The Los Angeles Lakers Are the Favorites to Win Even Without Lamar Odom

Since the beginning of the offseason, I've been very optimistic that Lamar Odom will be coming back to the Los Angeles Lakers. The switching of Trevor Ariza and Ron Artest, coupled with Kobe's optimistic outlook in Odom returning to his rightful place, supported my hopes of Lamar coming back. But the road to bringing Odom back has been filled with speed bumps along the way. From the Lakers rescinding Odom's contract a few weeks ago, to the "serious" considerations Odom is having in returning to the Miami Heat, the road has been, by no means, pretty. Instead, it has been the exact opposite. Lamar's future is still not certain. Reports believe that the questions surrounding Odom to where he is going to be living next season will be answered in the next few days.  I have been hoping that Odom's fate would've been answered much, much sooner. Now, due to the whole negotiations fiasco the Lakers and Odom has put the NBA worl...