Lamar Odom was a super talented basketball player.
He was 6-10 and did everything. He made plays, rebounded, defended in and out of the perimeter and scored in a variety of ways.
Odom was one of the original all-around wings and holds career averages of 13.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists and just under 1 block and 1 steal.
But the 2-time NBA champion and 2010-11 Sixth Man of the Year had demons that almost took his life.
And in his memoir, From Darkness to Light, Odom explains everything -from his vices to the root causes of them, and the role basketball played in his life.
I recently finished reading Odom’s memoir and here are 5 of my favourite quotes from the book:
“Without a ball in my hand, I was consumed by loneliness. To deal with it, I isolated myself. I’d go into my room, close the door, and make myself cry. I thought that if I cried enough, I could make the pain go away. I would drain it from my body. But it never worked. I only felt more helpless. Being in the house made me sad.”
“James, Ron, and Lamar. The three biggest high school basketball standouts in the city and what we all had in common, which time will likely forget. People looked at us as basketball stars. Colleges saw us as tickets to the Final Four. Sneaker companies saw us as future pitchmen. But in truth, all three of us were kids from the New York area who suffered from one form or other of mental illness or substance abuse, or both. But those things were either buried deep beneath the surface or dismissed altogether.”
“The truth is I lied. The workout wasn’t canceled. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to be a [Chicago] Bull. Looking back, I feel like I simply didn’t want the pressure or the responsibility. That was a damn bright spotlight. I believed in my abilities, and I’ve always stood out, but I like being in a situation where I share the load with my teammates… I didn’t want an entire franchise to rely on me. Or put their hopes in me. To be honest, I don’t know. I just knew I didn’t want to play for Chicago. Not even if it meant going down in history as the number-one overall pick.”
“Riley taught me the true meaning of the word ‘disposition.’ It was one of his favorite words, and he would repeat it over and over. How you carry yourself. Your body language. How you react when things aren’t going right. The image you put out for others to see.”
“‘We’re going to use you in a lot of areas,’” Kobe explained to me one day in practice. ‘The elbow, mid-post, short corner to break apart defenses. I’m going to see a lot of overload defenses, so with you flashing to the high post, you’ve got the talent to be able to catch the ball and look opposite to make those reads and make the right pass. When I get doubled and make that pass, most teams don’t have anybody with your length and size to make the right pass. We’ll win championships with that hockey-assist play because when I kick it to you, you’ll be the one making decisions.’”
If this book sounds interesting to you and you want to learn more about it, you can click here to read my full summary on it.
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