[video=youtube;jXsDzac4fXg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXsDzac4fXg[/video] He made Anthony Randolph cry.
I'd rather have a player like Odom for the playoffs who I know can stay healthy, instead of taking a chance on Bynum. Gasol is ultimately more comfortable with LO and that will be important later on.
^ Imagine if all 3 of them get comfortable with each other... and any combination of 2 of them would instantly click... that would be scary.
I don't trust Odom to stay healthy much more than I trust Drew. Odom's torn his labrum twice now? Think Chad Pennington, that shoulder could be a ticking time bomb.
I don't think that matters much. Phil has managed many more headaches than the simple "problem" of Pau and Drew's chemistry. Hell, I wouldn't even call that a problem. I'm worried where Scrodom's head is at. He's got a ring, he got a contract...where is his motivation? Motivation has been a problem for him in the past, will it come out this year? What happens when he gets shifted to the bench because Pau comes back? I think his mentality is just as big of a concern as Drew's knee.
Odom has proven something at least, Bynum still has a ways to go. I want Bynum for his depth, we don't even need him to surpass anyone just give Pau a break since he is hurting.
And Bynum has proven that if he is healthy, he is a better impact player than Odom. The thing with him is staying healthy. IF he can stay healthy all year, there isn't much need for Odom. That is what sucks though, his health...
He will be a valuable piece for us coming off the bench. His performance yesterday means nothing. I don't see any reason to freak out, we knew what we were in for when we resigned him. He's going to have good games, he's going to have bad games. We're going to love him and we're going to hate him. It's been the same thing for like the past 5 years. This year is going to be no different. It's not like yesterday's game was close to begin with, we were blown out and thoroughly embarrassed by the Mavs. Only Drew and Shannon received passing grades, everybody else on the roster, from Lamar Odom to Kobe Bryant, failed.
He's averaging 13.0 PG, 9.5 RPG, 6.0 APG, 1.0 SPG, and 1.5 BPG and shooting 46% Only two games, but I don't see anything to indicate he's being lazy because of his contract or whatever. I think the Lakers aren't real contenders without him. Who is realistically out there that's better? He's better than a lot of guys on most teams.
Interesting, we arguably didn't even need Odom last year in the playoffs. We were going to blow out the Jazz anyway, he didn't show up for the Rockets, he showed up for two games against the Nuggets (one of those two nights was in the 27 point blowout), and we didn't need him against the Magic. We wrecked Orlando Game 1/5, Game 2 he almost blew it for us. And this is without Bynum playing well either, Kobe just went on a tear. I don't want to have just one player carry us again though, so I loved signing Odom again. I appreciate what he does for us normally.
