Dreaming Oddly Odom: Why Odom Returning To Miami Would Be Too Awesome
I don’t mean to be a downer, but the world kind of sucks right now.
I really should have written that in HRO-style. But I digress. I hit the one-sentence paragraph, that’s enough stylistic blundering for now. I just mean that the economy’s still trudged, Michael Jackson and Walter Cronkite died, and the Lakers not only won their bazillionth championship continuing a depressing reassertion that the NBA is really only about four to five teams, but the Lakers are also going to win the 2010 championship as well. Moreover, this team is so good in talent, coaching, and execution that I’m a little concerned Dwyer’s going to spontaneously sprout pigtails and wake to find all his jeans have turned into Laker Girl unis.
(Why yes, I have decided to abandon any pretense that the Yellow and Purple/Forum Blue/Charlemagne doesn’t make me physically ill. No sense hiding it, particularly since admitting it may make my honest admission of how damn good they are seem more genuine than faking a sense of impartiality in pursuit of an unworthy level of legitimacy. It’s the internet, for Chrissakes.)
All this to say, Lamar Odom is re-signing with LA. I know it. You know it. Odom knows it. Every other Western Conference GM knows it. That’s why no one will take a swing at him. The general sentiment seems to be, “I’m not going to be your trophydate to get the ex-boyfriend to take you back, Odom.”
No one wants to extend an offer just to help Odom get a better price from a team that can afford it anyway. Even jacking up the price doesn’t help. It’s like making a $20 bet with Scrooge McDuck. Oh, sure, he hates to lose, but you’re not actually going to hurt him much if you win.
Odom knows he wants to be in LA. He’s got business interests there. He’s known around town more than he’s known on the team. He’s a star. AND he gets to be a winner. It’s the perfect situation for him, and no matter how much he wants those extra years, he doesn’t want them enough to leave “The Good Life.”
So he’ll go back, and be the third to fourth best player on the team, because it’s what’s best for him, and you can’t blame a guy for that. and you can’t blame the Lakers for doing what every fan wants their team to do. Spending the money to bring back as many pivotal pieces of a championship team as possible.
So while we wait the hours/days for the inevitable conclusion, let’s dream for a moment of what it would be mean for Odom to say “Screw it” and head back to Miami.
In 2003-2004, the Miami Heat fielded a young team, with Eddie Jones as the big star. Behind him was a rookie Dwyane Wade, not the superstar that LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony were expected to be. Additionally, Lamar Odom and Caron Butler ended up being pivotal pieces of a team that pushed and clawed its way to the second round. That team was just simply cool. Flawed, fast, raw, and intense. They dove out of bounds, played exacting if inefficient defense, and knocked out the Hornets in the first round before getting bullied by the Pacers.
A three headed monster of Wade-Odom-Butler going forward would have been incredible. Odom was 25, on a $9 mil a year contract for a player that was 2nd in scoring, 1st in rebounds, 3rd in assists per game. Butler was an undiscovered talent, who would remain undiscovered until he got Washington several seasons later but who showed flashes with the Heat. And Wade was, of course, Wade. Outside of Jones and Brian Grant, there were no huge contracts to clog up space. They had Stan Van Gundy available to coach if Riley wanted to spend time upstairs. They would have Odom who was happy in South Beach, Wade, and Butler for as long as they wanted, cap space, a market players find attractive, flexibility, and young talent. They could have built a contender that would be able to compete for a decade.
They sold it all for one ring. And if you ask any member of the team, the fanbase, or the city if they’d do it again, they’d reply yes a hundred times over.
But a potential Odom return would at least give us a taste of what could have been. There’s a fair possibility that the reasons not to do are the same reasons Chris Cornell refuses to do a Soundgarden reunion (besides the fact that his Parisian restaurant is apparently amazing). But there’s also a chance that it could give Beasley an environment to develop, take the pressure off Mario Chalmers, satiate Wade enough to extend, and provide an attractive team to lure in a 2010 big fish, giving them another one to three shots at a title.
Wade and Odom’s games play so well off each other. Free wheeling, with so much less structure than what the triangle demands. Sure, a lot of it is ISO and not nearly as technically brilliant as what Jackson has devised, but damn it, it would let these players play. Wade wouldn’t be hampered by having to be the power, the might, the leader, the brains, and the sword all at once. And Odom would be able to consider it an opportunity to let loose. There are certainly players that need discipline. But Odom is one that needs a positive environment to keep him out of trouble off the court, and little else. A controlling on-floor regime only causes introspection and neurosis in him. He bobbles passes from Kobe, chuckles, and then gets the death glare. He faces coming off the bench. He always has to worry about ending up in Jackson’s doghouse, or Kobe’s. Or, now, Pau’s. And in reality he’s at his best when he’s surprising forwards with his size or quickness, cleaning up rebounds with terrifying force or draining 18 footers in front of guys who can’t hope to contain his range.
He would be an excellent model for Beasley as well, and might help the kid find a kindred spirit. A goofball who found his way to a ring by playing a combo forward role with range. They would provide the knights to Wade’s Queen, as it were. O’Neal and Haslem as rooks, and all you’re missing are bishops, which you can find easily.
It would certainly help everyone love Odom more. LA fans love him, because as much as I can dog on them for not showing up to games on time, chanting for tacos, and generally redefining “bandwagon” all it takes is one look at the parade footage to see how much they love their team, right down to the benchwarmers. And Odom is that brother who you constantly have to talk through breakups and let crash at your house when he loses his place. But he’s also the one that when he gets the new job or gets married, you’re so much more happy for, because you’ve seen how frustrating he can be.
But as long as he’s in LA, they’ll be the heightened expectations that come with playing with Kobe. And he’ll simply be a role player, an element of the Opera Du Kobe. The guy standing behind Pau and the superstar. With Artest there, he’ll be even further marginalized in terms of team identity, even if his on-court role won’t fluctuate much.Kobe is the superstar, the face of the franchise, the star so bright it’s hard to see anything else. Gasol is now the sidekick, replacing Odom as the go-to guy when Kobe’s not feeling it (you know, the three times a year that happens). Artest is the unstable bandit, replacing Odom as the lovable headcase you hate unless he’s on your team. Even Bynum is more of a star than Odom, simply based on potential, since Odom is now 30 and the wait for him to develop has passed. He is what he is. And while he’s really good, especially on a team as loaded as LA, he’s not as good as a top option, especially on a team as loaded as LA.
In Miami, though, he’d get to live the lifestyle he wants. Wade is a posterchild for what living in that city can make you. King of a party city, with beaches. Odom already owns a home there, he obviously digs it. A young team that would look up to him, and the remaining veterans all respect him. And while Wade is obviously the shiniest diamond in the case, Odom wouldn’t be looking up at banners of Gasol or Artest. His game would flourish with his newfound maturity in an unstructured environment, he’d get to pass on what he’s learned to the young kids coming up, and spend his remaining years in the league on a team that loves him in a town that loves him, competing for a championship and pulling in more money while paying less taxes.
So why won’t this happen? Because of the same thing I’ve believed for a while. LA gets its way. It’s not unfair, they simply work the system. There’s a salary cap, but the only punishment is a luxury tax, which they can afford, as the largest market. And players are willing to take less money, because to be a pauper in NBA heaven is not only better than to be a prince in Memphis or Milwaukee, but it’s better than being a duke anywhere else. Plus, Odom has business interests and cultural endeavors in LA, while Miami is likely some sort of getaway for him. And as a competitor, LA gives him the highest likelihood of retiring with multiple rings. And nothing can trump that.
Still, maybe it’s better this way. To leave that 03-04 Heat team as some sort of mythical beast that we’re not sure we saw. Maybe it’s better to have the opportunity to debate over whether Odom was consistently overrated or underrated, or neither, and to see what it’s like when you have three headcases on a team (Odom, Artest, and Bynum) and still know that they won’t implode. If dreaming is the heart’s game of chance, then Lamar Odom is Ad-Kd with a flop of Qd-Jd_Ac.
Or something.
Oh, and if this does by some miracle actually happen, we’re going to need to form a picket line outside the Wizards offices to get them to trade Butler there. We’ll have to distract the Wizards fans with ice cream or Epic Vale posters or something.
Oster-Tags: kobe bryant, kobebryantisverygoodatbasketball, lamar odom, pau gasol, philjackson
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