Farmar Showcases Scoring Talent In Day Three

By Bruin Basketball Report

On Wednesday, UCLA's Jordan Farmar demonstrated his playmaking skills - many times bypassing his own shot to set up teammates for scoring opportunities.

During day three of the NBA Pre-Draft camp, playing against Syracuse's Gerry McNamara, Farmar expanded his offensive repertoire and showcased his scoring skills to scouts.

Considering Farmar is not known for a quick first step, he was able to repeatedly blow past McNamara to get into the lane for scoring opportunities and demonstrate his ability to score around the basket against bigger players.

Farmar scored 14 points on 6 of 10 shooting in the game, although his team lost 94-78.

As far as match-ups, Farmar picked a good day to concentrate on his scoring abilities. McNamara, a 6'2 senior, is not quick nor an athletic guard, and had difficulty staying in front of Farmar defensively all game.

McNamara had a strong season offensively and led Syracuse to an improbable trip through the Big East tournament this year - he is projected at best to be a late second-round pick this year or he may go undrafted.

Mike Schmidt of DraftExpress had this account of Farmar's play today:

Farmar was able to get into the lane all day, with Gerry McNamara not being able to keep up with him at all.

He made a few nice shots in the lane, including a beautiful floater off the glass while he was fading away from the basket.

He has a lot of the tools necessary for a point guard to score over taller players in the NBA.

His floaters dropped into the hoop with ease, and he was able to keep defenders on his back while making layups.

Farmar was unable to make most of his shots however, and his passing was nowhere near what we saw in college.

He did find his teammates for some good looks in transition, but struggled to find guys in the half court.

Part of this may be due to the fact that his teammates weren't executing plays well, but he had to deal with that for much of his college career.

Farmar's passing in the half court might be better if he had a better feel for his teammates' tendencies.

His shooting was inconsistent, hitting a few long range jumpers but being well off on quite a few more.

This was the first occasion when watching Farmar where his finishing in the lane has actually been better than his passing.

On the defensive end, Farmar kept McNamara in check for much of the game, but still lacked focus at times.

Farmar did a lot today to prove that he can score, he just needs to go out and display the court vision he was known for in college.

From most reports, it appears Farmar has not hurt his position in the draft by his play in the camp and perhaps has bolstered his standing.

At minimum, he has successfully used this opportunity to demonstrate to scouts his total game - something he was unable to do earlier in limited private work-outs with some NBA teams.

Tomorrow is the final day of the NBA Pre-Draft camp in Orlando.

(BruinBasketballReport.com)

(photo credit: AP)