Lakers Need Odom to Direct the Scenes

And now, some excerpts about this season’s Lakers.

Excuse me, that’s laKers.

You won’t need a behind-the-scenes account to tell you that Kobe Bryant will lead the NBA in scoring this season.

But the only way the Lakers go anywhere as a team is if they find a way to integrate Lamar Odom with Bryant.

In some ways it’s an even greater challenge than getting Bryant to work with Shaquille O’Neal, which they did long enough to win three championships. O’Neal never wanted the ball in the same places Bryant did. Odom does. He likes to bring it up the court, likes to be the one creating. In other words, like so many other people in this town, he wants to direct.

We know Bryant will have the ball. A lot. When he doesn’t, point guard Chucky Atkins will handle it.

Where does that leave Odom?

Standing around the three-point line. At least that’s where he often found himself during the first half of the Lakers’ exhibition opener Tuesday night.

Firing up three-pointers is not the best way Odom can help the Lakers. Statistically, they’d even be better off with Jumaine Jones shooting them. (He’s a career 33.6% three-point shooter to Odom’s 30.9%).

Odom’s first three shots against the Seattle SuperSonics were three-pointers. He missed all three.

Odom’s far more comfortable when he can get the ball down on the blocks, where he can search for open teammates or work his way for a layup or hook shot.

“That’s the whole thing, getting the ball to him in his area,” Laker Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “We didn’t do a good job of that.”

Odom finished with six points on two-for-10 shooting (one for five on three-pointers) with six rebounds and four assists in the Lakers’ 87-80 loss to Seattle at the Arrowhead Pond.

For the Lakers to be successful, Odom must perform at an All-Star level.

He hasn’t played in the February showcase game before, but last season was as close as he has come. He reached career highs in games, points and rebounds in his first year with Miami, helping the Heat reach the second round of the playoffs.

“He’s taking that step to the next level,” Tomjanovich said. “And hopefully he’s going to get there. I feel he’s a multitalented player who can help us in a couple of positions.”

For now, the Lakers are using Odom at power forward. That runs the risk of foul trouble when he’s up against the likes of Tim Duncan or Kevin Garnett.

Odom fouled out five times last season, six times in only 49 games the season before. (Bryant, by comparison, has fouled out once in the last four seasons.)

But Odom says he’s up for any challenge.

“I have to be aggressive, all over the court,” he said. “There will be no nights off. That’s what it’s all about.

“Last year, that’s why I had such a good year, because I was consistent in everything I did,” said Odom, who averaged 17.1 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists for Miami last season. “I’ll do the same thing.”

Realistically, the best-case scenario for the Lakers would be to do the same thing as the Heat last season and make the second round of the playoffs.

In the newly realigned conferences, the Pacific Division championship is a possibility. The Lakers have eight games each against the Clippers and Golden State Warriors. The Sacramento Kings’ famed chemistry is splitting like nuclear fission, and Chris Webber and Doug Christie are hurt. The wild card in the division is the Phoenix Suns, who added Steve Nash and Quentin Richardson.

The wild card on the Lakers is Odom.

He can provide the rebounding the Lakers need to start the fastbreaks the Lakers plan to run. He also can be their secondary scoring threat.

“All I think is wins,” Odom said, when asked about his goals for the season. “Because with this team and its tradition and the success that they’re used to having, if you don’t win, then numbers and all that, it doesn’t matter.

“All I’ve been thinking about is how many games can we win? How can I help this team win as many games as possible? And that’s really the only thing on my mind.”

He didn’t have to worry about adapting to the city after he came to the Lakers along with Brian Grant and Caron Butler in the O’Neal trade. Odom slipped right back into the home he owned during the four years that he spent with the Clippers.

It’ll take a little while longer to adapt to playing with Bryant.

“If you consider yourself a good-to-great player, you have to learn to play with good-to-great players,” Odom said. “This is a great opportunity for me.

“I’m playing with a great player. I’m just coming into my own.”

He needs to be great too.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/adande.