Lamar Odom as Sixth Man?

While we imagine a Lakers frontline that can actually rebound, it appears the decision-makers in Los Angeles have other ideas. Instead of slipping big Lamar Odom into the small forward slot, the Orange County Register's Art Thompson III (via TH) reports Trevor Ariza and Luke Walton will battle for the gig while Odom will apparently move into a sixth-man role. Odom seems to be on board.

Odom has discussed with the basketball staff the possibility of accepting a sixth-man role, which has all sorts of delightful possibilities to it, due to the 6-foot-10 Odom's versatility.

He could come off the bench to play small forward or play the two position (shooting guard) or power forward. The Lakers' staff even has discussed with Odom the possibility of him being a hybrid point forward and initiating the offense in that role.

This set-up does have some delightful possibilities. (That should be the L.A.'s 2008-09 motto: "The Los Angeles Lakers. Delightful Possibilities.") With Odom as a starter, you basically stick a poor man's Shawn Marion with less opportunity into the mix. Kobe and Pau Gasol will handle most of the offense (extremely well), and even Andrew Bynum will take priority over Odom. You assert yourself as one of the dominant rebounding teams in the league (probably top six), but the bench suddenly looks a bit offensively anemic.

Ariza's a damn fine rebounder in his own right, and a better "explosive" defender than Odom. Ariza can even trade down and help Kobe defend the Wades and Martins and Manus -- something Odom can't do. And suddenly, Odom running the second unit when Kobe sits ... that's some sort of beautiful, assuming he's locked in (hardly assumable) and prepared.

So long as L.A. has Bynum (an elite rebounder) manning the pivot, I think the team can afford to go smaller at the three. It will interesting to watch, if nothing else.