Let’s say Andrew Bynum comes back and looks like a real center.
That pushes Pau Gasol to the power forward position and puts Lamar Odom … where?
If the Lakers need another dependable scorer, and they do, and Odom can’t really play the small-forward spot and doesn’t have a perimeter game of any dependability … do the Lakers use Odom as trade bait?
I’m thinking, yes, they should. (There also are issues of Odom’s wandering focus, and his softness around the basket, but let’s not hammer on that point, before a trade. Could kill his value.)
Odom has one more year on his contract, at $14.5 million. Maybe the Lakers can trade him to a team trying to get under the cap? Or perhaps they keep him, then let him go and see if they can find a big-name free agent after the 2008-09 season.
Anybody got some thoughts about this?
Lamar: Should he stay or should he go?
4 responses so far ↓
1 J.P. Hoornstra // Jun 18, 2008 at 8:26 AM
If they can find a trade partner, absolutely explore the option. I’d rather have Luke Walton for $6.5 million as a glue guy between Kobe-Gasol-Bynum, than Odom at $14.6, teasing you with a scoring touch and rebound stats just enough to make you think he’s a go-to guy.
Use that money to shore up the bench with a reliable defender, or a more reliable shooter than Radmanovic.
Perhaps it’s unreasonable to think anyone would want Odom at $14.6 million for a year after his playoff struggles, but it was more unreasonable to think you could get Pau Gasol for Andrew Bynum and Javaris Crittenton.
2 Damian // Jun 18, 2008 at 4:15 PM
As some know, I have been calling for an Odom deal for a couple years. As I said in an earlier take on this blog, you can’t win with guys like Odom when they are supposed to be a significant contributor to your team. Why couldn’t the Wizards have taken Odom instead of Caron Butler a few years back? Always loved Caron Butler.
The thing is the Lakers are already paying mega salaries to Kobe and Gasol and will do so with Bynum in a year or two, to go along with hefty, overpriced salaries they are carrying with Vlad Rad and Walton. Vujacic and Turiaf now need to be re-signed and there’s more money taken away from the kitty of J Buss, who has complained about being over the salary cap numerous times in the past. No way they’ll be able to afford to re-sign Odom after next season.
The latest example of Odom’s lack of hoops IQ, defense and focus/heart was last night.
In an elimination game, he doesn’t score a basket until the 4th quarter, he guards KG much of the night as KG has his best game of the series, he doesn’t take charges several times when the opportunity was there, and he makes 1 out of 2 countless times at the free throw line.
In my estimation, the 3 Lakers that need to go are Odom, Walton and Vlad Rad. 3 soft guys who happen to be the Lakers’ 3 most overpaid guys and 3 worst defenders. Why did the Lakers lose this series? Because their defense could not get stops down the stretch and because it could not protect leads and thwart major Boston runs, especially last night.
Odom is attractive as a trade commodity. His stock has risen since the Gasol trade as he was really good in the last couple months of the regular season and in the first couple rounds of the playoffs. His expiring contract after next year is what teams who are looking to slash payroll are looking for.
Of course, Odom will have to be dealt to an Eastern Conference team which is not a championship contender because, when dealing a guy who carries such a hefty salary and is recognized as a good player in this league, you’re going to have to get a good player in return. No one in the West and no contender in the East wants to make the Lakers, with their current roster, better right about now. I don’t know what good players are available at about Odom’s salary level but I am thinking maybe it would not be out of the realm of possibility to trade him back to Miami (Riles really liked Odom) for Shawn Marion (a guy who can opt out of his contract who brings defense, athleticism, rebounding and you don’t have to run plays for him and he gets his points) or a Jason Richardson (tough-minded guy who plays with heart, plays defense and has a three-point stroke to spread the floor and stretch defenses) from Charlotte.
Now, do I think Odom will be dealt? Nope. The Lakers (Mitch) will probably be of the opinion that the core and young roster is set, that it reached the finals this year unexpectedly, that things may have been different had Bynum played, and that they all learned a valuable lesson of how to win it all through this past series with Boston. All valid points.
However, in Odom’s case, he’s been making the same mistakes and has the same flaws in his game as he had when he was in college with Rhode Island. His full potential will never be tapped and his game has leveled out. It’s not like he’s only been in the league a few years either. There is no hope for improvement. He is now what he will be in the future. I only hope Kobe/Bynum/Gasol/young bench players can overcome what Odom does to set the Lakers back.
As Lakers fans, we should not be angry, but just exercise a little patience. Boston was the better team and was a bad matchup for the Lakers from a personnel standpoint. The Lakers went from first-round losers to NBA Finalists, surpassing everyone’s expectations by at least a couple playoff rounds. Kobe is staying put for the duration of his career and the Lakers will be much better with the return of Bynum and the continued development of what is the 2nd youngest team in the NBA as it stands now. Bynum may have been the difference in the Finals. I’d like to find out whether this is true next year.
3 DPope // Jun 19, 2008 at 12:34 AM
Seriously, Damian. I think you need your own blog.
They’re called COMMENTS, not MANIFESTOS.
4 Damian // Jun 19, 2008 at 9:54 AM
Dennis, I’ll keep this one short for you.
The thing is, I love the Lakers and I hate Odom. Throw that in with the need to flush out a little more of the venting from the finals, and that is why you have a column from me. Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to go on for that long. But it did kill much of my idle last hour at work.
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