Posted by John Schuhmann
He's still in better shape than you or me. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS – Before Tuesday, the last time Lamar Odom touched a basketball, he quickly tossed it downcourt where Kobe Bryant chased it down to seal the Lakers’ second straight NBA championship.
That was June 17. And Odom showed up here in Las Vegas having spent the last month-plus away from the game.
“I boxed and things like that,” he said after Tuesday’s practice, “but this is the first time I ran up and down the court and actually had a basketball in my hand.”
That didn’t bother Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski.
“I asked him if he got knocked out, and he did not get knocked out, so that’s good,” Krzyzewski said. “He already gained a couple of points for Turkey by saying he didn’t get knocked out.”
Odom said he was in “horrible shape,” and he probably wasn’t the only one in the gym who felt that way on Tuesday, but Krzyzewski isn’t too concerned about his player’s conditioning. Games are only 40 minutes long in international competition, and we can probably expect a long rotation for Team USA.
“No one’s going to play more than 20-22 minutes,” Krzyzewski said. “Maybe in certain games, someone might get 26 or 28.”
Odom says it won’t take long to get back in basketball shape anyway.
“When you’re competing with guys like this three or four days, competing with such great athletes, great basketball players, it won’t really take any time to get back in shape,” Odom said. “So I feel pretty good.”
When asked after practice about how an individual player performed, Krzyzewski refused to answer.
“I’d rather not give the score after the first inning, as much as the score at the end of the game, for each kid,” he said.
When he was asked about who stood out on the first day, Odom listed pretty much the whole roster. Even off the record, those in the gym (staff and players) had a long list of guys who played well. So it may take a few days to get a real gauge of who’s really come to play.
John Schuhmann is a staff writer for NBA.com. Follow him on twitter.
Haha what a relief.. When i first red the title, “A Well-Deserved Rest for Odom” i first thought he’ll withdrawd from the US team for some rest.
He’s a great addition to the team what so ever, there isnt alot of players like Odom.
Always works hard.
USA 1 – Rest of the world 0
agree
Laker fan here disagrees. He only turns up or about 25% of games… You’re better off using Love a lot more as he’s a better shooter and a lot more consistent and has more energy than the increasingly ageing Odom.
Me, too. I thought he was sitting out. I’m glad he’s not.
But USA could really use his length, speed, rebounding and scoring.
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I, was waiting for a news if Odom is still w/ the team, am glad he is. I always like him as a basketball player. There’s no doubt he’s not 100% every game but I think everybody else is not. What I admired most w/ him is his defense, rebounding and discipline. That’s why coach K choose him w/ the team compared to younger guys.