Three shooting to be Lakers' third guard
HONOLULU - Jordan Farmar stepped behind the 3-point line and launched jump shot after jump shot Saturday at the University of Hawaii. He shot from the corner, from the wing and from straight away, making far more than his missed.
Then it was Jordan Farmar's turn to rebound and Sasha Vujacic began to shoot. When Vujacic was finished, he rebounded while rookie Javaris Crittenton took his shots.
The three young Los Angeles Lakers guards tried to win bragging rights in a shooting drill while also attempting to win the third guard spot behind Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher.
It's a significant role since Fisher, 33, doesn't figure to play as many minutes as he did during his first stint with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Fisher and Kobe Bryant hardly ever seemed to leave the floor while leading the team to three straight NBA titles to start the decade. The difference between then and now is not lost on Jordan Farmar, a second-year player out of UCLA.
"I want to push him every day, and it's the same with Javaris," Jordan Farmar said when asked about battling for Fisher's leftover minutes. "(Javaris Crittenton) is learning every day, trying to push us both. I think it's only going to make us a better team."
Backup point guard was one of two open job going into training camp, but then Coach Phil Jackson added a third Friday, when he said he was considering starting Ronny Turiaf ahead of Luke Walton at power forward.
Kwame Brown, Andrew Bynum and Chris Mihm are battling to be the starting center, although the competition has been muted while Kwame Brown (shoulder and ankle) and Mihm (ankle) rebound from offseason surgeries.
Guard play has been pivotal for the Los Angeles Lakers, who struggled to fill the void created when Fisher signed with the Golden State Warriors after the tumultuous 2003- 04 season. Neither Chucky Atkins nor Smush Parker proved to be a suitable replacement.
With Fisher back in the fold, there is a compelling battle to serve as his backup. Naturally, Jordan Farmar believes he is the man for the job after averaging 4.4 points and 1.9 assists in 15.1 minutes as a rookie last season.
"There's no substitute for experience," Jordan Farmar said. "I'm a completely different player than I was last year. I'm no longer playing to impress the coaches. I understand that I'm a member of this team. I'm meant to be here."
Injuries: Kobe Bryant didn't participate in the first of two practices Saturday because of a sore right knee. Kwame Brown and Mihm sat out as they continued their slow recoveries from their offseason surgeries. Walton also did not practice because of a strained right hamstring.
"Some of it is just preventative," Coach Phil Jackson said, "but some of it is the two-a-days and the attrition from it."
Reading is fundamental: Jackson left reporters waiting a while as he read through the daily press clippings. He said he was curious to learn what Turiaf and Walton had to say about his plan to move Turiaf to the starting five and Walton to the bench.
"I had to see the response of some of my players to what you guys wrote," Jackson said, breaking into a grin. "I usually don't do that, so I come in here like a blind pig, and I don't have a chance. Compliance is what I'm looking for from the players."
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