Why would the Lakers bench Odom?

It doesn't matter if Artest or Odom starts at SF,They all get the same amount of playing time on the court!Who finishes the game is much more important!

Ron Artest is a very good Defensive Minded guy if he plays lock down defense on you which he always does its gonna be hard for you to score on him. Plus having Odom Gasol and Bynum is gonna be too Big of a front lineup they need Artest to have a fast tempo type of game. Lamar Odom is the first one who comes of the bench for lakers as a big powerful six man.

odom provides energy off the bench that the lakers need. plus, he's a decent rebound, so if you start him, gasol and bynum, who'll be rebounding when the bench comes in? mbenga? and if you play artest off the bench, there'll be a log at the sf position cause him and barnes are both sf. artest may guard big man, but i doubt he'll be able to produce the same rebound numbers as odom. also, artest is starting to guard perimeter players, namely durant and lebron, who are both capable of running past odom in the perimeter. and most especially, with artest started, kobe can concentrate more on his offensive game.

Ron Artest is a HUGE defensive presence to establish in the game by starting him, and he's an above average player overall, while adding Odom to the second unit adds another huge dimension to their game which not only allows them to keep opponents offensively overwhelmed through the entire game along with the other second unit players, but helps Gasol & Bynum get the rest they need.

Doesn't matter who starts. Artest and Odom will both be on the floor at crunch time of any playoff game. Bynum will be sitting.

I don't get why so many people still think that a team's best five players are its starting five. A team's best five players are its CLOSING five.

they need some length off the bench

and anyways Ron Ron can guard SF better than Odom can

because the bench is just as important as the starting line up. the bench players can have as much impact on a game and having lamar odom as the first guy off the bench can be a massive game changer. he creates such mismatches as he can post up, drive to the rim and shoot three's.

Artest is a physical and defensive presence so is Bynum.Lamar also creates great chemistry witht he bench.