Odom Missing the Points

Lamar Odom has been making fantasy league general managers a happy bunch, logging statistics in numerous categories across the board, a rarity for 6-foot-10 types.

He’d please his coach too, if he were a little more selfish.

As the former power forward acclimates to becoming a primary ballhandler, his assists are skyrocketing and his rebounds are strong, but his points are lagging a bit.

Odom is growing more comfortable as a facilitator, averaging 5.6 assists, and he still manages to take enough rebounds to average 10 through five games. But he is averaging only 15.8 points, just under his career average of 16.

“He’s done a real nice job of playmaking and setting the table a little bit,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “The other aspect is, of course, getting himself involved and finding a comfort zone for himself to score.”

Odom asserted himself in Wednesday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, taking 16 shots, second-highest on the Lakers. But he made only six of them and continued a trend of misfiring. He has shot only 36.9% this season.

The points, and the percentage, will come, Odom maintains. Until then, he’ll keep trying to make fantasy draftniks satisfied.

“Throughout the whole game I’m going to fill the stat line, slowly but surely,” he said. “If it’s not scoring, I’m going to rebound the ball ... push it up the court, get it to those guys. It’s all about playing a complete basketball game. I don’t mind being an intangible.”

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Andrew Bynum has been getting his four or five minutes a game, learning on the fly and adjusting to an NBA game that is a little faster than that at Metuchen (N.J.) St. Joseph High.

Then there are the other Laker rookies.

Von Wafer and Devin Green, parked on the inactive list for almost every game so far, are candidates to be the first two Lakers sent down when the Development League starts its season Nov. 18.

Green, an undrafted rookie from Hampton, was activated for one game, getting an assist and a rebound in nine minutes against Phoenix last week. Wafer, a second-round pick from Florida State, has not been on the active list for any of the Lakers’ five games.

The Lakers have the option of sending up to two players at a time to their affiliate in Fort Worth. Players must be in their first two NBA seasons, leaving Wafer, Green, Bynum and Sasha Vujacic as the only Laker possibilities.

“Sitting on the bench and not getting plays is a bit different,” Wafer said. “If the opportunity comes [in the Development League], I would have to grab it with open arms. I’ve been playing basketball for 16 years, and I’ve never had to deal with something like this.”