This Sucks

[Skandery]

Odom out at least a month with knee injury
 
December 13, 2006
EL SEGUNDO, California (Ticker) - Lamar Odom's career season was put on hold Tuesday night. On Wednesday, he found out for how long.

Odom was examined by Los Angeles Lakers team orthopedist Dr. Steve Lombardo on Wednesday and has been diagnosed with a medial collateral sprain of his right knee. Odom is expected to be out a minimum of four weeks.

A 6-10 forward, Odom sprained the MCL in his right knee during an awkward fall when Houston Rockets forward Shane Battier blocked his shot in the Lakers' 102-94 win at Houston on Tuesday.
 
The 27-year-old left the game with 10:01 remaining in the first quarter and was taken to the hospital for an MRI.

With superstar Kobe Bryant recovering from offseason knee surgery and not yet at full strength, Odom has stepped up.

In his third season with the Lakers, he is averaging a career-high 18.4 points, a team-leading 9.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.
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The Lakers have shown poise and maturity this season, we'll see if they can pull together on this but, no doubt, this is a heavy loss.

[msc]

^^No doubt, Skander.  This is a tough loss for the Lakes, but I have to look on the brightside and hope that this gives guys like Radmonovic, Cook, and Turiaf a chance to develop their games and hopefully step it up a notch.  Especially Radmonovic who after injuring his shooting hand at the beginning of the season has yet to establish himself as a solid contributor on the team.  This is his opportunity to log some heavy minutes and get comfortable in the offense and defensive. 

While I'm in my glass is half full mode, it's also fortunate that Odom just sprained his MCL and there weren't any tears to the ligament, which would have likely ended his season. 

[westkoast]

Huge loss and IMO just as important as Kobe being out in terms of this being a competitive basketball team.  Without Odom this team is not the same.    LA fans kind of take Odom for granted.  He quitely gets the job done in each category.  This is a guy who has a chance to get a triple double 2 out of every 3 games he plays.  He is versatile, he is coming into his own as a leader, and he is a matchup nightmare for opposing teams.

I am suprised the Lakers really stepped it up with Odom gone.  One major problem with Odom being down is the defensive glass and easy buckets.  The Laker plays kind of forgot he was not back there snatching up rebounds and pushing the ball for easy offense.  In fact that is most of the fast break offense for the Lakers.

Luke Walton is going to have to be the guy that steps up to fill Odom's shoes while he is out.  They have similar games.  Luke can rebound, pass, post up, and hit a 3.  If anyone can fall into that #2 spot for this team it is Luke Walton.  Lucky for us he is in a zone right now.

[msc]

Huge loss and IMO just as important as Kobe being out in terms of this being a competitive basketball team.  Without Odom this team is not the same.    LA fans kind of take Odom for granted.  He quitely gets the job done in each category.  This is a guy who has a chance to get a triple double 2 out of every 3 games he plays.  He is versatile, he is coming into his own as a leader, and he is a matchup nightmare for opposing teams.

I am suprised the Lakers really stepped it up with Odom gone.  One major problem with Odom being down is the defensive glass and easy buckets.  The Laker plays kind of forgot he was not back there snatching up rebounds and pushing the ball for easy offense.  In fact that is most of the fast break offense for the Lakers.

Luke Walton is going to have to be the guy that steps up to fill Odom's shoes while he is out.  They have similar games.  Luke can rebound, pass, post up, and hit a 3.  If anyone can fall into that #2 spot for this team it is Luke Walton.  Lucky for us he is in a zone right now.

All good points, westkoast.  Esp. the rebounding, Odom is by far the best rebounder on the squad.  A lot of fans in LA have been bashing Odom the last two years, but I'm not one of him.  His all around contributions are to this team are HUGE.  Even when he doesn't have a big scoring night, his rebounds, assists, and matchup problems (as you mentioned) are very valuable. 

It is a tough loss, that's why I have to focus on the positives, b/c if I didn't ... I'd be crying.  On that note, another positive is at least it's happening early in the season.  If the Lakers can play .500 ball while he's out, I think they'll be in great shape when he returns. 

[Randy]

Huge loss and IMO just as important as Kobe being out in terms of this being a competitive basketball team.  Without Odom this team is not the same.    LA fans kind of take Odom for granted.  He quitely gets the job done in each category.  This is a guy who has a chance to get a triple double 2 out of every 3 games he plays.  He is versatile, he is coming into his own as a leader, and he is a matchup nightmare for opposing teams.

I am suprised the Lakers really stepped it up with Odom gone.  One major problem with Odom being down is the defensive glass and easy buckets.  The Laker plays kind of forgot he was not back there snatching up rebounds and pushing the ball for easy offense.  In fact that is most of the fast break offense for the Lakers.

Luke Walton is going to have to be the guy that steps up to fill Odom's shoes while he is out.  They have similar games.  Luke can rebound, pass, post up, and hit a 3.  If anyone can fall into that #2 spot for this team it is Luke Walton.  Lucky for us he is in a zone right now.

All good points, westkoast.  Esp. the rebounding, Odom is by far the best rebounder on the squad.  A lot of fans in LA have been bashing Odom the last two years, but I'm not one of him.  His all around contributions are to this team are HUGE.  Even when he doesn't have a big scoring night, his rebounds, assists, and matchup problems (as you mentioned) are very valuable. 

It is a tough loss, that's why I have to focus on the positives, b/c if I didn't ... I'd be crying.  On that note, another positive is at least it's happening early in the season.  If the Lakers can play .500 ball while he's out, I think they'll be in great shape when he returns. 

I agree msc -- the Lakers go into a VERY tough part of the schedule and with Odom out, I would be very happy with a .500 record during that time.  Rebounding is going to be huge during this time -- last night Dallas really hurt the Lakers on the boards -- the Lakers have to get someone to focus on the boards and that means Kwame -- I'm not sure that he is up to the challenge.  Who is going to pick up the slack on the boards?

The game last night against the Mavs surprised me -- with the exception of Kobe (well, in the second half), Rad and Farmer the Lakers shot VERY poorly last night but were still in the game.  Kobe and Odom together provided the rest of the Laker squad with a little better spread of the floor and a little more space to shoot -- the role players are going to have to get used to shooting with a hand in their face.

[Joe Vancil]

On the "no tears" part:  that's not true.  The strain was to the medial collateral ligament.  I've never heard of any instance of MCL damage that did not involve at some level damage to the medial meniscus - the cartilage in the knee.  The MCL is, in my understanding, somehow connected to the medial meniscus.

That's not the case in terms of damage to the LCL - which for some reason seems to be the more common injury that you hear of in basketball.  (Can't explain that one.  I'd think the MCL would be the more-often injured.)

The reason I know this is because I've twice injured my medial meniscus - once on the basketball court, and once on the ski slope.  The doctor who saw me on the ski slope warned me about the probable damage to my medial meniscus, and the information above is what I remember of what he told me.

In all likelihood, Odom is going to be limited for a good while.

Skander hit the nail on the head:  this sucks.

[Reality]

Is another suck factor for LakerLand that any dream of acquiring KG went out with Odoms knee?

Bynum/Odum/Kwame/1st round draft picks was beggining to sound feasable for MN to me.
Altho i cannot picture a down to Earth sincere star like KG accepting the LaLaker atmosphere.

[WayOutWest]

Is another suck factor for LakerLand that any dream of acquiring KG went out with Odoms knee?

Bynum/Odum/Kwame/1st round draft picks was beggining to sound feasable for MN to me.
Altho i cannot picture a down to Earth sincere star like KG accepting the LaLaker atmosphere.

No way the Lakers give up that much for KG.  Odom & Brown yes, Bynum NO!!!  The Bynum hype is in full effect in L.A., most are blinded by his "promise".  I would package Odom and Bynum to make the deal attractive for MN but KG was a pipe dream for L.A. from day 1. 

KG would lick every Laker fans shoes to have the honor and privledge of playing for the greatest franchise in NBA history. 

[Joe Vancil]

KG would lick every Laker fans shoes to have the honor and privledge of playing for the greatest franchise in NBA history. 

That sounds like an awfully degrading thing to do just to get to a currently-crappy franchise like Boston!

[WayOutWest]

KG would lick every Laker fans shoes to have the honor and privledge of playing for the greatest franchise in NBA history. 

That sounds like an awfully degrading thing to do just to get to a currently-crappy franchise like Boston!

Not even Boston has had success in as many era's than the Lakers.

[JoMal]

Too bad about Odom. Clearly one of those guys teams need to glue the rest of the diversity of NBA teams together.

Didn't I read somewhere that the Lakers' record when Odom had to sit was ridiculously bad, like 3-17 or something? And so far, his absence has been a detriment for LA the last few games, so some truth to that must exist.

[Reality]

Too bad about Odom. Clearly one of those guys teams need to glue the rest of the diversity of NBA teams together.

Didn't I read somewhere that the Lakers' record when Odom had to sit was ridiculously bad, like 3-17 or something? And so far, his absence has been a detriment for LA the last few games, so some truth to that must exist.

The Wolves lead 87-77 last night before the Kobester and Kevin Garnett sat.
25-2 run for the Lake Show.  (Garnett rentered at 93-91, not the Kobester).
Woops we're talking about Odom.