Los Angeles Clippers: Lamar Odom’s underrated 2000-01 season

Lamar Odom was drafted to an early 2000s Los Angeles Clippers team that wasn’t fit to help him succeed. As a result, one of the most versatile players the league had seen at the time decided to take his talents to Miami and the Lakers soon after.

The Los Angeles Clippers have had their fair share of lottery picks throughout the years. Because of their constant struggle to build a consistent playoff team, aside from the 2010s and early 1990s teams, they’ve been able to land noteworthy players like Terry Cummings, Blake Griffin and Danny Manning.

All of those players have gone on to be pretty successful, at least in the individual sense, and get a fair amount of praise from Clippers fans. One player in particular was also taken very high in the draft and was pretty successful, but doesn’t get as much praise as the other guys.

Yes, Lamar Odom has had some issues over the years off the court. However, when looking purely at basketball, he was up there with the best of the best during his early seasons. He wasn’t a superstar just yet, and never really became one, but he was easily one of the most well-rounded players in the league.

Odom in the spotlight

The Clippers selected Odom with the fourth overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft with the hopes that he’d be able to turn the franchise around. Obviously, one player is often never enough to completely turn a franchise around unless we’re talking about a once-in-a-generation type player like Allen Iverson. The early 2000s Clippers had very little depth and very few scoring options so, as expected, Odom never played on a winning team during his four-year tenure.

Lamar Odom was the last person to blame for the lack of team success. After just one season in the league, he was able to lead a Clippers team whose second-leading scorer averaged 12.9 points per game to 31 wins — fairly impressive considering the circumstances. During the 2000-01 season, Odom led the Clippers in points, rebounds, steals and blocks.  Only Jeff McInnis would average over 10 points and five of any other stat (assists in this case), for the Clippers that year.

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Odom had shown during his rookie season that he was extremely versatile as he averaged 16.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.2 steals in 36.4 minutes per game. Remarkably, after losing two 17 points per game scorers in Derek Anderson and Maurice Taylor, he was able to lead the Clippers to 16 more wins as the first option with much less help the following season.

Odom was given a chance to run the offense and prove what he could do, and he delivered. He averaged an all-around 17.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.0 steals per game on 46.0 percent shooting from the field and 31.6 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

To put this in perspective, only six other players were able to average over 17 points, five rebounds, and five assists during the 2000-01 season. Those players included the likes of Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Steve Francis, Jamal Mashburn, Jalen Rose and Antoine Walker.

This stat may seem a little ambiguous, as multiple players may have been left out because they were decimal points away from meeting the criteria. However, all of the players failing to make the cut were All-Star caliber players as well, so the point still remains. No, the Clippers weren’t a winning team, but 31 wins with only one player averaging over 15 points and five assists/rebounds is incredible.

With help, Odom was the perfect wing man

As proven later on in his career as a member of the championship Los Angeles Lakers, Odom was an amazing player with superstar help. After the astonishing 2000-01 season, the Clippers traded for Elton Brand, which gave Odom a star player to mesh with. With a developing Corey Maggette and Quentin Richardson as well as a solid Jeff McInnis, the roster now had two star-caliber players and bench depth. The Clippers saw an improved 2001-02 season with 39 wins.

Odom would continue to live up to expectations and averaged a versatile 13.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.2 blocks in 34.4 minutes per game. Brand was an All-Star but still not an experienced and winning superstar. He’d come from some bad Chicago Bulls teams and didn’t know how to fully lead a roster yet. Combined with the loss of key players and the emergence of ball-dominant players like Maggette, the Clippers won just 27 games in 2002-03.

Odom would set out for the Miami Heat the next season to help a young Dwyane Wade on a winning team. He led the 2003-04 Heat in rebounds, was second in scoring and was third in assists. He would later end up back in L.A. to play with the Los Angeles Lakers and would prove an extremely valuable piece alongside Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, where they would win two championships.

Not a franchise player but certainly a franchise booster

When thinking of Lamar Odom, many things could come to mind. He has pretty much seen it all in the NBA. He’s won championships, the Sixth Man of the Year award, he played for good and bad teams, and struggled with off-the-court issues. What’s likely true is that for the most part, his days as a Clipper are often forgotten.

As a 6’10”, 229-pound forward with a solid handle, a jump shot, vision and the ability to grab a rebound and push the floor, he was the definition of the perfect modern NBA forward. In a way, Odom was before his time. He was the perfect Swiss Army knife for multiple teams and proved he could be successful one way or the other, regardless of the circumstances.

Whether you like him or not, his game is generally on the underappreciated side. To be fair, he was fairly inconsistent at times and could’ve been a lot better than he showed, but his wide array of skills was something very unique at the time he played. He truly is one of the best Los Angeles Clippers of all time based on pure playing ability.