Jordan Farmar

Jordan Farmar

Los Angeles Lakers
Position	Point guard
Personal information
Born	(1986-11-30) November 30, 1986 Los Angeles, California
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight	180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
High school	Taft High School, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles
College	UCLA
NBA draft	2006: 26th overall
Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers
Playing career	2006–present
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

Jordan Robert Farmar (born November 30 1986) is an American professional basketball player for the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers. At 6'2" (1.88 m) and 180 lb (82 kg), he was previously the starting point guard for the UCLA men's basketball team.

Biography

Farmar was born in Los Angeles, California. His father, former baseball player Damon Farmar (an outfielder who was a second round draft pick in both 1982 and 1983), is African American. He and his mother, Melinda Baker, and his Israeli stepfather, Yehuda, are Jewish.[1] Farmar has a half-sister, Shoshana Kolani. Farmar's godfather is former major league baseball player Eric Davis.[2] He attended Portola Middle School in Tarzana and Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, before transferring his sophomore year to Taft High School in Woodland Hills, a suburban community of the San Fernando Valley within Los Angeles.

Career

High school

At Taft High School, Farmar scored a record 54 points in a single game. As a senior, he averaged 27.5 points and 6.5 assists and led Taft to the school's first Los Angeles City title. He was named the Los Angeles Times Player of the Year and LA City Co-Player of the Year, and the California Interscholastic Federation Los Angeles City Section High School Player of the Year. He also earned USA Today Super 25 selection, Parade Magazine 2nd-team All-American, Slam Magazine Honorable Mention All-American, CalHi Sports All-State honors, and the Southern California Jewish Athlete of the Year. [3]

College career

Considered one of the elite point guards in the nation at UCLA, he was named to the all Pac-10 team and the all Pac-10 Tournament team.

In the 2006 NCAA Tournament, Farmar led the UCLA Bruins to the National Championship game against the Florida Gators, which they lost by a score of 73-57. Farmar led all scorers with 18 points, and also finished with 2 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. On April 20, 2006, he declared to enter the NBA Draft.

Professional career

Farmar impressed NBA scouts at the pre-draft combine with a 42-inch vertical leap, the highest of any player there. June 28, 2006 he was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 26th Pick in the NBA draft. On July 8, 2006, he made his debut at the Summer Pro League, which was held at the Walter Pyramid. His final game totals were 17 points and 3 assists in 31 minutes of play.

2006-07

For most of the 2006-2007 season, he was the first backup to Smush Parker.

On March 31, 2007, Farmar was assigned to the Lakers' D-League team, the Los Angeles D-Fenders. On April 1, Farmar scored 18 points in a 101-109 home loss against the Anaheim Arsenal. Later on that afternoon, he was re-called by the Lakers to play against the visiting Sacramento Kings. Farmar added 4 points in 8 minutes playing time assisting the Lakers to a home victory, thereby making history by becoming the first player ever to participate in both a D-League and an NBA game on the same day. On April 15, 2007 against the Seattle Supersonics, Farmar got his first professional career start replacing Smush Parker in the starting lineup. To go along with the two starts in the regular season, Farmar started all five playoff games at point guard. In those games against first round opponent the Phoenix Suns, he averaged 6.4 ppg and 1.2 spg against Steve Nash.

2007-08

With the departure of Smush Parker, Aaron Mckie, and Shammond Williams, the Lakers were lacking in the point guard spot. Therefore, with their 1st selection in the 2007 NBA Draft the Los Angeles Lakers selected point guard Javaris Crittenton. As a result, during the summer and fall of 2007 Farmar became a denizen of the team training facility, working on his shot from June through September. He knew his job was in jeopardy with a new point guard in town and knew he had to work to keep his position within the organization. So far his hard work has paid off, and through the end of 2007 Farmar has averaged 9.0 points per game, 2.5 rebounds per game, and 2.8 assists per game, all in about 20 minutes per game serving as the backup to veteran point guard Derek Fisher who made his return to the Lakers after a two year stint with the Warriors and one with the Jazz. Thus far he is shooting 47.7% from the field, 5.5% up from last season, as well as 38.9% from three-point range, 6% up from last season. Both are solid percentages for a guard and both are vast improvements from his rookie season, his hard work over the summer obviously has paid off. "I'm just trying to shorten [my shot], square my shoulders up and just knock it down," Farmar said. "It's all hand-eye coordination, and I believe in my ability."

Awards and recognition

• Los Angeles Times High-School Player of the Year: 2003-04
• Rivals.com National Freshman of the Year : 2004-05
• Pac-10 Freshman of the Year: 2004-05
• All-Pac-10 Freshman First Team: 2004-05
• All-Pac-10 First Team: 2005-06
• Pac-10 All-Tournament Team: 2005-06
• NBA Rookie Team 2006-07

External links

• Template:NBA-profile
• Template:Basketball-reference
• www.farmarlive.com Jordan Farmar's Official Website
• NBA Draft Profile
• UCLA Player Profile
• Bruin Basketball Report
• Yahoo! Player Profile
• "Farmar works hard on his shooting; Second-year guard takes Jackson's talks to heart," LA Times, 12/1/07