| The Epitome Of The Role Player Authored by Daniel Dubay - February 28, 2006 - 1:53 am
I have a couple questions for all you Lamar Odom haters... When did he become a problem? Has he ever been a headache for the Lakers? More importantly, why does he need to be traded?
Please give me some good answers to those because I have another question. Since when has a potential triple-double a night been a bad thing? Especially for a player who can do it consistently when his game is on.
Lamar Odom may be a great player but what people fail to realize that he is not a franchise player. He doesn’t put up the points needed to be one and from what I understand he is not much of a leader. A franchise player does not average only 16 points in his career; playing with Kobe isn’t an excuse (If you look at Kobe’s stats lately, his assists are going up). Lamar puts up only 20.4 points per 48 minutes compared to Carmelo Anthony’s 36.3, Paul Pierce’s 36.3, Ray Allen’s 34.6, Shaq’s 29.3, and Kobe’s 46.9 (I added Shaq because lets face it, the Lakers made so many bad moves that the trade was basically Lamar for Shaq). Lamar may be leading the Lakers in rebounds (averaging 9.3 at the time this was written) but that only goes to show you that the Lakers lack a quality big man.
Yes, I am the same person who would probably pick him first if I was the general manager for a team during a fantasy draft (If Andrei Kirilenko, Shawn Marion and Ben Wallace were taken), but that doesn’t mean that I think he is a franchise player. It’s just that what he brings to a team is invaluable. I don’t know what basketballs equivalent to baseballs five tool players are called but I do know one thing for sure: Lamar Odom is the equivalent of one in basketball. I love players that can do it all; assists rebounds, blocks, points, and the occasional steal. He can also play every position. The only other player that I know who can give that to you is Shawn Marion, but even Marion won’t give you the assists (2.1 career, 1.7 so far this year). This season Lamar is getting over 70 percent of his rebounds on defense, which is another thing that matters to me.
He is the epitome of role players. The only problem is that is not where the expectations are with him. He can’t help the fact that he was traded for Shaq and that he was the prize in that deal. Quite frankly, as you may have read in one my past articles; the Lakers pulled off the wrong deal. Role players don’t put up the points, they do the dirty work. He would be the perfect sixth man, a championship sixth man. Think about what he can do coming off the bench. He would put fear into opponents and create mismatches. Especially if he was on a team like the Pistons, Spurs, Nets, or even back on the Clippers. The past four “sixth man” have posted an average of 14.68 points per game, 4.18 rebounds per game, and 1.8 assists per game compared to Lamar’s career total of 15.8 points per game, 8.5 rebounds per game, and 4.5 assists per game.
I have an as answer to why he should be traded though. Lamar Odom is also one of the few players on the Lakers roster who the Lakers would be able to get quality players in return for. I also think he would be better off with a fresh start. Let’s face it; Los Angeles fans and the media are killing him here. He may be a basketball player but deep down we are all human; and it’s no secret that the criticism is getting to him. He has shown great heart with the way he is handling it and I give him props. The bottom line though is if the Lakers traded him; there is no way they would be able to get a franchise player in return for him. He may be able to attract a superstar in return on your fantasy team but this is real life. Also, the Los Angeles fans would turn on the Lakers for essentially giving up Shaq for nothing. They may be able to get good players for him but no one special and certainly no one worth Shaq. |
