LOS ANGELES — Lamar Odom was hunting down some pregame popcorn in the locker room just now, and the way things are going for him it wasn’t surprising that he found it. Except for a three-quarter drought a week ago in New York when he was trying too hard to shine in his hometown, Odom has been considerably improved — even if he’s still lurking a bit too much on the perimeter for Phil Jackson’s liking.
I asked Jackson the day before that game in New York what Odom had been doing better in scoring 17, 19 and 21 points in the first three games of that Eastern trip — despite taking just 11, 12 and 11 field-goal attempts in those games. Given those shot totals, it wasn’t at all as simple as Odom being more aggressive — something he sometimes gets in his mind he has to do to score (making him too wild). I thought Odom had been moving a little better without the ball — often a weakness for him, especially when Kobe Bryant is hot — but Jackson said it was more that Odom was being smarter on offense.
Jackson liked that Odom wasn’t settling for so many jumpers and was basically taking shots he almost surely would hit. Odom let fly a little bit too much against Phoenix (6 for 18 from the field), but he was downright stellar last game against Utah — even though he was largely overlooked. He had 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting, eight rebounds, seven assists and no turnovers (he really, really piles up the turnovers when he’s going bad) in just 29:51 of game action.
For all the attention Andrew Bynum has gotten lately, it’s easy to forget that a steadier, more potent Odom would change the whole landscape for the Lakers.
