The Microscope: Lamar Odom's Rebirth by Headband (and More)

The Microscope is your recurring look at the NBA's small-scale developments—the rotational curiosities, skill showcases, coaching decisions, notable performances and changes in approach that make the league go 'round.

Lamar Odom's Revival by Headband

It's rare to see a change in NBA fashion result in such a radical shift in disposition, but a headband-clad Lamar Odom has begun a new life as a Dallas Maverick.

Things could very easily take a turn for the status quo if Odom isn't fully committed to his newfound energy, but the last two Mavericks games have, at the very least, been refreshing for Odom's insistence on playing like himself.

Rick Carlisle and the Mavs are still figuring out the best ways to utilize a fully involved Odom, but thus far, Odom has done great work operating from the top of the key with the ball in his hands. Due to the other stresses the Mavericks' typical lineups put on opposing defenses, the man tasked with guarding Odom is largely either too slow to keep up with him off the dribble or too short to contest his shot attempts or clutter his passing lanes.

Thus far, Odom has used both of those advantages to create for his teammates as a playmaker, giving Dallas yet another shot-creating option.

He's as much of a walking mismatch as he's ever been, and though his numbers aren't quite up to his L.A. standard just yet, these early returns are encouraging. The NBA doesn't need an involved Lamar Odom, but the legions of adoring fans enamored by his versatility and personality just might.

Hopefully, we can look back on this in a few weeks without shaking our heads, but in the case that Odom is really here to stay: Welcome back, Lamar.

The Miami Heat Aren't Acting Their Age

Thursday night's TNT broadcast made a note of the Miami Heat's relative age—which, according to Basketball-Reference.com, makes them the fifth oldest team in the entire league by way of roster average.

As you may have noticed, Miami's insanely quick coverage of defensive space and ensuing fast-break attack isn't exactly characteristic of basketball geezers. The Heat are old, but perhaps misleadingly so; Juwan Howard (38) certainly stilts things a bit in the antiquated direction, but beyond him, Miami has just one player over the age of 31 (Shane Battier, 33).

The lion's share of Miami's rotation players fall comfortably within the 27-31 range—comfortably in their primes, or perhaps even a bit before them.

With teams like the Mavericks (who rank as the league's oldest team) or Celtics (who rank third), those general age stats can be very telling. But for the most part, the more useful bit is functional age—the age of players on a roster as a function of their minutes played.

It's a stat we've seen pop up here and there over the years, and it offers a far more in depth look at the age-related nature of a team's rotation. 

The New Orleans Hornets and Winning in Defeat

When the New Jersey Nets finished the 2009-2010 season with a 12-70 record, there were legitimate wonderings if any of the players would ever be the same again.

Every night, those Nets took the floor like a team already defeated; not only were they lacking in perimeter shooting, rotation-caliber bigs and effective defenders, but New Jersey was thumped so many times that losing itself became an unfortunate in-season fixture.

Some of those players have gone on to have either strong individual seasons (Kris Humphries) or find success with other teams (Courtney Lee), but I'm honestly not sure Devin Harris' body language has ever recovered.

He's likely not the only one.

Losing takes its toll, and even though it behooves a rebuilding franchise to lose as many games as possible, so as to best improve its chances of getting an elite player through the draft, knowledge of best practices doesn't divorce the players from the disappointment of losing game after game after game.

That's why the job that Monty Williams has done in New Orleans this season is so completely remarkable.

The Hornets aren't at all a good team (their 13-38 record is the worst in the West, and the third worst in the league overall), and yet, due to their roster limitations and frequent injuries, Williams has still been able to use the team' s reboot as a teaching opportunity.

Effort honestly isn't an issue in New Orleans, and though that hard work hasn't resulted in more wins, Williams has been able to carve out the infrastructure of a successful team in waiting.

This is a franchise poised to recover, in no small part due to the personalities of the players on the roster, and Williams' motivational prowess.

Don't overlook just how rare that is; it's one thing for a team like the Clippers to be relatively neutral in their perpetual down seasons, but it's altogether uncommon to have such a constructive year in the rebuilding bubble.