LA Times <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">SAN DIEGO ? Lamar Odom, playing his second position in as many seasons, is discovering the nuances of life at the top of the key, as the facilitator in Coach Phil Jackson's triangle offense. There are nights such as Sunday, where the 6-foot-10 point guard hit Kobe Bryant in stride for an alley-oop, found Smush Parker on the fastbreak for an easy basket and went coast-to-coast for a layup, all in the first quarter. More often, there have been nights where his no-look passes have floated askew, where Baron Davis has picked him clean, where his outside shot has fallen flat. Odom, at his new position, remains a metaphor for the team ? a work in progress. "He's struggling," Jackson said before Sunday's 98-97 Laker exhibition victory over the Charlotte Bobcats. "He still has a ways to go and some recognition of what it takes." A power forward last season, Odom is now fighting off guards while bringing up the ball and has sometimes found himself drifting from the basket after making the first pass to initiate the offense. He is averaging 10 points in six exhibitions and has made only 15 of 43 shots (34.9%). He has a team-high 26 assists but also a team-high 20 turnovers. "We're a long ways from saying you've got to throw the baby out with the bath water in this situation," Jackson said. "We really think that the upside of our team is with him at that position. We could go back to Kobe playing that position, but that's going to take a lot of leg out of him, put a lot of pressure on the rest of the team. This is a situation I think that we all look forward to trying to experiment with." Said Odom: "I feel like I have an IQ for the game and a nice little learning curve as far as learning the offense, but trying to put yourself in position to score all the time I guess is my most difficult part."</div> Source
How many games before Odom moves to power fwrd? <div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">LA Times Source</div> How many games into the season, if any, should we continue this experiment with Odom? Last year he averaged 10+ rebounds and seemed to play better with his back to the basket. How about moving him back to power forward and starting Kwame at center with Mihm as back up. Let Kobe handle the rock until Walton gets back.
I think Odom would be a much much better player at the 3, play point isnt Odom's thing, he's too big. Lamar is well coordinated and has the handles to play point but in the end he has the speed disadvantage against gaurds like Baron, TJ Ford, Jamaal Tinsley, Stephon Marbury and Rafer Alston. Defensive assignment can be changed but when those guys are d-ing up Lamar its not a good thing, IMO I think this project/experiment with Odom at PG will fail.
