The Los Angeles Lakers brought back Jordan Farmar over the summer as a reliable point guard that helped them win two consecutive titles in 2009 and 2010. Farmar took a brief hiatus from the NBA by playing overseas, and now the guard has returned to the league better than ever.
Farmar will be backing up Steve Nash this upcoming season, and the Lakers will surely benefit from his young legs and explosiveness. The Lakers are a fairly old team, and they will be using Farmar very often when playing some of the tougher teams in the Western Conference.
Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters spoke to the former UCLA Bruin about how much he grew as a player after staying overseas (video below).
It was the first time in my professional career where I got to carry a team, he said of Turkish team Anadolu Efes, where he averaged 13.8 points and 3.9 assists in 29 games. I was taking and making big shots. I was at the free throw line at the end of games.
I was responsible for how we were going to perform as a team because I had a lot of the load. I never had that as a professional yet. Just going through that, I think gave me a lot more opportunity to see what works, to learn my game, to just figure myself out as a player and a person.
Los Angeles will be expecting a lot out of Farmar this upcoming season, and the coaching staff is hoping he can produce on both ends of the court as well as run the offense as designed.