SPL Notebook: Farmar Plays First Pro Game

By Bruin Basketball Report

Playing in his first professional game, former UCLA Bruin Jordan Farmar scored 17 points in an 89-87 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in Summer Pro League (SPL) action at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

As the Lakers' first-round draft choice this year, Farmar received the honorary last position in the announcement of the starting lineup, and took the court alongside teammates Andrew Bynum, Marcus Douthit, Devin Green and Von Wafer.

Farmar had a solid offensive game but missed all four of his long-distance attempts. He scored all his points on aggressive drives into the paint while demonstrating the ability and strength to get to the rim in traffic.

Yet, Farmar will need to hit his outside shot attempts consistently, especially from three-point distance, if he expects to get playing time in the triangle offense during the regular season.

On defense, Farmar was matched up primarily against Anthony Roberson from Florida, and for the most part did a good job staying in front on defense. However, there were times when Farmar was caught on high screens during the game which allowed his man to slip loose for open shots - Lakers' SPL coach Kurt Rambis could be found counseling him after each incident.

Although just a rookie and now wearing the purple and gold instead of Bruin blue and white, Farmar was still the most vocal leader on the floor - directing teammates to the right spots and pointing out potential missed opportunities from previous plays.

Considering it was the first game of the SPL, its clear Farmar has already picked up many nuances of the Laker triangle offense - an offense which historically has taken most players up to a half season to learn.

Farmar said he was playing instinctively on the court. "To me, it (the triangle offense) is pretty much basic principles," he said. "I just get it."

The best play of the game occurred near the end when Farmar found Andrew Bynum racing down the lane for a lob slam dunk on a fastbreak.

Another Bruin playing for the Lakers SPL squad was Michael Fey. Playing primarily as the back-up center to Andrew Bynum, he scored 5 points and was aggressive on both ends of the court.

Fey held his own while playing against Andreas Glyniadakis, a 7'1 Greek player, and Alexander Johnson a tough 6'9 player from Florida St. The former Bruin center showed no signs of the severe ankle injury which sidelined him for most of his senior year at UCLA.

The Lakers had a chance to tie the Grizzlies in the final seconds of the game, but Lakers' second-round pick Danilo Pinnock missed a tough 15-foot jump shot to end the game. (Bruin note: Jordan Farmar was wide-open at the three-point line for the game winner.)

The Summer Pro League runs through July 19th. Schedule of games may be found at this link.

(BruinBasketballReport.com)

(photo credit: PopcornMachine/LakersGroundNet)

Bozeman To Play For Hawks This Summer Instead

By Bruin Basketball Report

UCLA Bruin Cedric Bozeman was expected to play in the Summer Pro League for the Los Angeles Lakers beginning this weekend in Long Beach; however, he'll be in Salt Lake City wearing a Hawks uniform instead.

The Atlanta Hawks have signed the 6'6 Bozeman to play on their summer league squad which will compete in the Rocky Mountain Revue from July 14-21 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Bozeman will be joined by NBA All-Rookie second team member Marvin Williams and fellow second-year Hawks Salim Stoudamire, as well as recent draftees Shelden Williams and Solomon Jones.

The former Mater Dei star and McDonald's All-American, Bozeman will be competing over the summer for a spot on the Hawks regular season roster.

Despite an injury plagued senior season at UCLA, which included a torn labrum, Bozeman still played in 31 of 39 games last season. He averaged 7.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists while shooting 50% from the field including 40% on three-pointers.

But it is Bozeman's superb defensive skills and ability to handle the ball which may intrigue NBA teams.

During this last offseason, UCLA Head Coach Ben Howland has been busy on the telephone contacting NBA teams on behalf of Bozeman as well as for other NBA-bound Bruin players - and his efforts have apparently paid off.

Last week, Jordan Farmar was selected in the first-round by the Los Angeles Lakers and Ryan Hollins was picked by the Charlotte Hornets in the second-round. In addition, Bruin center Michael Fey found a spot on the Lakers' summer league team.

(BruinBasketballReport.com)

Lakers Sign Farmar To Contract

By Bruin Basketball Report

Former UCLA Bruin guard Jordan Farmar signed a rookie contract with the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday.

Farmar, the 26th overall pick in last week's draft, passed up his final two years of eligibility at UCLA to enter the NBA draft.

The former local standout from Taft High School was the Bruins' second-leading scorer (13.5) and led the Pac-10 in assists (5.1) last season.

Although terms of the agreement were not released, the contract is estimated to be worth $1.9 million guarenteed over two-years with the team holding options for a third and fourth season.

Farmar is expected to play on the Lakers' Summer Pro League (SPL) team. Games run from July 8th through July 22.

(BruinBasketballReport.com)

Howland Promotes Garson To UCLA Assistant Coach

By Bruin Basketball Report

Scott Garson, who for the last two seasons has been UCLA men's basketball video coordinator and before coming to Westwood served five seasons on Rick Majerus'staff at Utah, has been promoted to the position of Bruin assistant basketball coach, UCLA head coach Ben Howland announced today.

Last week, the Bruins lost assistant Ernie Zeigler when he was named the new head coach at Central Michigan University.

"I'm very excited with Scott Garson's move to full-time assistant coach status," Howland said. "For the last two years he's done a great job as our video coordinator. He brings a proven college basketball background to our staff and program. "

"Before coming to UCLA, he worked on Coach Majerus' staff at Utah. I respect Rick and during his head coaching career thought he was one of the best in the business." Howland continued, " Scott Garson is a tireless worker, with great knowledge of the game and proven people skills. His promotion keeps the continuity within our staff."

Garson brings to the Bruin staff, joining assistants Donny Daniels and Kerry Keating, along with Director of Operations Chris Carlson (all entering their fourth season), diverse experience at the collegiate level involving coaching, film breakdown and administrative duties.

As UCLA's video coordinator, his responsibilities included - creating all video edits for game preparation; opponent scouting and self-scouting, preparing scouting reports; providing video for all recruiting efforts and special events and the production of highlight films.

Garson also assisted in the direction of the UCLA boys basketball summer camps and handled other administrative duties in the basketball office.

Prior to coming to UCLA, he served five seasons on the Utah staff, including two as the Utes' video coordinator.

During the 2003-04 season, when Majerus retired for health reasons, Garson was promoted to assistant coach. He spent the summer/fall 2003 on the road assisting in Utah's recruiting efforts.

Before taking over as the Utes' video coordinator in 2002-03, Garson served as an administrative assistant, assistant video coordinator and head manager with the Utes for three years. He also directed the Rick Majerus Basketball Camps for three summers.

Garson, 30, went to Utah from Pepperdine, where he was the administrative assistant and video coordinator for the Waves during the 1998-99 season.

He also served as the director of the Junior Waves Basketball Camp.

While still in college at UC Santa Barbara, Garson was the varsity assistant coach and junior varsity head coach at Santa Barbara HS from 1996-98.

Garson, born April 24, 1976 in Calabasas, CA, graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in law and society in 1999 and earned an MS in sport psychology from Utah (2003).

He was a walkon pitcher with the Gauchos baseball team as a sophomore. He spent his freshman season (1994-95) at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, where he played basketball and baseball.

Garson was a two-time All-League selection in basketball and baseball and was an All-State performer (1994) in basketball at Harvard-Westlake HS in North Hollywood, CA (1991-94).

(BruinBasketballReport.com)

Bruin Recruiting: Prep News Roundup (7/3)

By Bruin Basketball Report

Prep News Roundup is published every Monday.

Commits

The best boys' basketball tournament of the summer gets under way Tuesday and runs through Sunday at Los Angeles Fairfax.Fairfax, which won the Watts Summer Games championship behind UCLA-bound Chace Stanback, will face competition from Santa Ana Mater Dei, Westchester, North Hollywood Campbell Hall, Woodland Hills Taft and Los Angeles Loyola. L.A. Times 6/27

Taft of Woodland Hills guard Larry Drew did his best to help the Toreadors win their Fairfax Tournament semifinal game Saturday night, but Fairfax's Chace Stanback was just a little better. Despite picking up his third foul midway through the first half, forcing him to sit on the bench for much of the half, Stanback was virtually unstoppable in the second half. The 6-foot-7 forward, bound for UCLA, scored 18of his 20 points after intermission to lead host Fairfax to a 66-58 victory over Taft and into today's final against Long Beach Poly. "He's good. Very good," Taft coach Derrick Taylor said of Stanback. "He's one of the top 50 players in the nation. He's a match-up problem for anyone." L.A. Daily News 7/2


Recruits

An impressive 14-team field was on display during the first-ever J Serra Classic (played in the South Orange County school’s stunning a new gymnasium in San Juan Capistrano) this last weekend. [...] But the most impressive individual on display in the event Saturday played for Canyon High (Anaheim Hills) – Class of 2008 point guard, 6-1 Jerime Anderson. Scout.com 6/26

Archbishop Mitty center Drew Gordon, who will be a junior, is an alternate to the U.S. under-18 national basketball team, after being cut Friday when the team was whittled from 16 to 14 players, from an original 32. "I wanted to prove a point to everybody that I could play,'' said Gordon, at 15 the youngest player invited to the San Antonio tryout camp. ``I doubted myself for the first day or two, especially my ability to shoot. But I improved by leaps and bounds every day.'' Mercury News 6/27

The 12th annual War on the Floor Tournament championship game Tuesday night featured a pair of of the area's top point guards in Taft of Woodland Hills' Larry Drew and Poly of Sun Valley's DJ Gay. And the two went at one another from the opening whistle to the final buzzer with Drew taking home most valuable player honors after finishing with 12 points, six assists and four steals to lead the Toreadors to a 66-58 victory at Taft. L.A. Daily News 6/28

Kyle Singler will pad his USA Basketball resume for a second straight summer after the 6-foot-9 forward was selected Monday as a member of the 12-man USA men's U18 national team.
The South Medford High senior-to-be proved himself to be a valuable commodity for his play on both sides of the court, as well as his willingness to share the basketball. His consistent play ranked Singler among the top scorers and rebounders in scrimmages over the past two weeks. Mail Tribune 6/28

Starting forward Kyle Singler scored nine points as the USA Men's U18 basketball team routed Uruguay 111-64 Wednesday in its debut at the FIBA Americas Championship for Men held at Bill Greehy Arena on the St. Mary's University campus. Mail Tribune 6/29

The second day of the Lute Olson Advanced Skills Camp began with another morning full of instruction and competition [...] The first game featured the two teams I’d see the most. On one side you had Jeff Withey, Chase Budinger, Zane Johnson, Luke Babbitt and Kamyron Brown. On the other side were Laval Lucas-Perry, Alex Jacobson, Jeremy Tyler, Nick Wise and Jamelle Horne. Wildcat Insider 6/30

The UCLA’s Advanced Skills Camp kicked off Wednesday, with plenty of advanced skills to see. Both from the players and from the UCLA coaches. About 80 campers participated Wednesday, with more to come today. Headliner Kevin Love, the 6-9 rising-senior post player from Lake Oswego (Calif.) High, and UCLA-committed Chace Stanback, the 6-6 forward from Los Angeles (Calif.) Fairfax, both didn’t participate Wednesday but are expected to Thursday. The Bootleg.com 6/30

UCLA's big target, Kevin Love, makes an appearance, but the rising junior guard, Jrue Holiday from North Hollywood (Calif.) Campbell Hall, arrives Thursday and shows why he should be considered a top five prospect in the country for 2008. BruinReportOnline 6/30

The USA overcame a sluggish third quarter to overwhelm Brazil 90-66 on Friday at Greehey Arena in group play at the FIBA Americas U-18 Championship for Men. [...] Small forward Kyle Singler, not yet a senior at his Oregon high school, dribbled the length of the court before dropping off a no-look bounce pass to Hawes for a power dunk. SA Express-News 7/1

Most in attendance were talking, some admiring, others gushing, about the way Taft of Woodland Hills' Larry Drew took over the final four minutes of the quarterfinal showdown in the Fairfax Tournament against Campbell Hall of North Hollywood, guiding the Toreadors to a 73-66 victory and into today's semifinal clash against host Fairfax. "I've said this before, and I'll say it again, Larry is just one of those big-time players who makes big-time plays in big-time situations," Taft coach Derrick Taylor said. L.A. Daily News 7/1

It’s the first day of interviews at the Nike All-America Camp, and reporters are talking to some of the nation’s best recruits. [...] Kevin Love, Gerald Henderson, Nolan Smith and Spencer Hawes, among others, all come from rich basketball backgrounds. Still, it’s safe to say that living up to the legacy of Stan Love is a little easier than being the next Michael Jordan. The Online Wire 7/1

The Lute Olson Advanced Skills Camp wrapped up the on-court portion of the camp early Saturday morning. Although the players still had a question and answer session ahead of them, their last chance to strut their stuff on the court concluded with more drills and more scrimmaging. The team of the day was made up of Alex Jacobson, Laval Lucas-Perry, Luke Babbitt, Chase Budinger and Kamyron Brown. Wildcat Insider 7/1

Morrison has made Gonzaga a ‘cool’ spot: Elite recruits no longer write off Pacific Northwest school. [...] Small forward Austin Daye of Irvine, Calif., might become the most decorated high school recruit to choose Gonzaga. MSNBC 7/1

The new coaching staff headed by Herb Sendek has pursued blue chipper James Harden for several weeks now. Following an unofficial visit to Tempe, as well as a last-minute canceled visit to Tucson, the coveted Artesia High School (Calif.) guard has put the maroon and gold at the top of his list. The Devil's Digest 7/1

Drew can't rescue Taft: Taft of Woodland Hills guard Larry Drew did his best to help the Toreadors win their Fairfax Tournament semifinal game Saturday night, but Fairfax's Chace Stanback was just a little better. L.A. Daily News 7/2

The United States under-18 team defeat Canada 92-66 in the semifinals of the 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship Saturday. With a top-four finish assured, the Americans have earned a berth in the 2007 FIBA U19 World Championship.[...] Kyle Singler, a 6-foot-8 high-school junior from Medford, Ore., who is considering attending Washington, had 13 points and nine rebounds in 23 minutes. The Seattle Times 7/2

Zane Johnson is an in-state kid who has always wanted to go to Arizona. The 6-foot-6 Thunderbird High (Ariz.) shooter finally got his wish this past weekend after putting on an impressive performance at a skills camp in Tucson. When the offer finally came, Zane Johnson didn’t hesitate. WeAreSC 7/2

Playing with the type of effort and teamwork not normally associated with American basketball, the USA wore down overmatched Argentina 104-82 on Sunday night at Greehey Arena to claim the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship for Men. Center Spencer Hawes had 24 points and 10 rebounds and Taylor King came off the bench to score 14. Kyle Singler, who was on pace for a triple double at halftime before fouling out late, and Michael Beasley each finished with 13 points. SA Express-News 7/3

Kyle Singler showed Sunday the versatility that has made him one of the most coveted basketball recruits in the country.Singler, a senior-to-be at South Medford High, started and scored 13 points, dished out six assists and added five rebounds and two steals to help the USA Men's U18 basketball team romp to a 104-82 victory over Argentina in the gold-medal game at the FIBA Americas U18 Championships.The 6-foot-9 Singler shot 5-for-8 from the field before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter. Mail Tribune 7/3

(BruinBasketballReport.com)

(photo credit: scout.com)

Bozeman and Fey To Play For Lakers SPL Team

By Bruin Basketball Report

The 37th Annual Summer Pro League (SPL), the country’s premier summer professional basketball league, is ready to kick off another season at the Pyramid on the campus of the Long Beach State University from July 8th through July 22nd.

To date, participating NBA teams include the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, and Memphis Grizzlies.

NBA teams usually have rookies, second-year players, and prospective free-agents play on their respective summer league teams.

The Lakers' first round draft pick, UCLA's Jordan Farmar, is expected to play in the SPL, and according to DraftExpress, he will be joined by two former Bruin teammates - Cedric Bozeman and Michael Fey.

Both free-agents, Bozeman and Fey were invited by the Lakers to play on a team which will include; Andrew Bynum, Sasha Vujacic, Devin Green, Von Wafer, Marcus Douthit, and Danilo Pinnock (Laker's 2006 2nd round pick).

Along with other Lakers SPL invitees, Bozeman and Fey will be vying for coveted spots on the Lakers Preseason Camp roster which convenes later in October at Maui.

A former point-guard who played primarily small forward last season, Bozeman has the size and ball-handling skills to play the role of the "initiator" on the Lakers triangle offense, a position which big guards, Ron Harper and Brian Shaw, played similarly for the Lakers during their championship years.

Fey will back-up Andrew Bynum at center during SPL. The former Bruin center is not expected to go beyond summer league play for the Lakers, but the SPL will certainly give Fey an opportunity to gain experience at the next level.

One player notably missing from the Lakers' SPL roster is Smush Parker, a player who will likely be competing with both Vujacic and Farmar for minutes at the point-guard position next season.

Although Parker is not required by his contract to play in a summer league since he is a third-year player, one would think it would be beneficial for him to play in front of Laker coaches at SPL rather than be elsewhere.

It was at last year's SPL where Parker shined during summer play and earned a roster spot at the Lakers' Preseason Camp.

For more information on the SPL , visit the Southern California Summer Pro League site for game schedules and scores/results.

(BruinBasketballReport.com)