For Lamar Odom, Becoming a Dallas Maverick Has Been a Difficult Transition
When Lamar Odom received the news that he was being traded by the Los Angeles Lakers to the Dallas Mavericks, he didn’t exactly hide his disappointment. He made his thoughts on the matter pretty clear.
His feelings were somewhat mutual among Mavs fans who have spent the last several years “hating” him during his tenure with the Lakers.
At the same time, though many Dallas fans were still angry about his behavior towards Dallas in the conference finals last season, most were excited that a player of his caliber would be headed to the Big D.
After all, who wouldn’t want a player that was coming off a year in which he was averaging 14.5 points and 8.8 rebounds a game? Who wouldn’t welcome the NBA’s “6th Man of the Year” to their own team?
However, unfortunately for both sides, things haven’t gone exactly the way that the fans, as well as Odom himself, would have liked.
At least not yet.
Through his 19 games with Dallas this season, there is no doubt that Odom is in a slump.
He is averaging just 7.7 points and 4.6 rebounds this season, nearly half of what he did last year in Los Angeles.
But slumps happen in basketball. It’s simply part of the game. Most rational Mavericks fans understand that this is just temporary. Odom is too talented not to find his stride, and he will undoubtedly bounce back.
The biggest concern, however, isn’t his on-the-court performance, though it is a little concerning.
The biggest concern is his attitude.
The reason that he hasn’t yet been accepted by Dallas fans is because, judging by his body language, he still seems like a guy who doesn’t want to be here.
And maybe he still doesn’t. I can understand that. I’m sure it’s difficult to leave a place that you’ve fallen in love with to head somewhere new.
However, if he wants to be accepted in his new hometown, he should start acting like a player who is proud to be a Dallas Maverick.
So to Odom I would say this: Get the fans behind you. Endear yourself to them. Allow yourself to move on. Then maybe, just maybe, basketball will become fun again for you.
I’m not saying that gaining the support of his new fan base will automatically pull Odom out of the slump he’s been in since he arrived in Texas, but having the local fans cheering you on and having more fun playing the game you’re supposed to love can’t exactly hurt either.
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I don’t feel like it’s a slump. I feel like it’s the reality of the situation.
A) Lamar isn’t happy. (It doesn’t matter what he says, going from LA to Dallas is the NBA equivalent of going from New York to Philly. While it’s a big city, it’s still a step backwards in terms of the city itself.)
B) Lamar Odom benefited more than people realize from. 1)Playing with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. Dirk and Terry do not make up for that. 2)The triangle offense. Phil Jackson’s Triangle Offense may have been the key to Odom’s success.
C) The dude is 32. It’s hard for a 32 year old to make the transition of playing in an entirely different structure. The Mavs and Lakers don’t get much different from a “system standpoint”.
I guess my conclusion is kind of this. Maybe Lamar Odom is a system player. He was a better fit with LA. Look at many guys the league and it’s fans considered better than they were because they played in LA. Luke Walton, Trevor Ariza, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vulichek (sp), heck, they even tried to convince us that Steve Blake was good. Being a Laker can trick people.
You make some very valid points. We will have to see if he can make the adjustments. I think he will become at least effective. Not the player he was in LA but a contributor. The longer it goes on, however, the harder it will be for him to turn it around.
Good points.