I thought it was time to find something new. Being here is a great opportunity for me to prove all the doubters wrong. I don't think nobody's doubting I can play basketball. They're making doubts on other things. The move proved to be a productive one for Lamar. He put together arguably his best year as a pro In his first taste of the postseason, Odom averaged Lamar wasn't long for his new home, though. Odom returned to LA a different man, one who'd grown during his single season on South Beach.
I grew up a lot," Odom said via Sports Illustrated. Odom's first year back in LA wasn't much to write home about. During the NBA season that followed, his Lakers fell short of the playoffs for just the fifth time in franchise history.
Granted, these shortcomings were hardly Lamar's fault. Team USA was beset by dysfunction, much of it relating to its dependence on the likes of Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury for leadership. As for the Lakers, the shift into the post-Shaq, post-Phil Jackson era was anything but smooth, with Rudy Tomjanovich's mid-season resignation sealing LA's fate for the season.
Phil Jackson's return to the bench in was no walk in the park for Odom, either. The lingering effects of Odom's shoulder surgery combined with the steep learning curve of the Triangle offense resulted in an inconsistent start for Lamar.
By the end of the season, though, Odom had begun to hit his stride. He logged back-to-back triple-doubles in mid-April and posted a line of during LA's seven-game defeat at the hands of the Phoenix Suns during the first round of the playoffs.
Lamar is one of those hard-knock kids. Lamar's late-season successes were tempered by yet another tragic turn in his life. Odom was at home in New York to bury his aunt when death visited him once again, in the most harrowing way imaginable.
Doctors at the local hospital tried unsuccessfully to revive Jayden, leaving Odom with one son less, his children—Destiny, 8, and Lamar Jr. Odom spent most of the summer at home with his family, trying to sort through the pain and anguish of yet another tragic loss in his life. It was there and then that Lamar had his own near dance with death, when he was mugged at gunpoint in Queens by a teenager, who fired off a warning shot before taking Odom's watch and wallet.
Said Odom of the incident via the LA Times :. When this kid put a gun to me and held it to my face and, first he shot it, then pointed it at me, I thought he was going to harm me. I was thinking, 'Help me brace for this bullet. When that happened, I said, I've got to get a little closer to the biggest icon in the world. It ain't Michael Jordan. It's Jesus. Nobody's got more followers. Odom sought solace on the court and on the couch after returning to LA.
Meanwhile, Lamar put together another strong year for the Lakers in , averaging The Lakers, though, were once again bounced in the first round by the Suns. LA had no such troubles with Phoenix the following year. With Kobe and Gasol doing the heavy lifting, Odom was relegated to third banana—a role that he performed with surprising aplomb.
With Andrew Bynum's return to health in time for the season, Phil Jackson opted to move Odom to the bench on a full-time basis—except, of course, when Bynum was hurt.
It was a decision that took time for Lamar to grasp, and for good reason. Once regarded as an elite talent, Odom had seen his role in the NBA diminished, year by year and team by team, to the point where he'd no longer be starting. As he discussed with the Los Angeles Times in November of I think mentally it was different. It humbles you. But being humbled has been a part of my life for a long time. But for these guys in this locker room, this great organization, a great coaching staff, if that's what it has to be, that's what it has to be.
More importantly, Odom was facing free agency after the season and wasn't too keen to see his value diminished by a coaching maneuver. In time, though, Odom adapted to his new role. He became the focal point of the Lakers' second unit while holding his ground as an all-around glue guy in crunch time. We try to work with him a lot on focus. The Lakers flourished with Lamar coming off the bench. With his professional life secure, Odom tied up another knot in his personal life, this time by marrying his reality TV girlfriend, Khloe Kardashian.
Less than a month later, Odom and Kardashian exchanged vows in front of family, friends, and a TV crew for a Keeping Up With the Kardashians wedding special that would air the following November. Odom once again spent the season shuttling between the bench and the starting lineup whenever Bynum's knee problems inevitably cropped up. His versatility, along with transcendent seasons from Kobe and Gasol, propelled the Lakers to a successful title defense, this time with the rival Boston Celtics catching the short end in seven games.
Now a two-time champion, Odom took his act to Turkey during the offseason. Odom returned stateside with more confidence than ever, and it showed.
He put together his most efficient campaign to date, with new personal bests as a shooter. With Odom's help, the Lakers skated to 57 wins and the second seed in the Western Conference.
However, they fell well short of extending their run of titles to a three-peat, with the eventual-champion Dallas Mavericks playing the role of spoiler in the second round. Despite the early playoff exit, Odom finished the season on a high. The lockout that followed, though, was none too kind to Lamar. Before Lamar left, word got around that his cousin had been killed.
The day after the funeral, the SUV in which Odom was riding was involved in an accident that killed a year-old by the name of Awsaf Alvi Islam. Odom described the events in tragic detail for the LA Times later that summer:. A man doing "wheelies" on a motorcycle "had jumped in front of us," Odom said, coming toward them so fast that it was impossible to avoid the crash. But what actually happened is that [after] the guy that hit us, as the motorcycle was sliding, he ran into someone else.
I'm like, 'I think he's gone. That experience, of dealing with death on consecutive days, exacted a deep toll on Odom, who added:. I think the effects of seeing [my cousin] die and then watching this kid die, it beat me down.
I consider myself a little weak. I thought I was breaking down mentally. I'm doing a lot of reflecting. Mike shook his head, 'Yeah. But he's mad.
I saw it for myself sitting in that chair early in the morning. Back in the offseason, The Ocho spiced his trade rants with unspecified criticism that the team wasn't set up to win. Asked if he thinks Brown is mad enough to make some changes, he said, "Maybe. You never know. I just want to get back to the Bengals of old where it was fun. Where people couldn't wait to Sunday. Doss If safety Mike Doss plays Sunday against the Redskins he'll become the 22nd Ohio State player to qualify for the Bengals all-time roster, by far the school that is represented the most throughout Bengaldom.
But Doss may be the only one who has come straight off the Buckeyes coaching staff. Doss, a Canton, Ohio product who helped lead the Bucks to the national title, has been trying to find his way since knee reconstruction ended his four-year career with the Colts in and nobody picked him up when the Vikings let him go after he was inactive for seven games last year.
With a two-year deal, it looks like Doss is going to get a shot to win a job next year. But he was needed here now for experience purposes with three safeties on injured reserve and safety Chinedum Ndukwe trying to play with a tear on the bottom of his foot with plantar fasciitis.
And as much as he can get in and learn. It's new for him, different than what we had with Chris Crocker, who was already familiar with Mike Zimmer's terminology. It'll be a little harder transition for Mike to make than what Chris had to make. But the , pound Doss may be a quick learner, too, since he has been working as a volunteer assistant coach with the Bucks since the spring.
Not only that, he says he has been toiling in the weight room every day at 6 a. That's where he mainly worked with the players, but he said he also went to meetings and handled one-on-one questions. I don't know for sure. It's just that while I had the opportunity, why not maximize living in Columbus? Working out with the Buckeyes, it's a great organization. Once you're a Buckeye always a Buckeye. This isn't the first time Doss and the Bengals talked. He's been on their radar since the '03 draft and the flirtation continued when he was a free agent the past three years but never has their need been greater.
We spent a lot of time with Mike prior to him coming out in the draft. We're very familiar with him. In fact, we had a lot of contact with him recently from Columbus. Hopefully this will be a good spot for him to land, a good opportunity for him for the future, to compete for a spot on the roster and to compete to be a starting player. He can play the football in the air. He's got to prove he can handle the physical part of the game, the tackling and things like that that you have to do in the secondary to be productive in the NFL.
But he's not celebrating. He hasn't been working Wednesdays since he tore his plantar fascia Oct. And he hasn't missed a start or game despite tearing the connective tissue running along the bottom of the foot.
A similar injury has sidelined Ndukwe and tight end Ben Utecht. Jeanty generally goes limited on Thursday, practices full Friday, and plays Sunday. He's also still dealing with the inch rod that was placed in his leg during the preseason after he suffered multiple stress fractures of his tibia. He recorded just one point, one rebound, one steal and one assist in 24 minutes.
The fans were fed up with the reigning Sixth Man of the Year. March 23 — Healthy Scratch. Two nights after his embarrassing performance against his old franchise, Carlisle did not use his embattled forward. I'm a team guy.
He's the coach. April 2 — Stomach Ailment vs. Against the Memphis Grizzlies , Odom only played approximately four minutes towards the end of the fourth quarter. He threw up a wild shot that angered Carlisle and ended his night with just a single rebound. Said Cuban: "I just asked him, does he want to go for it or not?
Is he in or is he out? I think he thought we were playing poker. I just didn't get a commitment. And that was the end.
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