Speaking of regrettable NBA players, you may think of Windy City Rose Derrick Rose, who fell in the peak due to injury, Huang Mamba, Brandon Roy, who was unable to continue to cash in on his talent due to injury, and Greg Oden, a super-talented man who was ruined by injury, and so on. These players are really a pity because they can't do anything about injuries because of the force majeure of injuries. However, there are also some players who have a bright future, but they can't help but fall into the league and eventually fade out of the league because they are addicted to harmful things.
Today, let's take a look at why Lamar Odom, a supertalent who was known as a left-handed magic and helped Kobe Bryant win two consecutive championships in '09 and '10, couldn't learn Kobe's self-discipline and finally became obscure step by step.
The roots of self-discipline are planted in childhood
Like many black children, Lamar Odom had a tragic childhood. Odom was born on November 6, 1979, in Jamaica, New York, to a disabled military father who disappeared from Odom's life when he was still very young.
His mother, Kathy Messer, was a prison guard on Rickel Island, and although she raised him on her own, she died of illness when he was 12 years old. Then he traveled to many places and lived with his grandmother and aunt. Because of this tragic childhood, basketball was his only sustenance. Because only when he is playing basketball can he focus on forgetting his grief, which can be a way to escape. However, the escape is not only basketball, there are other very bad things, such as pornography, gambling and drugs.
Jamaica, New York, is actually what we call a ghetto, and in such an environment, Odom is constantly experiencing abuse, insults, and discrimination as an orphan, and he is also used to drugs, pornography, and gambling. Although Odom did not have close contact with drugs and other bad things before the age of 15 due to the teaching of his mother and the supervision of his grandmother when he was a child, those things have long been intertwined with Odom. After the age of 15, Odom's grandmother was too old to take care of him, and Odom also showed great basketball talent, so the sky soared, and Odom followed his aunt to another residence, where he played basketball and became an addict, a prostitute, and a gambler along with the degenerate youth.
In college, he was extremely debauched and almost couldn't make it to the NBA
In the face of so many temptations, Odom simply couldn't concentrate on his studies, so even though his basketball skills were very good, he was able to score 17 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and four blocks in his junior year of high school, leading the school team to the playoffs with an undefeated record, but when he continued to move up the ranks, he tasted the bitterness. No university would admit such a poor student, so when everyone else went to college, he was still in his senior year of high school, and he had been in a state of failure. However, this was not a problem for him to study badly, and in the end, he was suspected of cheating on exams and successfully entered the university.
At this moment, he has completely studied badly, and it is impossible to be honest after going to college, so he went to Las Vegas to look for flowers and willows in just one month, and was caught by the school. This allowed him, who was already suspected of cheating, to enter the preparatory class and was banned from playing basketball for the varsity team. If it weren't for God's favor and two of the school team leaving, otherwise Odom wouldn't have been able to enter the NBA, and he wouldn't even be able to play college basketball.
Of course, even if he can't play for a long time, his basketball talent is still there, and in one season in the NCAA, Odom can cut the statistics of 17.6 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, and directly enter the "All-Atlantic Zone" first team and become the best rookie.
Subsequently, I don't know if it was drug addiction that caused Odom's brain to twitch, he actually left school without saying hello to anyone at the end of the season, and hired Jeff Crain as his agent to prepare for entering the NBA, but as the draft approached, he retreated and wanted to return to school. Unfortunately, he was rejected by the school.
In desperation, Odom had no choice but to continue to participate in the draft.
If it weren't for the fact that year was called the draft year, and Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor decided to give it a go, I'm afraid his hopes of making the NBA would have been dashed.
That being said, bad boy Odom has finally made it to the NBA, but it's debatable whether players who don't value their talent can really get a foothold in the NBA.
The prodigal son turned back, but eventually repeated the same mistakes again
In his first year in the NBA, Odom was not punished for his bad habits, and even showed super talent, not only playing 76 games for the Clippers, averaging 16.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, but also being selected to the All-Rookie First Team with his all-round performance.
It's a pity, it's not that it didn't report, but the time hasn't come, just in the past year, Odom has been banned for eight games for smoking marijuana, and due to drugs, his body has become fragile, and he can only play 29 games in the entire 01-02 season due to injuries.
After that year, the Clippers gave up on the undisciplined guy and began to form a new Clippers team with Elton Brand as the core of the team, and even this season Odom can still play in 49 games for the Clippers, averaging 14.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. In the 03-04 season, Odom joined the Miami Heat as a free agent, and because coach Pat Riley believed in high-intensity training, Odom was forced to discipline himself.
Odom regained his life, averaging 17.1 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 80 games for the Heat. Unfortunately, Odom was not a necessary candidate for Riley's championship list, and in just one year, he was traded to the Lakers by Riley as a bargaining chip to trade Big Shark O'Neal.
The short period of self-discipline did not make Odom get used to it, and he gradually relaxed himself, from the beginning of the 64 games for the Lakers, averaging 15.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game, to the next three years per game averaged 14.8 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists, 15.9 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists, 14.2 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
Odom, who could become a superstar, stayed where he was and was eventually relegated to the bench in the 08-09 season. And this decision can be regarded as the achievement of Odom, allowing him to help the team win two championships as a bench bandit.
The good times didn't last long, and the lack of self-discipline in the early stage made God no longer favor this guy. In '11, the Lakers wanted to trade Pau Gasol and Ramar Odom for Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets.
Although the deal was halted by the league, Odom was clearly no longer a necessary player for the Lakers, and he was later traded to the Dallas Mavericks. In addition, when his cousin was killed that year, and he was driving to his cousin's funeral in a car accident that accidentally hit and killed a 15-year-old boy, he was severely traumatized physically and mentally, and began to completely anesthetize himself with drugs.
As a result, he has been in a slump all season, averaging only 6.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 20.5 minutes per game. He continued to pay for his actions, and after only two more years, he completely disappeared from the NBA.