Odom's resiliency key for Lakers

When you see Jack Nicholson’s name, you probably think of one thing – he’s a great actor. A man who had just as much of an impact on Hollywood as any individual ever to come through that pollution-ridden, traffic-jammed place they call Los Angeles.

But when I think of Nicholson, I think of that big grin sitting frontcourt watching the Lakers. Using one hand to high-five Kobe Bryant while the other sips on some drink a cocktail waitress who dreams of being an actress just brought him. Maybe one of the most devoted celebrity fans of all time.

While watching Shaquille O’Neal help the Miami Heat to a championship may have been devastating for Jack and all Lakers fans around the country, I’m here to tell you why it’s all good.

When Lakers owner Jerry Buss had to decide which member of the greatest dysfunctional tandem in the history of sports to keep, it wasn’t even a question. Keep the young, extremely talented womanizer, or the old, likeable lazy legend. The Big Diesel had to go – you couldn’t trade Bryant to another team and watch him become the next Michael Jordan right in front of your eyes.

Now the dilemma is, how do you get equal value for a man bigger than the basket? You don’t, you just make sure you trade him out of your conference and try to get their best player in return. OK, they may have not obtained Miami’s best player, but Lamar Odom might turn out to be everything the Lakers wanted and more.

Odom is a player who has had some trouble early in his career with drugs. He was suspended in his third year with the Clippers for testing positive for marijuana twice in an eight-month span. Many tend to forget that Odom entered the league after just one year out of Rhode Island, as a raw 19-year-old. Many might say that not much has changed in the seven years he has been in the league. He might not have until recently, when Odom had a summer that no person would wish upon any other.

The Lakers lost a heartbreaking Western Conference semifinal series to the Phoenix Suns to end the 2005-06 season. That was the start of Odom’s offseason, which only got worse.

His 6 1/2-month-old infant son suffocated while sleeping a couple of weeks after the season ended. A week later, Odom was robbed at gunpoint in Queens, N.Y. He had been scheduled to play for the U.S. team this summer, but withdrew after his son’s death.

They were hoping he would be Bryant’s Scottie Pippen. And it might not have been until this summer that Odom realized the opportunity that he has with this team. For Odom, the battle in his head and heart rages daily, even on the court. He admitted that during a recent preseason game against Sacramento he was overcome with emotion.

“It was weird, in the middle of the game, I found myself way too emotional,” Odom told reporters. “I had to catch myself. You can’t carry this with you like this. I’m a mentally strong dude – I’ve been suspended twice, my mother died, my grandma died as soon as I got to the Heat – but there was one time where I thought I might mentally break down and really lose it.”

The Lakers are the fourth-youngest team in the league with a plethora of young talent. They have the single most talented player in the league. Don’t forget, Bryant, not LeBron James, plays shutdown defense.

They have a coach who has nine rings and an assistant in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar whose sole job is to tutor Andrew Bynum, their 19-year-old center with a world of talent.

But the entire season may balance on what Odom brings to the table.

At 6-foot-10-inches, Odom is easily one of the most physically gifted athletes in the NBA. He has the talent to become an elite player. When the Lakers traded for him, they were thinking long-term. Odom turned 27 Tuesday and still has eight to 10 solid seasons left. The Lakers could have this nucleus together for years to come.

After starting the season with Bryant on the bench because of an injury, Odom knew he would have to elevate his play. The 4-1 Lakers have gotten 24 points and eight rebounds per game out of the man who should be thinking about everything but basketball.

Many say in life you have to always look forward and not worry about the past. Try telling that to Odom, and what he has experienced in his short career. If Odom is able to balance his emotion and play with his limitless talent, everyone in the league had better watch out, not just for the Lakers, but for him.