National Basketball Association

Odom excelling, except at ballot box

Published Dec. 18, 2010 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

The NBA All-Star Game will be held in Los Angeles this season, and when the first All-Star vote totals were released Thursday, initial indications are it will have a very Laker-ish feel to it.

No surprise, Kobe Bryant led all vote-getters with 722,682. Pau Gasol was one of the two leading vote-getters at forward, meaning he could be in line to start. And Andrew Bynum, despite making his season debut only two days earlier, was the second-leading vote getter at center. Considering that Yao Ming, who is possibly out for the season, is in front of him, Bynum could be in line to start.

Then there was the question of arguably the most deserving Laker, the one who is having the most complete season of his career: Lamar Odom.

Odom was seventh in the voting at forward, and he has a considerable gap to make up. He is more than 300,000 votes beyond Kevin Durant, the leader at forward. And he also trails Gasol, Carmelo Anthony, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan and Blake Griffin.

But since this is less about basketball than it is a popularity contest, Odom can play an extra card – or rather, Kard: He is married to Khloe Kardashian.

If the Kardashians are good at something, it is drumming up publicity. So, this should be easy, right?

When the Lakers were visiting the Greater Boys & Girls Club of Washington D.C. last week, an 8-year-old girl knew only two Lakers – Bryant and Odom. But she named every Kardashian sister.

Odom is also the only Laker featured in OK! Magazine this week, taking his place in a family portrait that is spread over two pages.

“The Kardashians should put [the word] out, then he’d be fine,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “Just say, ‘Get online and vote for L.O.’”

As it turns out, Khloe has been tweeting and otherwise disseminating the message, but all it’s done for Odom is gotten him past Luis Scola.

Fortunately for Odom, he has something a little more substantive over the next six weeks: his performance.

So, if he is not voted in by the fans who pick the starters – they will be announced Jan. 27 – then he could be selected by the coaches, who select the reserves. They will be announced Feb. 3.

His play for Team USA, as a center, in leading the United States to a world title this summer may have raised some eyebrows – particularly his leadership.

And Odom has picked up this season. He is averaging 16.2 points per game, but he is shooting a shade under 59 percent from the field, third in the league and more than 12 percentage points above his career average. Those type of shooting percentages are typically the realm of big men who play in the post. And the shooting leaders all are just that, except Odom, whose 45 3-point attempts are more than the rest of the top eight combined.

Odom, who is also averaging 10 rebounds per game and 3.2 assists, might be scoring more if he were not on a team with Bryant and Gasol. In Friday’s win at Philadelphia, with Bryant’s sprained pinkie and Gasol being targeted by the 76ers’ defense, Odom scored a season-high 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting.

“It’s really about shooting for Lamar,” Jackson said. “Lamar does every other thing well for us – sometimes, he just turns down shots. That’s not his first instinct to shoot. Sometimes, we have to yell at him – look for your shot.”

Jackson said Odom is deserving of an All-Star berth, but he is skeptical of his chances – saying that players like Duncan and Nowitzki will get in on reputation alone, much like Bryant is voted a perennial all-league defender.

And he said he would not politic, like Don Nelson, who once sent out a bottle of wine to boost one of his player’s chances.

“We’ll see what happens,” Jackson said. “I’m not a guy that goes out and sends pictures and telegraphs and presents to these other coaches to get on All-Star teams.”

As for Odom, he said it would mean a lot to him because at 31, he won’t get many more chances to be an All-Star.

“I feel like I'm probably the only guy who doesn't get mentioned as an All-Star but gets mentioned as one of the league's best players,” Odom said. “It's something I would like at least to go for. Why not? And if I fail, I can say I went for it. But I think it's that time in my career for me to set that goal and try to attain it.”

Which means it might be time for his wife to get busy, too.