Jordan Farmar doing it the coaches' way now
LAKERS
Once a 'know-it-all,' the guard has matured in his first two seasons and is hoping to be the starting point guard one day.
He used to challenge his coaches, even bark back at them when given instructions.
Now Jordan Farmar seemingly has matured and is willing to follow what Lakers Coach Phil Jackson dictates.
"He has a much better understanding of his strength and weaknesses now than two years ago," Jackson said. "He's able to take coaching now much better than he did before. That's important for Jordan because he's a really smart person, but sometimes he gets in his own way."
Some of Jackson's teachings of the triangle offense were foreign to Farmar, so he resisted them.
Farmar had been taught different fundamentals while playing for Woodland Hills Taft High and at UCLA, including to never jump in the air to make a pass, or dribble to the corner to start an offensive set, or to pick up the dribble before a pass or shot.
But all that is OK under Jackson.
"I would be like, 'I was taught my whole life that this is wrong,' " Farmar said Wednesday after practice. "So it was kind of a battle of trying to listen to them and trying to figure out how to get it done on my own. It was a battle and a struggle. It was just learning how to be a professional and what works for you."
At times during his first two years in the NBA, Farmar would leave the court and lash out at Jackson, forcing assistant coach Brian Shaw to leave his seat and emphatically instruct Farmar.
"He was a know-it-all when he first came," Shaw said. "You try to tell him something and the only thing that he could use as a reference point was either his experiences in high school or what they did at UCLA. What I tried to tell him is that 'You're not at UCLA anymore. So how you did it at UCLA is totally different than Phil does it.' When things didn't work out for him, he would want to do things his way."
When the Lakers drafted Farmar in 2006 with the 26th pick in the first round, he was only 19.
He'll be 22 next month, and his attitude has improved.
"I think just with his experience and the success that he's experienced, especially this preseason, there has been a natural maturation process for Jordan," Shaw said. "It's a blessing and a curse because he is stubborn and he's set in his ways. But that's part of what makes him pretty good."
Farmar, a 6-foot-2 guard, has been very good during the exhibition season.
