SALT LAKE CITY — Somewhat lost under the wave of Kobe Bryant MVP hysteria and the impacts of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum before that has been a pretty fine season from one Lamar Odom, who turned it up in a major way the second half of the season once his surgically repaired shoulder got stronger.

That’s why when Phil Jackson was just asked to choose one player whose development has been most notable this season, he started with Odom — although Jackson continued to cite Vladimir Radmanovic, Luke Walton, Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic. (I guess Bynum goes without saying at this point, and he’s somewhat out of sight and out of mind.) Jackson actually wound up saying that Vujacic probably has “matured the most.”

But about Odom, Jackson said: “Lamar has made a big statement as a player.”Odom said he’s having as much fun as he has ever had: “Winning. Everyone wants to be a winner.”

This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 5:20 pm and is filed under 2008 playoffs, Lamar Odom, Pregame notes. 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.