<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Gyms across America are littered with stories of basketball players who left college early only to see their NBA dreams crash head-on into a different kind of reality on draft day. The kind that leaves a player no closer to the NBA than a TV screen in the middle of the night in some faraway country. Then there's Jordan Farmar. A star point guard at UCLA for two seasons, Farmar opted to declare for the draft last spring after the Bruins came within one victory of the national championship. He thought he would be picked in the first round, but there was no guarantee. And surely there was no way to know it would turn out to be the fulfillment of a dream. For someone who was born in Los Angeles, grew up a Lakers fan, played his high school ball in Woodland Hills (Taft High) and his college ball in Westwood, what could be more perfect than to be drafted by the Lakers in the first round? “It's very surreal,” Farmar said recently while visiting San Diego to promote tonight's (6:30) Lakers-Suns exhibition at the ipayOne Center. “It's like an Academy Award-winning script . . . a script that couldn't have been written up any more perfectly than I've been living.” Farmar called his decision to leave UCLA the toughest of his life. As he said, “You're in college, you're innocent, a kid with no real responsibilities. . . . But everybody has a time frame and I just think it was the time for me to go. I got a lot of positive feedback that I could end up in a good situation. Look at it: I don't think it's any better than this.” Farmar might not play very much as a rookie – when healthy the Lakers are deep at guard – but he's not in this for the short run. After all, he'll still be a teenager until the last day of November. “I think I have a lot to offer, but at the same time I'm definitely willing to wait my turn,” said the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Farmar. “When the opportunity is given I'll be ready, but for me it's about learning, doing my homework, watching people in front of me, watching film, studying the triangle, talking to (coach) Phil (Jackson) and seeing what he wants me to do.” Jackson hasn't been around much this month because of hip replacement surgery Oct. 3, but assistant coach Kurt Rambis, who has been running the team, said Farmar “is going to be an excellent performer in this league.” Farmar has “true point guard skills,” Rambis said, adding the rookie has picked up the triangle offense quickly, can create shots for himself and his teammates and play defense. But, Rambis also said, “He is going to have adjustments because of his size and because of his strength, dealing with players in the NBA.” Rambis joked that with the way the Lakers have been losing players to injury, Farmar could be starting soon. But it's more than likely he won't see as much time this season with the Lakers as he will with their Development League team, the D-Fenders, who will begin a 50-game schedule late next month. </div> Link Farmar's a pretty lucky dude. How many NBA players do you know play for the team that they grew up watching? It's good to have you aboard Farmar
