NBA TV’s Brent Barry talks Clippers, Lakers basketball

How much will Lamar Odom’s fitness -- or lack of it -- affect the Clippers this season?

That was one of many topics presented for discussion with NBA TV analyst Brent Barry, who was kind enough to spend some time chatting about the league with The Times on the eve of the Clippers’ season opener.

Barry, for the record, doesn’t think Odom’s ups and downs will be quite as detrimental to the Clippers as they were to the Mavericks last season. Odom missed the last five preseason games because of a bone bruise in his left foot, and the Clippers open their regular season on Wednesday against visiting Memphis.

“I don’t think that the concern for the Clippers with Lamar’s situation, in terms of whether psychologically and physically he can return to form, is as dire as it was in Dallas last year,” Barry said.

“Dallas was coming off its championship and thinking, ‘Wow we’re going to get Lamar Odom playing at that level.’ And they made their changes,” said Barry, who played for six NBA teams, including three seasons with the Clippers.

“They thought they could compete if they had Lamar at Lamar’s best. They certainly had Lamar ... not at his best.

“The way that [Clippers executive] Gary Sacks did his diligence over the summer in loading up the team the way he did, I don’t think it’s as imperative for them. I think it’s a risk worth taking at this point with Lamar.”

In any conversation about the Clippers, it almost always comes back to Chris Paul.

“His attitude is, ‘You want a challenge? Here’s a challenge. I’m going to go in and make the team a winner,’” Barry said. “He’s an awesome competitor. If he is able to do this, you’ll talk more about what Chris Paul did for the Clipper franchise than you will about the intricacies of his game. That’s saying something.”

Finally, a word or two about the Lakers, winless in the preseason. The season opener is tonight at Staples Center against Dallas.

Barry and some of his friends were talking about how long it will take for the likes of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol and Lakers newcomers Dwight Howard and Steve Nash to become cohesive.

Patience, clearly, is advised.

“All of us at the table were saying: ‘I can’t wait to watch the Lakers from Games 1 to 5 ... to Games 35 to 40 and what they’re doing offensively, what they’re doing with their rotations,’’’ Barry said. “How much of a transformation you’re going to see and what it is Mike Brown and Eddie Jordan decide to do with them on the offensive end of the court.

“It’s going to be so much different by the time they get into late December and early January as to how those guys are going to play.”

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