 odd years I have heard too many NBA players slammed for having a bad character, when they just weren't very talented!)
There's an 8 man rotation in the playoffs. PG- Bayless PG/SG- Rudy SG- Roy SF- Batum SF/PF- Odom PF- Aldridge C- Oden C- Przybilla
It's more the fact that his ups and downs are very marked. Instead of playing pretty well game in and game out, he plays awesome one game, then like a zombie the next. Portland has enough guys with that kind of inconsistancy already. Odom IS physically gifted, but doesn't have the mental tools needed to exploit his abilities.
