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Lamar Odom isn't in the starting lineup tonight. And he's OK with it.
Two weeks after suggesting Phil Jackson must have "bumped his head" when asked about the possibility of coming off the bench this season, Odom says he's warmed somewhat to a sixth-man role. Odom still believes coming off the bench could cost him millions since he's in a contract year, but he said he won't complain any more for fear of becoming a distraction for a team he believes is championship-caliber.
"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."
Both Odom and Trevor Ariza are coming off the bench tonight. Replacing them will be Andrew Bynum and Vladimir Radmanovic.

I wrote a notebook for this morning's paper on Phil Jackson challenging the Lakers to improve defensively in practice Friday. One other thing I found interesting was Phil Jackson's response to questions about Lamar Odom's sluggish start to the season.
Whereas Jackson and Odom have been trading barbs throughout training camp , the Lakers coach has seemed to take a softer tact toward Odom the past two days. Asked why Odom is struggling, Jackson said the multiple roles have been difficult for him.
I just think he's finding his way and getting accustomed to playing ball again," Jackson said. "That's one of the things that is difficult for him now. At times he's a ball handler and at times he's in the post as a big guy. He's got a couple different roles right now."

An MRI exam conducted Thursday confirmed that Sasha Vujacic's sprained left ankle does not have any further damage. Vujacic has missed the Lakers' first two preseason games as a result of the injury.
Derek Fisher (sore right knee) and Jordan Farmar (sore right foot) sat out practice Friday, but their injuries are not considered serious. Backup center D.J. Mbenga skipped the second half of practice with a sore right foot.

The score was ugly for the Lakers, but of more interest was the unveiling of the Andrew Bynum-Pau Gasol combination in the front court. Bynum and Gasol had their moments individually, but as a unit, they still have a long ways to go.
It's difficult to evaluate the duo in just a handful of minutes together, but they certainly weren't intimidating at either end of the floor. Both were frequently out of position defensively and Bynum said he was unsure where to go when Gasol beat him down court and established low-post position, forcing him to pop to the elbow or the wing.
"It's going to take time for Andrew and I to gel," Gasol said. "We weren't in there for long together, but we have to bring a little more intensity, a little more intimidation and dominate more on the rebounds. We lose speed, but we should gain in strength and size."

Same starters as Tuesday's exhibition opener, but Phil Jackson promises we'll see Bynum and Gasol play together tonight.

PG: Derek Fisher
SG: Kobe Bryant
SF: Trevor Ariza
PF: Lamar Odom
C: Pau Gasol

A Lakers spokesperson just informed me that Phil Jackson did indeed accompany the team to Fresno this morning for tonight's Lakers-Clippers preseason game. The Lakers coach missed the team's exhibition opener as a result of soreness and swelling in his lower legs.

Why is Andrew Bynum's upper body so noticeably stronger this year? Well, this video of his offseason workouts should give you an idea.

The jettisoning of Elgin Baylor as Clippers general manager probably shouldn't be a surprise. Baylor's influence and clout in the organization were overtaken by Mike Dunleavy some time ago; on draft night, for example, both men sat at the microphones but Dunleavy answered most of the questions and in general seemed to have more of an idea of what was going on.

That this has turned somewhat ugly, with Baylor retaining a couple of attorneys and re-examining his options, is also unsurprising, given Clippers history. (See: Bill Fitch, who was fired and had to go to court in an attempt to get the remaining money due him.)

But it's also sad, because Baylor not only was a loyal Donald Sterling employee for 22 years -- probably more loyal than the organization deserved for many of those years -- but because this was a true NBA pioneer, one of the men involved in the transformation of this league from the small-town, one-step-above-barnstorming circuit of the 1950s.

Normally, I'm not a fan of ESPN's Bill Simmons. But he nailed it with this essay on Elgin and what he meant to this league as a member of the 1960s Lakers.

And here are some glimpses of what vintage Elgin was all about:

Also:

His 61-point performance in Game 5 of the 1962 Finals against Boston.

More from his early years with the Lakers, including this quote from Rod Hundley: "That was the best play we had: get it to Elgin and get out of the way."

Phil Jackson returned to Lakers practice Wednesday in good spirits despite missing Tuesday night's exhibition opener against Utah as a result of soreness and swelling in his lower legs. He joked he was more nervous about his team's turnover-riddled performance than he was his health, though he called the ailment "a mysterious thing."
Although Jackson underwent tests Tuesday afternoon, the results were not expected to be available for a few more days. He walked with a pronounced limp during Wednesday's practice but was hopeful he'd be feeling well enough to accompany the team to Fresno for Thursday night's exhibition game against the Clippers.
"I'm feeling all right," he said. "I just had some curious things going on that just had to be watched."
Jackson's maladies sparked concern among members of the Lakers because they've seen him struggle with medical problems for years. He had an angioplasty in May 2003 and walked with a cane for much of last season after undergoing his second hip replacement surgery in eight months in June 2007.
"You're always concerned when it's something with your head coach," Sasha Vujacic said. "But I think he's been through a couple surgeries in the past couple years, so we know he's a fighter."

JAZZ 99, LAKERS 90
WHAT WENT RIGHT: Andrew Bynum looked healthy and showed flashes of low-post dominance in his first game back, scoring 15 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. Trevor Ariza shot well from the perimeter and played his usual strong defense, Josh Powell rebounded well in limited minutes and, most importantly, nobody got hurt.
WHAT WENT WRONG: Aside from health concerns about Phil Jackson and 24 turnovers, the biggest worry had to be the fate of the Lamar Odom-point guard experiment. Odom said he felt comfortable alternating bringing the ball up the floor with Derek Fisher, but he didn't create a lot of opportunities for teammates in the role. And fill-in coach Kurt Rambis singled him out for playing lackadaisically and not getting back on defense.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Fair to middling, maybe poor," Rambis summing up Odom's performance.
WHAT'S NEXT: Lakers vs. Clippers, Thursday in Fresno

The Lakers have plenty to work on after a disjointed, error-riddled 99-90 loss to the Jazz in their exhibition opener. The team committed 24 turnovers and allowed the Jazz to shoot 48.1 percent.
The two players who drew the most criticism from Lakers fill-in coach Kurt Rambis were Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum, both of whom had up-and-down performances.
The 6-foot-10 Odom didn't exactly thrive in his debut bringing the ball up the court for the Lakers, scoring three points, dishing out only three assists and struggling defensively against smaller quicker Utah wings. Rambis summed up Odom's performance as "fair to middling, maybe poor," suggesting that the veteran forward struggled guarding quicker Jazz wings off the dribble and "didn't seem focused out there."
Bynum came off the bench to score 15 points and grab 8 rebounds in 24 minutes, but Rambis was not impressed with Bynum's defense.
"It was basically what he showed in practice," Rambis said. "We keep impressing on him that he has to do a much better job of running the floor to both ends and a much better job of anchoring our defense. It's a big man's responsibility to not only control his own man but be the help man whenever people are driving to the basket. When a team is getting 40 points in the paint against you and our defense is designed to stop that sort of action, it lets you know the defense has a long way to go."

Andrew Bynum will make his return from a devastating left knee injury tonight, but it will be coming off the bench. The Lakers starters will be Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Trevor Ariza, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol.
Asked why Bynum was left out of the lineup, fill-in coach Kurt Rambis cited some of the same concerns about the young 7-footer as Phil Jackson had late last week.
"The starting lineup was Phil's decision," Rambis said. "Andrew's had some good moments, but one of the things we've been trying to impress on him is that he has to extend those good moments. He has to be ready to play at both ends of the court at all times. It's not a sometime thing. It's an every time thing."

The big pre-game news in advance of today's Lakers exhibition opener is that Kurt Rambis will coach the team in place of Phil Jackson, who did not accompany the team to Anaheim because of soreness in his legs. A Lakers spokesman said Jackson underwent tests this afternoon but results will not be available until Wednesday.
"We do not anticipate it's anything serious at all," team spokesman John Black said. "We felt, and he felt, it would be better for him to stay at home and watch the game on TV."

Fans tired of knowing the outcome of Lakers games before they air on local TV received good news this week when KCAL announced it will no longer tape delay weekday games originating from the East Coast.
KCAL spokesman Mike Nelson said the station previously aired Lakers games from the East Coast in prime time to make viewing more convenient for fans who didn't get off work until after the game was halfway over. With the advent of Internet gamecasts and digital video recorders, KCAL has decided to broadcast all eight East-Coast weekday Lakers games live to give fans the option of seeing the action as it happens.
"The stats from Nielsen show that a lot of households in Southern California have DVRs or VCRs," Nelson said. "In the past it made a lot of sense to air the games when it was most convenient and most people were at home. Now that you have more and more people with digital video recorders, the viewer can now be the one making the choice of whether they want to watch the game live or not."

Lakers fans planning on attending tomorrow night's exhibition opener in Anaheim will get to see Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant.
After hinting that both Gasol and Bryant would sit out some games during the exhibition season, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said both would start against Utah on Tuesday, but neither would play more than a half. Fifteen Lakers will dress for the game, but Jackson declined to specify who would not be uniform.

Vladimir Radmanovic knows the logjam at small forward is going to make playing time scarce, but he's determined to win a spot in the rotation with, yes, defense. Apparently the light bulb in Vladdy's head finally turned on sometime after the Lakers embarrassing game 6 loss in the NBA finals.
"I tried to focus more on my defense than anything else this offseason," Radmanovic said. "That's the part of the game I lack the most, but never until these finals did I realize how much defense matters in the game of basketball. I'm going to try to be a better defensive player this year."

Sun Yue couldn't wait any longer.

Still weary from a bout of mononucleosis that has prevented him from participating in the first three days of training camp, the Lakers rookie guard dragged himself out of bed Friday and made his practice debut. He shot jumpers with teammates Jordan Farmar and Derek Fisher, walking off the court "still weak" but relieved to be playing again.

"I still need a lot of time to rest, but I don't want to miss much in camp," Sun said. "It's my first year, so it's very important for me to be out here."

A second-round pick in the 2007 NBA draft, Sun started for the Chinese national team at the Beijing Olympics before signing with the Lakers in late August. Sun is expected to make the Lakers roster, but Coach Phil Jackson said he will be cautious not to push the 6-foot-9 guard too hard until he's fully healthy.

"He's a talented young guy," Jackson said.

With Phil Jackson taking so many precautions with Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant this training camp, I was curious to see how participating in the Olympics affected previous NBA stars the following season. I researched how members of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team fared in the 2004-05 season, and curiously enough, most players had better statistics that year than they did the previous season.
Here's a chart showing the average statistics of 11 members of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team from the season before the Athens games and the two seasons afterward. I left out Emeka Okafor because he was a rookie in 2004-05 and didn't play the previous season.

...........Games...MPG...PPG...RPG...FG%
2003-04 67.64 38.13 19.94 7.33 45.40
2004-05 66.27 37.96 22.14 7.67 47.18
2005-06 67.54 36.67 21.77 7.05 47.55