Essay Example on The championship Laker teams of 2009

The championship Laker teams of 2009 10 were at their most dangerous when Lamar Odom had the juice You had Kobe Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum when healthy but Lamar was the piece that took them over the top When he was feeling it he would snatch a rebound with those catchers gloves sized mitts and high step his way down the lane in transition like a gazelle taking it to the hole on whichever bum stood in his path He always had the power to take the lakers over the top if he wanted to Some nights he just wouldn't make an impact because he played too passively He tried playing a supporting role when the Lakers needed him to be aggressive Being a stone cold killer wasn't in his DNA like with Kobe and Michael He was gregarious and sensitive to other people's needs always the favorite guy in the locker room He wanted to make others happy and create a jovial atmosphere and because he came from an environment of such negativity and hardship You had to have guys like that on the team to balance out the assassins By the time Lamar became an adult he had experienced an inordinate amount of sadness in his young life maybe that's why he always wanted to be the one to bring joy to others To start things off his father was a heroin addict and his mother died of colon cancer when he was 12 According to an article in Sports Illustrated his mother's last words to him were 

However he was thrust back into the national spotlight when he almost died from an overdose in a Nevada brothel A lot of Laker fans knew the trouble Odom had been through and were sympathetic but this event garnered sympathy for him from the entire media even going beyond the sports realm Nobody wanted to see the versatile power forward who brought so much joy to the fans and people around him self destruct like this People in his inner circle debated whether it was the infamous trade or the reality show with then wife Khloe Kardashian that pushed him over the edge Khloe tried divorcing Lamar a couple years before his near death experience but Lamar wouldn't sign to finalize the papers She put the drama aside and came rushing to his aid at the hospital where he was recovering Because she was still married to him she had to make medical decisions on his behalf People speculated if they were going to get back together but it didn't end up materializing She's been dating since the incident and supports Lamar but doesn't want to get back together with him Thankfully Lamar made a full physical recovery These days he keeps a lower profile However he reappeared in the news when he collapsed at a club in Los Angeles sparking rumors of another uncontrollable spiral He made an appearance at Kobe's jersey retirement ceremony at Staples Center and it was great to see him in the building again He was such an amazing 6th man for the team and when he was hitting 3s grabbing crucial rebounds and making flashy assists in crunch time you knew there was little chance they would lose Lakers fans will always remember him as the smooth operator who for a couple years could take the team from a great one to a God Tier on the right night