Off of the bench, I expected Odom to dominate. I expected 15/10/5 off of the bench. He still got the minutes to produce those numbers but he didn't. I don't see why he can't play off of the bench like he does as a starter.
Well you're right except Odom had 26-28 minutes off the bench. Throughout his career he plays a lot of minutes, he usually needs upper 30's/low 40's to accumulate those totals.
That's still quite a difference in minutes. Even playing at the pace he does now (16.3 points 13.3 rebounds 2 assists in 36.8 minutes since Drew went down), he still would not gather those totals off the bench.
I think it's the mindset. Odom doesn't have the mindset to do it. He's never been a player that can dominate a game, whether it be as a starter or 6th man. I also don't know if he's really capable of being that kind of guy, because of the fact that he has started his entire career. The game is a lot different when you come off the bench and Odom is proof of this.
I think it is his ego. At first, he wanted nothing to do with the bench. Once he got a chance to start, all of a sudden he has an awakening and plays like he should have been playing all year long.
Well, it's hard to play one way your entire career as a starter and then be relegated to a 6th man, and I think that's what's made it tough for him. He's USED to being a starter. He's used to not having to force the issue immediately and just progressively get his own. Off the bench, they want him to the spark plug and get going quickly, and he's not used to that, and I can't imagine he ever will, since he's been a starter ever since he stepped foot on an NBA court.
Lol well I mentioned this before but, even off the bench he could have given us some minutes at the 3. His workload was rather light anyway when Drew was around.
