Forum Blue And Gold

A Lakers Blog. Thoughts, reflections, and the odd rant on the Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA (even the Clippers).

Saturday Special: Happy Birthday Lamar Odom

by


Over the years there are few players that I’ve grown to appreciate more than Lamar Odom.  His all around game and ability to stand on equal footing with both the starters and reserves while serving as the bridge between both units has been invaluable the Lakers’ recent success.  Through all the ups and downs he’s shown toughness, versatility, and best of all the determination of a champion.  This season he’s seemingly took another step forward in his evolution as a player by being a leader for a Team USA squad that brought home gold at the World Championships and now (again) filling in for an injured Andrew Bynum by playing some of the best basketball he ever has.

So, with that said, join me in wishing LO a happy birthday and enjoy the highlight package below.  I shudder to think where this Lakers team would be without him the last few seasons, but can assure you that it wouldn’t be in the position to be called back to back defending NBA champions.


Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Josh says

    When Lamar Odom does the “hot-step” after making a great play or stepping over the guy whose ankles he broke in that vid, it makes me laugh so hard.

    Lamar is the man.

  5. Anonymous says

    I wasn’t that thrilled to get LO in the Shaq trade, but it turned out to be a hella deal for the lakers!

  6. Mimsy says

    That video makes Lamar look like he’s Lebron. I like it! 🙂

    Lamar Odom has the talent and versatility to be the main star of nearly any NBA team. Instead he comes off the bench most of the time, backing up an injury-prone kid who has yet to play a full season for the team, and he does it without a word of complaint, sacrificing persona success to help his team win.

    Thank you Lamar, and happy birthday! Darius is right, we would not be back to back champions without you.

  7. Zephid says

    6, seriously, you can watch that video and think you’re watching Dwyane Wade.

    Watching that highlight reel, you can totally buy everyone being so disappointed when Odom has a sub-par game. The dude has so much talent and skill, it’s ridiculous.

  9. Bobji says

    It’s been great to have Lamar on the team this whole time, LO truly is a special talent and a joy to watch.

    I hope the refs give him some slack in recognition of his bday.

  10. JB says

    Weird, I noticed most of the way through the clip that he’s nearly always in home gold or white. Anyone have Lamar’s home/away statistics?

  11. jodial says

    Just watch the clinching games of the ’09 finals, ’10 finals, or this year’s World Championships, and tell me there’s any way Lamar’s teams win those games without him.

  12. sT says

    I still remember it being said that without Lamar Odom in the trade, the trade was not going to happen, at least with Miami. Yeah, we are still getting “on the court” benefits from the Shaq trade, serious ones at that from what LO gives the Lakers.

    Happy, Happy birthday Lamar, kick some at Portland for us.

  13. Dave M says

    8&12 – agree about the Shaq gift that keeps on giving but it sure didn’t consistently feel that way in L.O.’s early Laker years. Personally, I was waiting for a while to see the Odom from URI/Clips/Heat show up. There were great moments but it seemed a slow road to being completely comfortable in the system. That’s history though, I can’t imagine him not being a Laker at this point and this could well be his best year in the league.

  14. Warren Wee Lim says

    For Aaron from the previous post:

    I wondered what I had been missing all this time that I haven’t been visiting fbg…

  16. tsuwm says

    >For Aaron from the previous post:

    once again providing evidence that folks don’t make an effort to keep old posts alive, they just jump in to the latest one.

    (no offense, Warren. you’re just the latest of many/most who do this.)

    I suppose it’s too much to expect when we don’t really have threaded topics.