Last season, Jordan Farmar provided the Lakers with an offensive spark off the bench and a change of pace to Fishers methodical ways on the court. His offense, while potent at times was incredibly sporadic. He would have a horrible game like the one on New Years Day last year against the Sacramento Kings where he went 1 for 4 from the field and ended with 2 points, then would follow that up with an 8 for 14 performance and 24 points against Dallas two days later. Those types of ups and downs offensively were prevalent all season long. The Lakers rode Farmar’s offense rollercoaster, reaping the benefits when Farmar was on, and limiting his minutes when he wasn’t.
Farmar struggled mightily to stay in front of guards defensively and often drove the coaches crazy with his frantic pace; combine that with the inconsistent offensive production and it is understandable why his minutes fluctuated so greatly. You would routinely see games where Farmar would play around eight minutes and other nights where he would get over 20.
At seasons’ end, after the Lakers completed their second straight run to a championship successfully, the team and Farmar expectedly parted ways. From all reports, it was a mutual decision. The Lakers looked for consistency and headiness in the back up spot to Fisher and Jordan looked for a larger role in a system more suited for his skill set.
With the Lakers only having the mid level exception to sign a free agent, it was slim pickings. Some of the names available were Luke Ridnour, Shaun Livingston, Eddie House and Earl Watson. The Lakers however, knew exactly who they wanted to fill Farmar’s role and acted quickly by agreeing to terms with veteran Steve Blake one day after the free agency period began.
We are near the end of the season and at this point, it is hard to say whether the back up spot left by Farmar was successfully upgraded with the acquisition of Steve Blake this off season.
Farmar: Ideally, you would like your point guard to fight through screens, have great lateral movement and play with energy. Physically you want a point guard that has some length and good upper body strength to body up and ward off drives to the basket. Farmar had none of these abilities or physical attributes and it showed with every guard that passed him on the way to the basket. If he wasn’t scoring, he just became a defensive liability on the court.
Steve Blake: While Blake will never be confused with Michael Cooper defensively, he is a smart team defender, is active and works hard on the defensive end. Blake doesn’t have a lot in his back pocket but makes up for that with his long 6’3 frame and energy.
Blake upgrade? Yes!
Note the exclamation point to show my emphasis on the yes. The fact that the Lakers got better defensively in back up point guard spot has more to do with Farmar’s deficiency defensively than Steve Blake’s ability.
Pure point guard skills:
Farmar: Farmar possessed very good ball handling skills and a quick first step that allowed him to break down defenses and get to the basket. What Farmar did not show with the Lakers was that ability or willingness to place the ball in the right spot for another player to score after he got by his man.
Farmar routinely looked for his own shot first and thought pass second. In Farmar’s last season with the Lakers he registered more than 5 assist in just one game out of 82 played and averaged a paltry 1.5 assist per game which would average out to just 4 assist per game per 48 minutes. For a point guard, Farmar was careless too often with the ball and many times it was what got him pulled out of games. Last season, Farmar’s assist to turnover ratio was 1.76 assist per turnover which would have ranked him 64th in the league.
Blake: Blake was never the type of point guard that dominated the ball and carried the responsibility of creating shots for the offense like a Steve Nash or Chris Paul. The word to describe Steve Blake as a point guard for his career is solid. He is not flashy, rarely takes big risk with the ball, but gets the job done.
This season, Blake has been incredibly tentative offensively. He has been reluctant to attempt to penetrate defenses and has routinely deferred to others in the offense. Steve Blake’s assist numbers are the lowest they have been since his second season in the league.
He has also has not been his usual self in terms of protecting the basketball. Last year he was 12th in the league in assist to turnover ratio at 2.87, just behind Steve Nash, and those numbers were inline with his career assist to turnover average of 3 to 1. This year he is at 1.86, which is just slightly better than Farmar in the previous season.
Blake upgrade? Slight.
What the Lakers have in Blake is someone that they can be confident will make the smart and safe basketball play on the court, as opposed to the reckless one that Farmar would occasional exhibit. Overall though, there has been no significant upgrade in the playmaking department in the back up point guard role up to this point.
Offensively:
MPG PPG FG% 3pt% FT% APG
Blake 20.3 4.2 .366 .384 .867 2.1
Farmar (09-10) 18.0 7.2 .435 .376 .671 1.5
Farmar:
The 2009-2010 season was actually a step back from what Farmar showed in his sophomore season when he scored 9.1 ppg in just 20 minutes per game, while shooting a relatively efficient 46% from the field. It was that season that earned Farmar the two year extension from the Lakers.
Last season, Farmar still provided high potent offensive games that helped the Lakers capture some regular season wins. Jordan scored 14 or more points in 10 games last season which the Lakers went 8 and 2; this includes the 14 point game performance in game 5 of the first round series against the Thunder. A team would always desire consistency but an occasional scoring burst from one bench player can usually be the difference in a win or a lost in a particular game; the great record of the Lakers last year when Farmar was productive is evidence of that.
Steve Blake:
Blake has taken as many as 8 shots in a game only twice this season and reached double digits just 4 times; 3 of those double digit scoring games occurred in the first 2 weeks of the season. Blake has gone scoreless 15 times this season which works out to once every 5th game and almost twice as many as Farmar last season.
Blake simply has not looked for his shot and during a recent stretch of the season he blatantly passed up wide open looks from the field. Despite Blake being legitimate threat from outside over his career, he is averaging just 4 shots a game this season which ranks 9th and last amongst the players in the current rotation.
When Steve Blake has shot it has mainly been behind the 3 point arch where he is shooting a respectable 38%. It is a good thing that 2/3 of his shots are coming behind the 3 line because he is shooting a horrid 33% when shooting in front of it.
Blake upgrade? No.
Blake has provided minimal offensive production on a team that could use it being they start a point guard who averages less than 7 points per game.
Next: The biggest stage is near
Even at this point in the season and looking at how Steve Blake has performed, it is fair to say that the Lakers improved the back up point guard spot this season. While Jordon Farmar was definitely more exciting with his occasional offensive explosions and 43 inch vertical leap which produced some nice highlight plays, his play was just too volatile for a Phil Jackson run team that preached execution in a precise offensive system.
Steve Blake isn’t lighting the world on fire with his play and his level of recognition with the Laker fan base is probably where he could walk the streets of Los Angeles in jeans and a T going completely unnoticed. Blake has been an upgrade defensively and has shown the basketball smarts and poise which are departments that Farmar struggled with throughout his career.
Than being said, outside of using Jordan Farmar as the measuring stick, Steve Blake has so much more that he can provide for this team and for that reason we have to say his acquisition has been a disappointment thus far.
He appears to be holding back, but why?
When you shoot a career 39% from the 3 point line that should give you the green light to shoot, especially when you’re open. Blake usually opts not to.
Where is the Steve Blake that lit up the Lakers for a triple double in the last game of the season? That wasn’t a game like when Ice Cube messed around and got a triple double; this was an NBA game where the very best few in the world compete and Blake dropped a line of 23 points, 11 assist and 10 rebounds on the then soon to be 2x NBA champs.
A new player being added to this Laker team that experienced a drop off in performance during the regular season has been seen before. The Blake signing has similarities to that of the Ron Artest signing a year ago.
Ron replaced a fan favorite in Ariza who played both his High School (Westchester) and college ball (UCLA) in Los Angeles. Blake replaced Farmar who played also played high school (Taft) and college (UCLA) in Los Angeles.
The Lakers replaced both Ariza and Farmar after coming off championship seasons. In both cases there were questions as to the Lakers’ decision to change the formula that had been successful.
Ron Artest, like Steve Blake, got off to a good start with the team then his production tailed off during the season. There were questions with both about rather they fit on this team.
In Ron’s case, it ended with his biggest contributions occurring at the most important time of the season, the playoffs. He handcuffed Kevin Durant in the 1st round and added a game winning put back basket in game 5 of the Western Conference Finals against the Suns. He is most remembered for his 20 point game performance in game 7 of the NBA finals against Boston that carried the Lakers to a win.
The playoffs are around the corner and we now wait to see if Steve Blake can have a similar turn around and impact in the playoffs as Ron Artest did last year.
His timid play on the court thus far is tolerable in the regular season while he tries to acclimate himself to his new teammates and the triangle. In the playoffs though, there will come a time where he will be needed to break out of his shell and make a play or take a big shot that can make or break a game or series. The Lakers chances of obtaining that 3rd straight championship might rest on Steve Blake’s ability to come through in that situation if and when it presents itself.