Lamar Odom said he didn’t want his marriage to Khloe Khardissian to be a distraction. That’s why he got married before the season got under way.

Did anybody bother to tell Lamar that, “Hey man, you know you’re getting married? You have a new wife who’s a party animal and starlet, and you’re going to be spending the next six months trying to defend a championship while playing on the road? You’ve thought about this right? Jesus, Lamar! You met this girl forty-five seconds ago!”

Between Lamar Odom, defending the NBA Title and the arrival of Ron Artest, the Lakers betting faithful are in for a long season.

The Lakers finished the 2008-09 betting season with the second best league record at 65-17 SU. The were a mediocre bet, going 42-38-1 ATS with a 20-21 ATS at home. As +200 favorites to repeat as champions, the Lakers have their work cut out for them. The Spurs, Cavs, Celtics, Hawks and Magic all made noise in free agency to bolster their chances of toppling the Lakers. The Nuggets are still quietly on their heels after losing in the Western Conference Finals last year.

Pressure is going to get to the Lakers this year. They have Ron Artest on their team, signing the troubled journey man while watching the perfect role player in Trevor Ariza sign in Houston. Artest is a beast defensively, and has shown a little bit of maturity in his recent years, but he is a malcontent that can’t keep his mouth shut when he needs to. Artest produced 17.1 points and 5.2 rebounds as a Rocket, but it remains to be seen how he’ll coexist with Kobe and Pau Gasol on the Lakers. Sure Phil Jackson got the best out of Dennis Rodman, but that guy understood his role as a defender and bodyguard for MJ. I’m not sure Ron Ron has that mentality.

Then you have this whole mess with the attention seeking Lamar Odom, who played with the emotions of Dwyane Wade by flirting a possible signing in Miami because he loved the media attention so much. He doubled his pleasure by marrying (pending a pre-nup) one of the biggest media whores in the industry, Khloe Kardashian. Now Ryan Seacrest wants to produce a reality show about the two, and Lamar will have a handful of distractions to boot. I don’t know what’s more confusing – the fact that Lamar is only quasi-married to Kardashian, or the fact that him and Artest play the same position.

Kobe Bryant will be at his best as he always is. He’s a ruthless assassin with the best killer instinct in the league since Michael Jordan. In the NBA betting Finals he became a leader for his teammates, a maturation we’ve long awaited from the superstar.

My concern is Pau Gasol, the other anchor of the Lakers, who played an entire summer of Euroleague Championships. Gasol has only 20,848 minutes under his NBA belt, but this guy plays in nearly every World Championship, Olympics and Euroleague Championship. His legs are piling up minutes overseas, and that is a growing concern considering that the benchmark for guys his size seems to be 33,000 minutes (refer to Duncan and Garnett, whose knees are crumbling under the mileage).

Gasol was good for 18.9 points and 9.6 rebounds and will get some relief from Andrew Bynum, but fatigue might catch up with this guy midway through the season. Aside from a short break in June, he hasn’t had any rest.
Love the Lakers all you want. They’re still the team to beat in the entirety of the NBA. But distractions can get the best of this team, especially with their third-banana trying to revel in the spotlight with his new wife. Will it be enough to keep their minds from winning games? Only time will tell. This team has some serious odds stacked against it, and that’s why they’re on “buyer beware” status until further notice.
I’m starting to think that Lamar Odom enjoys media attention more than he enjoys winning championships.


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