Thursday night, I sat on my couch, alongside my sleeping brother, watching the final quarter and overtime of the Celtics/Lakers tilt.  The game was a great one, as are so many of their matchups.  The Lakers, despite having played (and won) the night before in Toronto, came down and wore out the Celts, sweeping the season series.

Watching the game, I couldn't help but think we'd be all better off if they'd just cancel the rest of the season and let the Celtics and Lakers duke it out for the championship.  Wait until Andrew Bynum gets healthy again, and then throw them into a seven game series.  

Besides the close score, the game last night was made interesting by a few things you seem to rarely see in regular season NBA games.  Great defense (kudos to Paul Pierce for living in Kobe's shorts), a ton of effort (talking to you Big Baby Davis), and even inspired play from Lamar Odom (yes, you read right).  Who would have thought that three seasons later, by the way, that Glen Davis would be a more useful NBA player than his college running mate Tyrus Thomas?  That said, no excuse for Davis shooting jumpers on consecutive plays towards the end of the game.  KG fouled out or not, Ray Allen's not dead yet.  Neither is Paul Pierce.  Don't let me see it happen again, Mr. Davis...

Anyway, on to the subject of this post...

Watching the game, I couldn't help but think (in addition to the above thoughts) that Lamar Odom just doesn't seem to often give a damn.  Skill-wise, he's off the charts.  He's 6'10 and can dribble, drive, post, rebound, shoot, defend.  You get the point.  But, too often he just disappears into the background, content to do very little.  So, in the theme of the week, I present my All Don't Give A Crap Team.  

C - Erick Dampier

Talk about a guy who must wake up laughing.  Damp had one good season in his entire NBA career.  That's it.  Check it out.  Coincidentally, that lone good year came when he was in his contract year.  I swear, I've seen games where it seemed like Dampier would purposefully pick up two quick fouls in the first quarter just so he could sit out til the third quarter.  

F - Lamar Odom

See above.  Doesn't give a crap often enough, blah blah blah.

F - Tim Thomas

This guy really pisses me off, if only because he's from my home state and could've been so much better but never cared enough to average over 16 points a game in any season of his career.  Milwaukee, for some reason, rewarded Thomas with a 6 year deal worth nearly 66 million after the 2001 season.  This is the same Tim Thomas that Ray Allen once said could be the best player in the league if he wanted to.  First of all, I hate that saying.  Cliches in sports are abundant and stupid.  Second of all, it's not true.  Best in the league?  Come on.  But, he could definitely be way better.  Here's a guy that can score from anywhere on the floor (particularly far away), but just doesn't care.  He knows he's making his money, and that's fine with him.

G - Ricky Davis

Here's a guy that cares, just not about the right things.  He's a selfish s.o.b. that once tried (successfully, might I add) to get himself a triple-double by shooting at his own rim to secure a 10th rebound.  No, I'm not kidding.  

G - Vince Carter

I've talked about this same thing on another site I write for, BERNing on Sports, but the general gist is a refrain I'm sure you've all heard before.  Carter can one night dominate and look a top 5 player in the league, and the next, you barely know he's there.  His consistently high numbers will distort the idea that he is always going full throttle, but the proof is in the pudding (or, more appropriately, in the watching of him play).  

Here are a few others that I didn't mention but know would make the bench or some kind of second string (if they cared enough to try out):  Eddy Curry, Baron Davis (sometimes), Jerome James, and Kwame Brown.

There's got to be more.  Who on your favorite team consistently looks like they just don't care?  Like they'd rather be somewhere else?