L.A. Times–Forward Lamar Odom practiced Monday and could play Friday against Minnesota. He took part in some contact drills at practice, but, as he said, won’t “rip it up” until practices later this week. He will not play tonight against New Orleans.

Odom averaged 15.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists a game last season and had been out since undergoing surgery on his left shoulder in May.

“It felt pretty good to practice, get up and down with the guys, get blocked a couple of times, make some shots, miss some shots, grab rebounds,” Odom said. “My basketball timing’s off a little bit, but hopefully in practice I’ll get it back.”

Odom’s return means Ronny Turiaf or, more likely, Luke Walton returns to the bench.

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The intention of playing hard on every possession and the most appropriate person scoring the ball truly shows how the talent on this team, led by Phil Jackson can be successful.

Kobe Bryant was matched up with second year guard Ronnie Brewer, who is an athlete in his own right but didn’t put up a solid fight with him. Kobe played 43 minutes and had 33 points to finish off a great defensive night. Facilitating 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 of 2 amazing blocks. Andre Karilinko was sure he was gonna tomahawk a two hander in Kobe’s face but somehow Kobe aerodynamically avoided the fall and managed to get all ball for the block.

Derek Fisher was came out with a passion against the team that let him out of his contract with them the past year and join the Laker’s to provide his daughter with proper care for her condition of eye cancer. Derek was savvy, he helps this team run the offense, correctly. You can really tell that everyone runs there pops and cuts cleanly because they know Derek knows exactly where they are supposed to be in the triangle offense. Derek is the confidence you need in a point guard, especially when it comes to running the zenmaster’s offense, especially when you had Smushy running the offense last year.

Jordan Farmar is ballin’. Running the offense when Derek rests on the bench, he looks like he really has gotten the offense down. His ball handling and floor visibility look like they were stellar. Confidence is the main factor for him in this area.

Luke Walton was really disbursing the rock cleanly. You can really tell how talented Luke is when he is on the open floor handling the ball and finds a swingman for a quick J or Ronnie for the dish.

Vladimir Radmanovic’s performance was not like the one against Pheonix but still played a key role size wise. Its nice having a 6 foot 8 forward who can shoot and mobilize himself against Utahs fast movers.

Kwame Brown split minutes with Andrew Bynum and stayed on the bench most of the second half. Same old story with Kwame, bad decisions once he gets the ball in his hands and to quick off the dribble where he had a couple turn overs either losing the ball out of his hands or charging calls. I think Phil soley keeps him in there for his size, otherwise he is just not beneficial.

Andrew Bynum helped put the game away for good with a strong defensive and offensive series right in the heart of the Utah Jazzes last run to make a comeback. Andrew shows the tinasity needed in a young center, if he stays aggressive as he has been since the beginning of the preseason, we can have a slight chance against the big four of the west. Hell, even Stu Lantz was calling him big fella.

Javaris Crittenton sat out this game in street clothes again.

Overall this game was a confidence builder for our young squad. Playing against Deron Williams, Andrew Kirilenko and Memut Okur really builds the skill needed for Jordan and Andrew. Lots of passing, lots of communication, lots of hustle.

Next ones against the New Orleans Hornets.

Lakers vs. Utah Box Score

The start of this game made me feel like Kobe didn’t care about his teammates. I felt like he was out for himself and no one else. A few times I saw Kobe pass up on open players and take the shot. I know Kobe has a reputation for being a ball hog but this was something completely different. At the beginning of the game they said Kobe was very distant from the team and that he came out and had shoot around alone. When the team came out for shoot around he sat on the bench and watched. The statement Buss made has really effect Kobe and this team. Now to the game, I loved what I saw from everyone on the team but I think a lot of what happened last night was due to the Phoenix Suns not being themselves. The best thing that could of happen to this team was not having Kobe in the game and giving them a chance to build confidence in themselves and not relying on Kobe. Ok time to break down each player from the game.

Kobe – Played only 28 minutes and probably didn’t even need to play that much. At the start of the game he was playing for himself and no one else but I think as the game went on and everyone was playing well he started to actually be unselfish. I loved the fact that he made all his free throws even though he only had three. Bryant finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds 3 steals and 4 assists. His shooting percentage was not very impressive as he shot 40% and was 1 for 3 from beyond the arch.

Luke – I believe that he has become the heart and soul of this team especially since Lamar Odom is out. He did all the things you don’t see on the stat line with his leadership. His performance last night was the major reason why he was resigned to the Lakers; he is the glue to this team especially with all the crap going on. He had a beautiful pass between someone’s legs to an open Laker player. I would have to say he is becoming my favorite over Kobe more and more every game. There was a time when the shot clock was winding down and Kobe was yelling at him to give him the ball and Luke decided to shot a three instead and made it. Kobe gave a little fist pump like he was happy but we all know if he would of missed it Kobe would of been all over him to give him the ball. All I have to say is Luke keep playing your game and don’t let Kobe stop you.

Ronny – I love Ronny’s heart and even though he didn’t put up big numbers he played defense very well. I think this time with Lamar out he is getting some very good experience out on the court and will be a great come off the bench player for us. I would love to see the offensive player I saw a few times in the preseason come to life in the regular season. I think the more confidence he gets the more he will start to shoot because he has a pretty shot.

Kwame – Everyone seems to think we got ripped trading for him but no matter what anyone says he plays the Suns well and if he wasn’t hurt last season during the playoff I think we would have had a better chance against the Suns. Kwame doesn’t get the respect that he deserves they only see the negative in him. I have to admit he annoys me sometimes when he tries to do too much but overall you can see he has the will to want to be better and do well for the team. He like Ronny played great D and really made it difficult for the Suns last night. Even if Kwame doesn’t score another point for the rest of the season I would be happy if he kept the kind of defense he had in every game.

Derek – All I have to say is THANK GOD we finally have a real point guard back. I watch Smush opening night when he played against the Pistons and I was so happy to see him do the same stupid things. Not Derek he played his ass off and was the major reason we went on a roll when he rattled off 4 straight shots in a row. I think he played Nash pretty dam well and if I’m not mistaken Nash only had 1 assist in the first half and only ended with 3. It’s great for our young players to see how it’s done so they can come in and do the same things.

Andrew – The more and more I see him play the more I understand why the Lakers won’t trade him. Even though he had a stellar game against the Suns who really don’t have a big man I still think it was impressive. I loved how he was on the boards and just his defensive presence does a lot for our team. The only negative I have about him is that he gets into stupid fouls too much but that expected from big men especially young players. Andrew was my defensive player of the game by far and by mid season I wouldn’t be surprised if he is in the starting lineup.

Vladimir – Before I talk about his performance I just want to say that Kobe made a comment about how Vladimir was missed in the Houston game. When I heard that I had to rewind the video because I was shocked to hear it since we all know Vlad hasn’t done much since he’s been a Laker. He also said that Vlad has been playing real well and after the game I realized why he said it. He was lights out tonight and played to the level most of us thought he would do last year. He was a huge disappointment to everyone and most of the league question why we gave him a full mid level. You could see the fire in his eyes as he torched the Suns with his shooting. He didn’t care who was around him he just set his feet and took the shot will full confidence and it was great to see. Vlad is my Offensive player of the game as he led the team with 19 points and was perfect behind the arch.

Jordan – Well after the first game I was very unhappy with Farmar since he seemed very scared and didn’t use his head. But last night I saw him play his ass off on both sides of the ball. He looked a lot more confident in his shot and he was very aggressive with his defense. I would love to see him take over the starting job and let Derek come off the bench. I think a lot of Jordan success was because of Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant.

Basically it was a great performance all around from the bench. The Lakers bench scored 69 points and was amazing with only one player not scoring any points for the Lakers (Brian Cook). Early wins against playoff teams will do wonders to the Laker young players and will just build on the confidence they have clearly shown so far. I love what I have seen and I hope I see more of it this season.