Steve Blake vs. Jordan Farmar
When the Lakers signed Blake in place of Farmar over the summer, on paper it appeared as though the Lakers upgraded instantly. For the most part, that still holds true. Farmar was more over-dribbling and calling his own shots than the Lakers coaching staff would’ve preferred, plus he was never really accepting of Jackson’s system.
To be fair to Farmar, he did have his moments. When last year’s bench played well they took advantage of their speed and athleticism. Farmar would at times create opportunities on the fast-break using his speed and having Walton as a facilitator, when healthy, helped. However, those times were few and far between. With Blake they get a combination of both facilitator and perimeter-shooting threat. Less we forget what the Lakers gain on defensive from Blake which was sometimes questionable from Farmar.
Overall, Blake provides what the Lakers couldn’t really get consistently from Farmar. A guy who would take some of the pressure off Odom to setup the offense, a reliable shooter from the perimeter and someone who could effectively come in and cut-off some of Derek Fisher’s minutes. There were times this season when Blake could’ve been more aggressive for the Lakers, but as March begins to dwindle and the playoffs start to roll around, we’re seeing more of the qualities the Lakers were hoping to get out of Blake from the get-go.
Advantage: Steve Blake, slightly.