Farmar Awaits His Next Shining Moment

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Little more than half an hour remained at Target Center until the tipoff of the Lakers-Minnesota Timberwolves game last week.

It was a time for the fans to grab a hot dog and a beer, time for the cheerleaders to go through one last rehearsal, time for the players to engage in their mental preparation in the privacy of their locker room.

All but one player.

Lakers rookie guard Jordan Farmar still remained on the court, shooting three-pointers, driving to the basket, working on his defensive moves. And right there with him were assistant coaches Kurt Rambis and Brian Shaw, feeding Farmar the ball, serving as dummy defenders and yelling words of encouragement.

"He works his rear end off," Rambis said. "He's a gym rat. He wants to be great."

Farmar needs all the encouragement he can get these days. A year ago, he was at the center of the action as the point guard for UCLA, directing traffic, barking orders, firing up three-pointers and leading his club in the NCAA tournament, all the way to the championship game, in which the Bruins lost to the Florida Gators.

Twelve months later, with UCLA getting ready for this year's tournament, Farmar, 20, can't seem to get off the bench, his court time with the Lakers reduced to vigorous pregame warm-ups and a few sparse moments of playing time, except for emergency situations.

In 48 of the Lakers' first 55 games, Farmar's minutes reached double figures. Then he played a total of only 18 1/2 minutes over the next two games, sat for three of the following four games and played just over a minute in the other game. Since then, Farmar has had only two sizable chunks of playing time, about 12 minutes against the Milwaukee Bucks and 23 minutes against the Dallas Mavericks. But there were extenuating circumstances in both cases. Against Milwaukee, the Lakers, because of injuries and a Kobe Bryant suspension, had only nine players in uniform. Against Dallas on Sunday, Farmar got in when Smush Parker was ejected.

There's no mystery about Farmar's drastic cut in his playing time. For one thing, his overall play in the last 20 games has slipped. NBA coaches talk about "the wall" for rookies after the NBA schedule extends beyond the number of games they were accustomed to in college. Sure enough, Farmar's effectiveness declined soon after the Lakers' total number of games passed the Bruins' total for all of last season.

"He played really well, better than we expected he would play, for the first 40 games," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. "Then, he kind of hit the wall. Now he's got to recover. He'll be back playing strong again, I think, by the end of the season. He's a solid player and we're looking forward to a great future for Jordan."

The other factor is the declining play of the team. The Lakers have lost 12 of their last 15, making the dreaded prospect of missing the playoffs a possibility.

So with two seldom-used veterans on his bench ? Aaron McKie, in his 13th NBA season, and Shammond Williams, with seven years in the league ? Jackson called on them to join Parker in the backcourt, all but removing Farmar from the mix.

"We needed a change, a little more stability out there," Jackson said. "We've gone to more experienced guards and, right now, Jordan has taken a bit of a hiatus. It's hard to play three guards, let alone four."</div>

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