13 replies to this topic

[LALakersFan4Life]

Phil Jackson was matter-of-fact rather than angry as he said after the morning practice about Lamar Odom: “He’s not in shape. Lamar’s not ready to play."

Odom has been seen dragging with the stragglers in practice-ending wind sprints, and Jackson said Odom’s take-it-easy summer has led to a somewhat slow start for him in trying to play more of a quarterback role in the early triangle-offense practices of camp. He said Odom, despite getting fatigued, has done “OK.

Odom said he chose to rest over the summer to ease the tendinitis that bothered him basically all last season. Odom especially had problems with his right knee that he sprained two seasons ago, costing him 21 games in 2006-07.

Jackson expressed some disappointment that Odom didn’t do more with his offseason given that he wasn’t having surgery, as he has so often before.

Jackson said it remains to be seen if Odom hurt himself — before he becomes a free agent at season’s end — by not working hard enough over the summer.

“He has to find that out for himself," Jackson said. “That’s something you experiment with. But in our exit meetings (in June) with Lamar, we talked about the fact that he hasn’t had the opportunity to work on his body in the offseason for the past three or four years, actually. So this was really an opportunity to strengthen his shoulder and do some things that were going to help him in a pivotal year for him – not only for him, but for us."

On the bright side for Odom, when answering a different question about Andrew Bynum, Jackson ran through a list of the other starters and included Odom with Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and Pau Gasol.

http://lakers.freedo...-ready-to-play/

Very disappointing to hear about Lamar...

Vujacic Update

During Thursday’s morning session guard Sasha Vujacic saw improvement in the ankle that he sprained Monday night.

“Well I can walk so that’s a good thing. I’m not limping anymore. But the only thing of concern is on the side there is a tendon, so we’ll see how long it will take," Vujacic said. “Hopefully just a couple of days."

While the limp is gone, Sasha still found it hard to move laterally and therefore did not practice with the rest of his teammates this morning.

“The treatments are going good so no concern there."

http://my.lakers.com...vujacic-update/

[JD]

So its "taking it easy" as the excuse this year. I think any rational person would be willing to give him a pass, when it was because of his son... however, its become a trend.

When has Odom used the off-season to work on his game? I'm not aware of any.

More fuel to the fire, this guy has ADD/ADHD. He has difficulty staying focused, whether that be over the course of a summer... or even over the span of a 48 minute game.

[wong63]

So its "taking it easy" as the excuse this year. I think any rational person would be willing to give him a pass, when it was because of his son... however, its become a trend.

When has Odom used the off-season to work on his game? I'm not aware of any.

More fuel to the fire, this guy has ADD/ADHD. He has difficulty staying focused, whether that be over the course of a summer... or even over the span of a 48 minute game.

he doesn't have ADD/ADHD he has PHS(pot head syndrome).

[Aceis²FresH]

Should of pulled the trigger on the trade! :]

[purple_and_gold_fever]

LO = shaq 2


lol jk

[last stand 2.0]

i love lamar but as i said in my other thread we dont need this this year

we are too good

he depresses me so much hes so talented yet so lazy

[Louizzle]

I've got a bad feeling that Odom is going to have an injury season this year, let's hope not

[BadScooter]

LO is suffering badly from tendinitis in both of his knees... he took most of the summer off because the doctors told him to rest instead of having surgery.

Phil is just playing mind games with Odom.

Agreed. This reeks of Phil's Jedi powers and the media is of course running with it the way they want it to go.

[KareemTheGreat33]

Oh Phil with the mind games Looks like next season's whipping boy has been identified.. :lol:

[GCMD]

If LO gets benched, expect him to get "injured" until after the trade deadline.



I say, go after Marion...at least he's going to bring it every night and he doesn't need someone to hold his hand on the court. He's perfectly fine with scoring off the ball and doing all of the things that we need done (like play PERIMETER defense, which is yet to be seen with LO.)

[last stand 2.0]

LO is suffering badly from tendinitis in both of his knees... he took most of the summer off because the doctors told him to rest instead of having surgery.

Phil is just playing mind games with Odom.

so does kobe yet kobe played in the olympics and won a gold medal what is your point

kobe played the entire 2006 season with severe tendinitis in his right knee which required arthroscopic surgery to fix

and now kobe suffers pretty regularly from it and he still is kobe

when will the lamar excuses stop and when will we hold him accountable for his actions

hes out of shape well last time i checked andrew bynum was out what 8 months and look hes in better shape than before his injury

excuses excuses thats all i ever hear for lamar and the reason lamar is lamar is because he uses those same excuses instead of owning up and taking some responsibility for himself

hes a 28 year old probasketball player who still can't hit a right handed layup

[last stand 2.0]

If LO gets benched, expect him to get "injured" until after the trade deadline.



I say, go after Marion...at least he's going to bring it every night and he doesn't need someone to hold his hand on the court. He's perfectly fine with scoring off the ball and doing all of the things that we need done (like play PERIMETER defense, which is yet to be seen with LO.)

marion may be one of the most selfish guys in the NBA off the court but on it he would give 110% dive for every loose ball, grab every rebound possible, contest every shot possible, cut to the basket as often as possible, and give the opposing offensive player everything he has defensively

with lamar i don't know sometimes he'll cut to the basket sometimes he'll sit on the perimeter and watch kobe go to work, sometimes he'll fight hard for rebounds other times he'll let the center grab it, sometimes he'll play defense and other times he'll forget he was playing defense

i like lamar but if hes going to be a detriment to the team he needs to go our aspirations are too high the frustrations he looks like hes going to cause by the simple fact his work ethic is on par with zach randolph and darius miles the guy never gets better

first it was he needs to get used to kobe

then it was he needs to learn the triangle offense

then it was hes been injured he needs time to heal

then it was his son died (which by the way is not an excuse and i still am proud of lamar and still playing for us in the wake of such a tragedy he showed heart i thought didn't exist within him)

then it was he needs a break to exhale his hectic life

then it was he needs to get used to andrew bynum

then it was he needs to get used to pau gasol

then it was he needs to find his place on the team

then come finals hes lost in the triangle so i guess he never learned it because he always seems lost

now this year we are repeating past excuses hes been injured, needs to find his place blah blah blah

i know lamar gets it harsh but in all honesty kobe comes back better every year skill wise and for his age physically.

the list goes on

bynum
farmar
sasha
fisher
hell even luke has improved during his time here

but from day 1 lamar has been the same 15ppg 10 rpg and hes never improved in fact for most of last season he regressed

keep in mind those numbers were on teams with either one other star kobe and wade or no other star in clipper land

[fido]

Sounds like Lamar is Phil's new Horace Grant.

In the Bulls days Phil would endlessly be all over Grant - no matter what he did. Sure, Odom took it easy and he should have done at least some mild work, but this smacks of the same thing here in L.A..

Its a motivational tool Phil uses that has worked flawlessly in the past. I expect it will now too.