Lamar Odom is reportedly entertaining an offer from the Miami Heat to join Dwayne Wade and try to help the Heat return to the NBA Finals. There just seem to be too many problems with this scenario for me to believe that he would actually sign with the Heat.


First, Odom would be taking a pay cut of roughly $9 million. The Heat can only offer him a little above the mid-level exception which would be just below $6 million a year. Where as he already had an offer from the Los Angeles Lakers at $9 million a year for three years that he sat on for too long before the Lakers decided to pull the offer off of the table.


Second, Dwayne Wade may be on his way out the door himself for free agency after next season. He has said that he would sign an extension if the Heat committed to rebuilding toward a Championship, but he would leave if they weren’t able to convince him that they were truly making the effort. Is signing Odom enough for Wade or would he need the Heat to do more? Does Odom want to risk being locked into a contract and be stuck on a team without a bonafide star should Wade choose to leave?


My money is on the Lakers resigning Odom to a contract around 4-5 years for $35-40 million.

Apparently the Los Angeles Lakers are going to sign Ron Artest and they are going to do it very soon. At least that is what Artest is saying. Artest told cbssports.com “I’m definitely going to L.A. — to sign, yeah, Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. I’m in L.A. right now.” I guess Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom are now free to seek other employers. Artest will be cheaper than the cost of keeping Ariza and Odom but is the savings worth the risk? How will Artest react to L.A.? He will be in the spotlight and that may be a problem for the “charismatic” player.


If Artest can harness his temper (which he was able to do for the Houston Rockets for the most part), he could be on his way to a Championship. Or, he could implode again and be on his way to a trade halfway through the season. This should get very interesting.

I’m about to sit down and watch game one of the NBA Championship between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic. Now, there are plenty of questions that will be fun to see being answered during this series. Can Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom or Pau Gasol (or all three together) stop Dwight Howard from dominating the paint? Can the Magic hit the 3 when the Lakers collapse on Howard? Will Jameer Nelson play? How will the Magic stop Kobe Bryant? That answer is simple, you can’t stop Kobe but can they slow him down?

I know most people wanted to see LeBron James take on Kobe but there are so many things to watch for in this match-up that it should be a very interesting series. I’ll be honest, after seeing LeBron snub the Magic during post game handshakes, my opinion of him has soured a bit. I understand it in a way when it comes to the media but you just don’t do that to the opposing team. But, that’s a whole different story. Read the rest of this entry »

Bynum is scheduled to make his return to the court tonight Thursday April 9. The Los Angeles Lakers must be happy to get him back after missing 32 games with a knee injury. Not that the Lakers have needed him. Lamar Odom stepped right in and played like the player everyone expected him to turn into as a young player. The problem is Phil Jackson has repeatedly said that Bynum will start when he returns. So, what does that mean for Odom and his owners. Probably not much because the Lakers are fighting for the #1 seed throughout the playoffs and Bynum probably won’t play more than 20 minutes per game so he can be eased back into game shape for the playoffs.


Odom will probably take a hit in stats but it shouldn’t be that drastic. What can we expect from Bynum in terms of production? Well, I don’t expect him to return to his usual self. At least not in the remaining games left in the season. He’ll probably score double digits with 6-7 rebounds and a block. Not much but it can help in head to head leagues. Either way, this is great news for the Lakers and Bynum owners (if there were any left) but not so good news for Odom owners.