Both of Odom's Personalities Ready to Help L.A.

Lamar Odom has long been one of my favorite players. And now that he's completely lost it -- presumably as a result of Phil Jackson's merry-go-round preseason rotation -- he's all the more rad to me. Odom came off the bench this weekend, Bynum looked good and the Lakers are ready to roll. For now. Oh, and Lamar is losing his mind.

From The Press-Enterprise:

"That was my alter-ego talking," he said. "That's Odom, not Lamar. Seriously, I'm being dead serious. Lamar's a good locker room dude. I don't want to be detrimental to the team, especially when it's a championship-caliber team."

So there you have it. After a decade of confounding play, we've got an answer to the Riddle of Lamar Odom: He's a split-personality, a troubled dude who just needs to get rid of his surname. How could the Lakers not be feeling great about this season? All the Celtics did was add Darius Miles and Bill Walker. One of LA's top players had a major psychological breakthrough.

On the serious, it's good to know that, even in a contract year, Odom's willing to sublimate himself for the team concept. Something that, considering how unselfish he is, and how often he's criticized for passivity, hardly comes as a surprise:

"You only get one or two shots at this, you know what I'm saying?" Odom said. "Some guys might not be able to take it well, especially in their contract year. Whatever, I'm good. I've made enough. I'm OK. My family's good. Hopefully, I can win a championship this year, and be rewarded for it."

Only time will tell how this all works out, but, all jokes aside, I think we can trust that Odom's made his peace with his reduced -- or at least greatly altered -- role on the team. Or maybe Phil just showed him some tape of Manu, and that set him at ease. Though, in the Moebius Strip that is Lamar Odom's brain, that might raise a whole new set of anxieties.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.