It looks like Jordan Farmar will be playing in NBA's pre-draft camp in Orlando after all. There was a lot of speculation on whether or not Jordan was going to take part in it all. Well it looks like Jordan is in which may be a sign of his current NBA draft status:
The UCLA point-guard's decision to participate in the pre-draft camp may be the result of his inability to showcase his play-making skills in the small private work-out sessions which typically involves only two to six players on the court at a time.
I am not going to try to read too much into it for now. Jeremy thinks that it could be a good sign for UCLA fans. But ESPN's Katz throws in his 2 cents from ESPN saying Jordan is "a solid first-round pick if he stays in the draft." Uhm whatever. I'd be careful about relying too much on Katz's report at this point. The guy has a track record of being a certifiable moron when it comes to providing scoop on UCLA basketball. Remember this is the same no talent assclown who had been making excuses for Lavin while he was the head coach, and he was also pimping Pat Douglass as the basketball coach who would succeed Lavin at UCLA. He says Jordan is a sure first round pick, but I have not seen or read that anywhere. I'd imagine if Jordan really had a gurantee from a team that he would be picked in the first round, he probably would not have played in this camp. Who knows - everyone is guessing along with Andy Katz. So don't get worked up over his report.The fact Farmar is participating in the pre-draft camp indicates he is looking to improve his current draft status.
Anyways here is Jordan's team for the Orlando camp:
Point Guard Jordan Farmar (UCLA)
Point Guard Daniel Horton (Michigan)
Shooting Guard Allan Ray (Villanova)
Shooting Guard Chris McCray (Maryland)
Small Forward Bobby Jones (Washington)
Small Forward David Noel (North Carolina)
Small Forward Steve Novak (Marquette)
Power Forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu (George Washington)
Power Forwrd Paul Millsap (Louisiana Tech)
Center Terrence Dials (Ohio St.)
From the report there will be 5 other teams besides the one Jordan is playing in. Here is the Orlando roster from ESPN. Again the camp gets started today.Point Guard Daniel Horton (Michigan)
Shooting Guard Allan Ray (Villanova)
Shooting Guard Chris McCray (Maryland)
Small Forward Bobby Jones (Washington)
Small Forward David Noel (North Carolina)
Small Forward Steve Novak (Marquette)
Power Forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu (George Washington)
Power Forwrd Paul Millsap (Louisiana Tech)
Center Terrence Dials (Ohio St.)
I hope Jordan does well. Let's hope he decides it works out the best for him. UCLA basketball is going to be fine with or without him. Meanwhile, AA is not going to playing in that camp, which is leading many to reasonably speculate that he is coming back. This will all clear up by June 18th, which is the deadline for these players to withdraw their names from the draft.
Also, I forgot to link this story on Shipp posted on BBR. He is now cleared to practice in full contact drills with the team. He sounds excited about next season even if Jordan is not around:
In an interview with Shipp, he indicated full confidence in teammate point-guard Darren Collison's ability to run the team next season if Farmar decided to leave for the NBA this year.
"We'll be quicker and we'll pick up the tempo," Shipp said of playing with Collison if Farmar leaves. "He's a good point-guard who got good experience during the Final Four."
Collison averaged 5.5 points and 2.3 assists in 19 minutes per contest last season. He played in every contest along with two other Bruins, a team-record 39 games.
Yeap. Jordan is a stud whose game vision will be hard to replace (if he decides to stay in the draft), but we are going to be all right with DC at the point. If in fact there has to be a transition at pg this one will be sort of reminiscent of the transition at pg from Edney to Dollar. Dollar similarly to DC was coming off championship game experience although his he did not have the offensive skills of DC. Anyways ... all this is speculation, which is running rampant in the traditional media. Bisheff had a column on why Jordan and Arron should stay in Westwood, which echoes the similar sentiments from Plaschke's column. My advice seriously is to sit tight and wish these wonderful kids luck. Remember UCLA is going to be all right (either in short of long run) one way or another. We will know all the answers soon enough - by June 18th."We'll be quicker and we'll pick up the tempo," Shipp said of playing with Collison if Farmar leaves. "He's a good point-guard who got good experience during the Final Four."
Collison averaged 5.5 points and 2.3 assists in 19 minutes per contest last season. He played in every contest along with two other Bruins, a team-record 39 games.
GO BRUINS.