doitmitch.com

See you later, Underachiever
 

There’s no rule that the Lakers HAVE to keep or replace Odom. There’s several reasons why they probably won’t:

1. After Bynum gets his 10m+ extension, the Lakers will be at the luxury tax threshold even WITHOUT Odom’s contract. Think about that.
2. Odom plays the Lakers’ deepest position. Ariza, Walton, and Radmanovic all play small forward. 
3. Include Kobe there at SF, especially since Sasha was extended and probably will see his role grow (perhaps even eventually start). The need for a shooter on the floor explained Phil’s heavy usage of both Radman and Sasha in the playoffs, even with their drawbacks, even at the cost of benching Odom at crucial moments of the Finals.
4. Odom will be at best a 4th option on offense. What will his numbers look like? Can’t be better than 12 pts and 7 rebounds. Will the Lakers pay big money for that?
5. The arrival of Gasol essentially replaces Odom in a basketball sense, Bynum’s imminent contract extension essentially replaces Odom in a financial sense. The only thing left is the ax.
6. Odom will get substantial offers next summer. He’s been too successful at power forward, he’s been too solid, consistent, he overcame his past, he’s become a solid character guy, unselfish, versatile, and many teams can use him better an pay him better.
7. The Lakers will lowball Odom;  No doubt they’ll offer him something. But it won’t be enough. 

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 1:37 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.