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I want to get a few other opinions on this. I was thinking about the Lakers teams after Shaq and before Pau Gasol (especially the season they lost to the Suns in the playoffs) and my first instinct was to say it was Kobe and a bunch of losers, but then I remembered that Lamar Odom was there too. I think Lamar Odom gets a lot more respect now than he used to and I'm not sure if he deserves it or not. I used to think of him as a pretty good 3rd option with a diverse set of skills, but a player that is not clutch at all. During that time period, he backed me up on that opinion very frequently. He was the 2nd option at that time. The Lakers team has gotten better since then and Odom "seems" like he's gotten past those previous choke jobs, but maybe he's just not relied upon anymore. Maybe he isn't expected to do as much so all the pressure is gone and he can't choke because of a reduced role. I think the general impression of Odom is that he is a very talented player who could contribute more with a different role and with more opportunity, but I want to get an idea of what others think.