Los Angeles Lakers: Top Five Lakers In The Post-Shaq Era

3.  Lamar Odom

Odom, along with Manu Ginobli, was consistently one of the NBA’s best sixth men throughout his Lakers career. In fact, Odom won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award in the 2010-2011 season, when he averaged 14.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 3.0 assists.  Odom was truly a once in a generation talent that had the skills to be even better than he really was. He was 6’10” with a freakishly long wingspan, and very athletic. He was a master at taking it coast-to-coast off a defensive rebound, and could score in so many ways.  He was very good with both hands, could post up, shoot the ball, and was nearly impossible to stop in the open court.  In today’s game the only player at 6’10” or above that has the ball-handling skills of Odom is Kevin Durant.

Odom’s bench production on the 2009 and 2010 championship teams was irreplaceable.  Considering the Lakers never really had a “true point guard”, Odom was often the man controlling the offense. Odom’s versatility made him so important in the triangle offense, and on the defensive end. Odom was one of the those guys that could guard multiple positions.

Odom was the best player that the Lakers received in the Shaq trade, and played from 2004-2011 with the Lakers, averaging 13.8 points per game and 9.5 rebounds.

Odom also made his mark on the Lakers all time leaderboards despite only playing seven seasons.  Odom is fifth all time in defensive rebounds, tenth in offensive rebounds, and tenth in career plus minus.

Next: 2. Pau Gasol