SLAMonline Top 50: Lamar Odom, no. 39
The definitive ranking of the best players in the NBA today…
by Holly MacKenzie
Limitless potential. Lackluster performance. Ridiculous skill set. Chronic underachiever.
There have been a lot of words tagged to Lamar Odom’s game, not many of them positive. When a player is as talented as Odom with as much promise coming out of high school in New York, all eyes 
are on them and the pressure is there not to fail. Disappoint. Screw up. Lose their way.
When you lose your mother at 12 and are being raised by your grandmother and want to make her proud, you’d think it would be easy to block out distractions and focus on the end goal. Sometimes, it is just the opposite that happens. Sometimes, is what happened for Lamar.
With the distinction of being named High School Player of the Year by Parade Magazine, the stage was set for him to go to UNLV. Only, that didn’t quite work out for him. The thing is, guidance doesn’t always come when needed and lessons are not usually learned the easiest way when it comes to Lamar. After ending up at Rhode Island and piecing together a great year, the Clippers drafted Odom, where he was hailed as the next Magic by a certain basketball magazine. When he ended-up being suspended twice for violating the NBA’s substance abuse policy, it appeared as though he’d need wizardry to help him achieve his potential.
The thing is, regardless of his struggles, his talent is so undeniable he does deserve a spot on a list such as this. A 6′10″ southpaw who can run the point with his court vision and game savvy will always find a way. Having the ability to put in back-to-back triple-doubles along with his unique make up also allows him extra chances – chances started making the most of as he has learned nothing lasts forever.
While he has dealt with death in his youth by losing his mother, the past few years have not been kind to Lamar. Losing both his grandmother (on her 80th birthday), and his own infant son (on the anniversary of his grandmother’s birthday and death), Lamar has endured challenges his critics couldn’t imagine. Having proven himself as a warrior by playing through physical pain, he has more than earned that title after dealing with the hand he has been dealt. When the game before brought pressure, it has now become the sanctuary that can begin to bring peace.
As the rest of the world was watching Pau Gasol slide into a vacancy left by Andrew Bynum, Lamar was finally getting a chance to breathe without the watchful eyes of the media observing his every misstep. While people wondered how he would adjust, he flourished with the freedom the new addition allowed for him and put together a solid season with the Lakers.
It’s taken Odom awhile to get comfortable both off court and on and now his best can begin to be shown on the floor. Yes, sometimes it looks like he wanders, but he’s still got a lot on his mind. While he creates match up hell for opposing coaches, what he needs more than most players is support. From everyone. That’s the only way to get him to play his best at all times and become the player he’s had the potential to be since the beginning.
With Gasol, Bynum and that guy named Bryant taking most of the spotlight, Lamar finally has the chance to truly shine. He has the combination of the right coaching staff, the supporting talent to help him and confidence from the best player in the game. Lamar Odom is getting there one day and one game at a time.
Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.
This story is filed under: Blogs, NBA, SLAMonline Top 50, The Post Up
this simply doesn’t make any sence to me, especially after him disappearing for big parts of the finals vs. celtics, although his talent is undeniable he is not the basketballplayer who is corner-stone material, like many other mentioned above, actually i would probably only rank him around 70, and i would say he is equal to caron butler in most ways…
Whos the fourth option for the Clippers? or Warriors? Or Philly for that matter? Regardless, Odom is better than whoever it is.
I’m guessing Pau Gasol is still to come if Lamar is on the list.
IMO West is better than both Gasol and Lamar
i like lamar and all, but he can’t be here
everybody likes his skills, his kind of player, i even like his style, but he never translated that to the court and i think clutchness, desire, GUTS and willingness means too much for me in an athlete. not to say about consistency.
last year he would be awesome cause he would be 3rd option… NO
now he’s talked about cause he is gonna be a fantastic 4th option
and you guys wanna throw him better than Rip
thats more BULL$hlT
And get on down to the old Slick rhythm
Now this one here is called the Ruler my dear
Its a mere party booster that will set things clear
Its a hundred percent proof from champions of truth
And if you feel you need spirit I’ll bring back your youth
Relax your mind, and folks unwind
And be kind to a rhythm that you hardly find
And off we go, let the trumpets blow
Well hold on, because the driver of the mission is a pro
The Ruler’s back”
I feel that some guys get enamored with the whole match up problem thing. Would you rather have a match up problem that’ll get you 15 or a dude like EB that will stay on the block andd drop 25 ? It’s not as sexy of a 25 but it gets the job done.
-underacehiever so i don’t have much to say about him although he has a really good talent base.
-most his allcolades from being the most potential
-potential has to be reached sometime
-josh smith monta ellis. david west have showed more upside then him. michael redd and richard hamilton have had far better season. im sure they would trade odom for durrant any day.
Although when I heard about his son death i think he is a warrior. And is game might have dropped a little bit since then, but was already an underacheiver for his talent base
jukai at 9:44 was good
L.O. is alot more Kukoc” yes!!! smart man
“If Kobe ain’t no.1 all of y’alls is gonna get f*cked up”.
Holly is gangsta through email.Great stuff.
You could even say that Van Gundy did well with the Magic last year in that he had Turk imitate LO’s role with the HEAT his first year as a Coach.
L.O. is alot more Kukoc than Pippen.
good point, except that Kukoc didn’t use to choke. actually, he played with one of NBA’s top5 clutch all time, and when needed, he would give what the bulls expected.
great guy.
@Mr. Ben “no u in my name” Osborne - this is good news! Someone needs to give you one of those “Kudos” certificates in the SLAMdome today!
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Everyone should realize that Kobe will be no.2 on this list - Ricky “SLAM” Rubio has the number one spot on lock!!
2) Gasol and Kobe are obviously still on this list. What about Bynum? Was he not top 50 last year when healthy?
NBK says:
Seriously Odom could be a lot better but you really are not educated if you think West and Artest are better players.”
David West: 1 all star game
Ron Artest: 1 0r 2 DPOY (i forgot how many DPOY’s he won? somebody help me) 1 all star game
Lamar Odom: 0 all star games, 0 DPOY, 0 anything
see jamal magloire
Yeah i watched the finals did you? i mean odom put up 13 and 9 on 51% shooting he was not the reason they lost if your gonna try and pin it on him.”
He choked worse than George Bush on that pretzel while watching footbal (who else remembered that). Are you crazy NBK? You are looking at numbers, he was missing dunks, layups, and commiting 1,000,000’s of turnovers. You must have not watched, or are lying. You are a liar after all, thats not name calling, thats a fact, something you need to check.
Plus Gason only shot .2% better and 1.4 more PPG on 3 more minutes why don’t you complain about the big spanish dissapointment as opposed to the Lamar Odom that got virtually the same stats he did during the season
no he averaged 2.67 TO’s a game in 36 minutes in teh finals compared to 2.17 in teh finals for Gasol on 39 Minutes.
Plus Gason only shot .2% better and 1.4 more PPG on 3 more minutes why don’t you complain about the big spanish dissapointment as opposed to the Lamar Odom that got virtually the same stats he did during the season”
NUMBERS NUMBERS NUMBERS! YOU DID NOT, MUST NOT, COULD NOT, have watched the NBA Finals. He was missing dunks, missing OPEN shots, missing layups, and he was giving bad passes, and not hustling. KG put the breaks on him bro, thats why the Celtics are rasing that championship banner. Made you just came out of a coma and picked up a keyboard, but i suggest you re-watch Lamar in the finals. Seriously.
You just said LAMAR ODOM is the reason the Celtics won the title. I said this earlier you have got to be kidding me what happened to the MVP in the Finals he only put up 25 a game and played to worst series he played in all of the playoffs. If you want to blame Lamar Odom for the lakers losing the Title thats you proving your ignorant. If you judge a player strictly by how they played in the finals then that means Paul Pierce is better than Kobe Bryant anyway. So when Kobe is ranked number 1 or 2 you better be using the same argument to say Paul Pierce should be ranked ahead of him. Dumb little kid you have no idea what your talkin about ”
“BETCATS says: KG put the breaks on him bro”
What i said was that KG shut him down and his and his team’s great defence stoped the Lakers (a team Lamar Odom is on) won the title. Anyone who watched the finals will tell you the Celtics great defence won the finals.
And i am not saying Kobe bryant is worse than people say i am saying your grounds for judgement are terrible and you sound ignorant
Oh yeah and Odom can play more than just one position on offense and defense and david west? he plays the 4 and luckily doesn’t have to gaurd anyone good because he got TC to do that”
so you are saying that the fact that David West IS a pure power forward is a negative? We all know what Odom did playing Power Forward did in the finals: FAIL.
I wonder where A.I. will be ranked on this list. Any ideas?
I think A.I. will rank anywhere between about 8-20.