September 30, 2009Lights Shine Brighter on Lakers and NewlywedBy KAREN CROUSE
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Squinting at the cue cards with lettering big enough for Mr. Magoo to read, Lakers forward Lamar Odom repeatedly flubbed his lines Tuesday. It was a good thing he was only being asked to read a Dodgers promotional spot for the baseball playoffs and not the Snellen eye chart.
On his third try, Odom made it through without a stumble: “We painted this town purple and gold. Now it’s time to add some Dodger blue.”
Odom’s eyesight is not bad, just his timing. On Sunday, two days before the defending champion Lakers kicked off training camp by opening their doors to the media, Odom was married to Khloe Kardashian, a reality television star whom he had dated for less than two months.
Perhaps predictably, the groom arrived at the practice facility looking as if he had not slept in two days. “I’m so tired,” he said to nobody in particular. “I’m not really here right now.”
The union of Odom, 29, and Kardashian, 25, is a marriage of ESPN and the E! network and a potential minefield for the Lakers, who could use fewer distractions, not more, as they try to become the first team since the 2002 Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, to repeat as the world champion.
Derek Fisher, the veteran guard whose biggest assist presumably will be keeping his teammates focused, had a front-row seat for the sports reality show otherwise known as the Lakers’ championship seasons, with Bryant and O’Neal starred as warring protagonists. He has more than a decade of service with the Lakers and in that time he assumed he had seen everything.
Then came Tuesday when the first question he fielded came from an entertainment reporter. Welcome to the 2009-10 Lakers, where the crossover dribble meets crossover drivel.
“This thing with Lamar, I think, is a new thing that I don’t think we fully understand,” Fisher said.
He added, “The key thing for us is to make sure that this is a sanctuary for Lamar and allow him during the several hours out of the day when he’s here to be Lamar and not be the guy with a camera in his face.”
To help with the news media crush, Odom brought along a publicist, who came up to his navel and was crushed by the first throng of reporters that chased him like rebounders going after a loose ball. Odom signaled to a member of the Lakers’ media relations staff, who swooped in to help with crowd control.
The crowd had thinned to a few when Odom was shown a copy of a poll that had appeared in The Los Angeles Times, in which readers responded to the question, “What do you think about the Lamar Odom-Khloe Kardashian wedding?” Of the more than 4,000 respondents, 33.5 percent answered, “It’s all just for publicity” while 17.7 percent said, “I’m more concerned with how this will impact Odom’s season.” Only 19 percent answered, “It’s none of our business.”
What did he make of the public weighing in on his personal life? “If I were a garbage man and she worked at Burger King,” he said, his voice trailing off. “But that’s not the case. I just want people to understand and respect how we feel about each other.”
Odom reportedly met Kardashian last month during a party thrown at a local nightspot to welcome Ron Artest to the Lakers after he signed as a free agent. Artest’s history suggests he could be the defensive stopper the Lakers need to replace Trevor Ariza, who left for Houston.
The Lakers are Artest’s fifth team in 11 years. As a member of the Indiana Pacers in 2004, he was the man in the middle of the melee at the Palace of Auburn Hills. His 86-game suspension for charging into the stands is the longest meted out by the N.B.A. for an offense not related to drugs or gambling.
Asked how Artest’s volatility might play in Los Angeles, Bryant said the fans would appreciate the passion Artest brings to his job and added, “As long as people keep their beer cups in the hands, we’ll be fine.”
He smiled as if he was joking. But it is doubtful that much of what he saw Tuesday seemed funny to Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, who is in the final year of his contract.
Odom was conducting a sit-down radio interview with John Ireland, who covers the Lakers, and was explaining that he was not at liberty to reveal details about his courting of Kardashian, lest he spoil interest in her show’s coming season. Jackson, who was standing a few feet away, smirked and shouted: “C’mon Lamar. Let’s go!”
Earlier, someone had asked Odom to don a wig of Manny Ramirez dreadlocks and pose for the cameras. He politely refused. What did people think this was, a circus?
