Lamar Odom had perhaps the finest season of his career this year, and on Tuesday was recognized as the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year. Odom received 96 of a possible 117 first-place votes, easily winning the award. Odom finished sixth in last season's Sixth Man balloting and fourth place in 2008-2009.
This is the first time a Laker has won the Sixth Man of the Year award, although in 1987 Michael Cooper won the Defensive Player of the Year award despite starting only two games. Odom averaged 14.4 points and 8.7 rebounds this season, and set career highs in field goal percentage (.530), three-point percentage (.382), true shooting percentage (.589), effective field goal percentage (.568), offensive rating (118), and PER (19.4). Odom came of the bench in 47 of his 82 games this season.
"He's a great player that could start anywhere, and I love him for what he does, what he brings to the table," teammate Pau Gasol told Mike Trudell of NBA.com. "He's very unselfish, he's a guy that's willing to sacrifice for the team and I think he could put up even bigger numbers if he wanted to if he was more selfish that way, but that's not what the team needs from him."
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