Rick Carlisle, Dallas Mavericks losing patience with Lamar Odom – NBA Update
It seems that the Dallas Mavericks have had enough with Lamar Odom’s attitude and they want to know whether he is in or not.
Last years’ ‘Sixth man of the Year’, who came into the franchise after the Los Angeles Lakers – Chris Paul trade failed to materialize, has been a shadow of himself so far this season. If a career low 7.7 points and 4.5 rebounds
per game so far this season were not enough, the forward has shown an indifferent and sometimes aloof behavior.
Just before the All-Star game, Odom pulled out of a game against his former franchise, citing the ill health of his father. He is yet to return since and there have been rumors that if the big continued with this attitude, the
Mavs might be forced to buy out his contract.
In the last few days, Mark Cuban, the franchise owner, refuted any such notion, but on Friday, during his weekly appearance on the ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's "Galloway & Co, head coach Rick Carlisle bluntly indicated that his patience,
and that of the players and the owner, is on its last stretch;
"When he comes back, we're going to find out very quickly where things are at," Carlisle said, "He's going to have to show us with his actions and attitude that he's in."
"Mark asks a fundamental question of anybody in our franchise: Are they in or are they not in?" He added. "Our fans want to know that Lamar's in. Our players want to know that Lamar's in. It's not about how many points he's scoring
or rebounds; those things are a factor. Our fans, our players want to see the guy playing like his pants are on fire and we haven't seen that so far and that's got to change."
Odom is expected to play a game with the Mavs D-League affiliate, the Texas Legends, on Saturday before joining the team for the all important game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday. The Mavs have been struggling in Odom’s
absence and have lost all four games. His presence and more importantly a right frame of mind becomes all the more important considering that their talisman Dirk Nowitzki has been struggling with his form and conditioning.
The message from their camp is as clear as it can be and the onus is now on the celebrated reserve to answer the call. If he fails to show his true self in the week to come, Odom’s NBA season can be over in a hurry.
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