Odom Working Hard to Shed Tarnished Image

LOS ANGELES —  Lamar Odom brings more than just an ability to play five positions into his rookie NBA season. He carries the baggage of being known as flaky, erratic and indecisive.

Hardly criminal behavior, but Odom’s struggle to make up his mind with the world watching earned him a reputation as a problem child.

“That’s exactly what people think of me,” he said. “Perception is everything in America. If you’re looked down upon, it hurts.”

Odom’s choices, made on instincts that haven’t always served him well, included bouncing around three high schools during his senior year and two colleges before playing only one season at Rhode Island. He changed his mind twice about entering the NBA draft before deciding he would leave college.

He skipped pre-draft workouts with several teams and didn’t show up for a scouting combine, which fueled the rumor mill and scared off teams in the June draft.

But the Los Angeles Clippers took him with the fourth overall selection and Odom signed a three-year, $7.8 million contract in August.

“He’s a 19-year-old who has not done everything properly, but he’s never been a problem since he’s been here,” Clippers coach Chris Ford said. “That’s the biggest misconception. People think that he’s a problem and he’s certainly not a problem.”

All of Odom’s vacillating raised questions about his stability, but the criticism also taught him that he can rely on only one person--himself.

“I got real tough mentally, confident about myself, knowing I can get through anything,” he said between sips of bottled water after practice.

“You have some athletes that are put up on a pedestal where they’re untouchable,” he said. “I think when people see me, they just see a real person, a real down-to-earth person that’s been through a hard time and has put it behind him.”

Odom has been picking his way through basketball’s minefields since he scored 36 points in a New York City Catholic League championship game.

That caught the attention of college recruiters, shoe companies, agents--all of whom came courting the 15-year-old. Heady stuff for any teen-ager, but especially for Odom, who had only his elderly grandmother to help him.

Odom’s mother died of colon cancer when he was 12. His father left home when Odom was 6 and later became addicted to heroin, a habit Odom says his father has since kicked.

“A lot of people have people to guide them in this crazy basketball world and in the growing up process,” he said. “I kind of had to feel it out for myself and that matured me a lot.”

But along the way, Odom acknowledges that mistakes were made and he listened to the wrong people.

His grades were a problem, he was caught soliciting a prostitute and his relationship with a UNLV booster attracted the attention of NCAA investigators.

“He was 17, 18 when he made those decisions. He was judged just on being a kid,” said Derek Anderson, a Clippers teammate and friend.

“If he keeps making those mistakes, then you can criticize him. I think that was just a part of him growing up and becoming a man.”

Odom, who turns 20 on Nov. 6, is finding his way 3,000 miles from home in car-crazed Los Angeles, where the Queens native doesn’t own a car or have a driver’s license.

“It’s a New York thing,” he said, smiling. “I’m from the home of the yellow taxis.”

Odom gets around with rides from his teammates, while his girlfriend calls cabs when she and their 1-year-old daughter, Destiny, go out.

They are Odom’s West Coast support system, and give him a reason to be home when he’s not working out or playing basketball.

“Being a good father is very important to me because I didn’t have the best relationship with my father,” he said.

“Those teen years, I couldn’t be told anything, I had a little bit of erratic behavior and I just want to be there for my daughter so she doesn’t have to go through the same things that I went through.”

Although he’s starting his career with one of the worst teams in the NBA, Odom is enthusiastic about the Clippers.

“It’s almost a challenge; I love challenges,” he said. “That’s what pushes everybody in the world, whether you’re working on Wall Street or you’re sweeping.

“It’s a challenge to prove everybody wrong and show everybody that we can play in the NBA and be competitive and hopefully make a run for it.”

The 6-foot-10, 220-pound Odom can play three positions now, and added strength would give him the chance to play five.

“He’s got that flair,” Ford said. “He’s going to be noticed on the floor because he’s going to make a spectacular play. He loves to pass the ball and that’s a special trait.”

Anderson believes Odom has the potential to thrive with the Clippers, where Maurice Taylor and Michael Olowokandi will carry the biggest load.

“He’s a very eager listener. Coach can talk to him and he’ll listen and say, ‘OK,’ and go about it,” Anderson said. “A lot of players don’t do that; they argue.”

Ford and the team have reached out to Odom, making him feel as though he has older brothers for the first time in his life.

“I only see him for two or three hours a day, so he has a whole day to live. As with any young person, you’ve got to make sure he’s doing well,” Ford said.

Anderson figures the way to help Odom is to tell him what not to do.

“You don’t want to see him fall because eventually what he does is going to affect our team,” he said. “We can’t have him out there doing anything.”

Odom became an instant millionaire when his name was called by NBA commissioner David Stern, but he says he’s saving most of the $2.4 million he’ll make this season.

Other than redecorating his grandmother’s house in New York, Odom hasn’t bought the cars or platinum jewelry that define many NBA lifestyles. His biggest splurge is a rented penthouse apartment near the Pacific Ocean.

“It’s probably the most beautiful thing I’ve ever had in my life, and I’m very proud of that,” he said.

The penthouse is a move up from Odom’s old Queens neighborhood in New York City, where he remembers life as “crazy and hard.”

“I’m real simple,” he said. “All I really need is a bed, a roof over my head and a basketball, and I’m OK.”