June 17th: "Lakers are looking for a point guard"

[Phil]

Only Farmar Impresses
Broderick Turner



11:26 PM PDT on Friday, June 16, 2006
By BRODERICK TURNER
The Press-Enterprise



Over a five-day period at the NBA's recent pre-draft camp, UCLA guard Jordan Farmar impressed enough scouts, coaches and general managers to be considered a late first-round draft pick, based on a sampling of league player personnel evaluators.

According to these NBA evaluators, San Diego State forward Marcus Slaughter also showed some skills at the camp, but many still weren't sure that the former Riverside North High star did enough to get drafted.

The draft is June 28. Underclassmen who haven't signed with an agent and are just testing the waters have until Sunday to decide if they'll try to get drafted or return to college.

With the draft short on quality point guards, Farmar, a sophomore who led the Bruins to the NCAA Tournament championship game last spring, showed he was one of the better ones available while playing in three games and working out in Orlando, Fla.

The Lakers are looking for a point guard and liked what they saw from Farmar, but they don't think he'll be available when they draft at No. 26. The talk is that Farmar could go somewhere in the early 20s.

Farmar has yet to announce if he'll remain in the draft or return to UCLA. Indications are that Farmar will not return to Westwood.

[Phil]

Talking with: Ronnie Lester, Asst. G.M., Part I


From the moment the Lakers' season came to an end, Lakers Blog has been abuzz with folks debating which kid in an oversize, flashy, custom-tailored suit the team should draft on June 28th. Aside from the fact that it's fun to debate the merits of Guillermo Diaz vs. Shannon Brown vs. Thabo Sefolosha (who has half of our readers convinced he's "the one," despite having never seen the cat play a minute's worth of ball), whoever the Lakers select two Wednesdays from now represents another brick in the wall of a house being rebuilt.

Thus, we thought it would be a good idea to talk on Monday with Ronnie Lester, Assistant G.M of the Los Angeles Lakers. Aside from being Mitch Kupchak's right hand man, Lester is the big Kahuna when it comes to Lakers scouting. If there's a young 'un worth checking out, better believe Lester or a member of his staff has checked him out. Like every team in the league, the Lakers aren't big on tipping their hat pre-draft, so there weren't any specific potential draftees confirmed or denied as possibilities. But we got a good idea about the ins and outs of the process, as well some insights about the upcoming free agency period, trade possibilities, what the team is looking for come Summer League time, and other items. Here's what he had to say.