June 29th: Lakers add Jordan Farmar, J.R. Pinnock and Maurice Evans. Banks next?

[Phil]

Lakers take Bruins' Farmar

Lakers: A busy draft night brought the Lakers point guard Jordan Farmar from UCLA and a potential defensive upgrade at shooting guard in Maurice Evans from the Detroit Pistons.

BY KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register

Closer look at the Newest Lakers

Draft Choices

Player: Jordan Farmar
Ht.: 6-foot-2 Wt.: 180 Age: 19 School/country: UCLA
2005-06 averages: 13.5 points, 5.1 assists, 1.1 steals
Notable: Declared for draft after being named All-Pac-10 as a sophomore. Midseason nominee for Naismith and Wooden awards. Godfather is former major league baseball player Eric Davis. His 97 three-pointers at UCLA rank ninth on the school’s all-time list. Scored 18 points in NCAA championship loss to Florida.

Player: J.R. Pinnock
Ht.: 6-5 Wt.: 207 Age: 22 School/country: George Washington 2005-06 averages: 14.5 points, 3.1 assists, 5.3 rebounds
Notable: Played three seasons at George Washington and was first-team All-Atlantic 10 last season. Attended Coastal Christian Academy in Virginia Beach, Va. Nickname is short for “Junior,” but given name is Danilo Agustin.

LAKERS ACQUISITION
Player: Maurice Evans
Ht.: 6-5
Wt.: 220 Age: 27 School/country: Texas
2005-06 averages for Detroit: 5 points, 2 rebounds, 45.2 field-goal percentage in 80 games
Notable: Great leaper and athlete. Was not drafted, but played in 2001-02 with Minnesota. Was named MVP of the Italian League All-Star Game in 2004 - earning a job with the Sacramento Kings, who assigned him at times to guard Kobe Bryant vs. the Lakers.

[Phil]

A 'comeback' for Banks?
BY ROSS SILER, Staff Writer



If only Gary Payton had reported for his physical in Boston two summers ago, the Lakers never would have had to take the rare step of amending a trade and returning Marcus Banks, a promising young point guard, to the Celtics.

For one week in August 2004, Banks belonged to the Lakers. He was about to get the chance to play for the closest thing to a hometown team for a kid from Las Vegas. But all that changed when Payton balked at the trade.

Now Banks could get his second chance at being a Laker. His agent, Michael Higgins, said Wednesday that Banks would have definite interest in coming to the Lakers when the free-agent negotiating period begins Saturday.

"He's always been a Lakers fan," Higgins said. "He likes the situation there with Kobe (Bryant) and Phil Jackson. He's looking at it from his standpoint where it's definitely a viable option for him."

The Lakers cannot start negotiating with Banks until Saturday. Teams cannot sign players until July 12, after the NBA's moratorium period ends.

Banks, who won't turn 25 until November, was traded from the Celtics to Minnesota in January and went on to start in 28 games for the Timberwolves, averaging 12.0 points, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals.

Banks is a strong defender and might be the best free-agent point guard available, after Jason Terry and Mike James. Jackson has talked about the team's need to upgrade in areas of speed and defense.

"I think he just wants an opportunity," Higgins said of Banks. "He got a little taste of starting in Minnesota and obviously he played really well. He doesn't have to start, but he definitely wants to play."

[Phil]

No need to look far for winner

LAKERS: They feel lucky in drafting Farmar, who helped UCLA to the NCAA title game.

01:08 AM PDT on Thursday, June 29, 2006
By BRODERICK TURNER
The Press-Enterprise

EL SEGUNDO - In what was considered an unpredictable NBA draft and turned out to be even more topsy-turvy than expected, the Lakers marveled at their good fortune after drafting UCLA point guard Jordan Farmar late in the first round Wednesday.


Mark Zaleski / The Press-Enterprise
Jordan Farmar averaged 13.3 points and shot 41 percent from the field last season as a sophomore, and he improved his draft position with a solid showing at the pre-draft camp. The Lakers got additional backcourt help with a trade for Detroit's Maurice Evans.


"We did not think that Jordan Farmar would be available when we picked at 26," General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. "We actually had him going five or six picks higher than this. So it wasn't a player that we were prepared to take."

The Lakers, however, jumped at the chance to get some help with one of their biggest needs, especially from a homegrown talent like Farmar.

The 19-year-old played at Taft High School in Woodland Hills and spent two years at UCLA, where he helped lead the Bruins to the NCAA championship game this past spring.

"I can't think of a better situation," Farmar said on a conference call.

[Phil]

Good as Gold

Former Taft High and UCLA point guard Farmar is the Lakers' No. 1 pick
ROSS SILER, Staff writer



EL SEGUNDO As hard as it was to leave UCLA after coming up one game short of a national championship in April, Jordan Farmar couldn't have scripted a better ending once his name was called on draft night.

From starring at Taft High of Woodland Hills to being one of Ben Howland's first building blocks in Westwood, Farmar now will stay at home to start his professional basketball career.

The Lakers took Farmar with the No. 26 pick in the first round of Wednesday's NBA draft, leaving the 19-year-old guard nearly speechless at the prospect of playing for his hometown team.

“Words can't even express it,” Farmar said, later adding, “It's a perfect situation.”

The Lakers made a pair of trades late in the draft, sending their second-round pick, Senegalese center Cheick Samb, to Detroit for guard Maurice Evans. They also traded a 2007 second-round pick to Dallas for the draft rights to George Washington guard J.R. Pinnock.

Evans, a third-year guard, played in 80 games for the Pistons last season and has a defensive aggressiveness that Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak liked. He signed a three-year, $4.5 million contract with Detroit last September.

Farmar was the highest-ranked player left on the Lakers' draft board, having worked out a second time for the team Tuesday. As fate would have it, Farmar sprained an ankle not soon after an assistant coach told him the only thing he had to do was not get hurt.

“That was the scariest moment of my life,” Farmar said. “But I walked it off and I'm OK. And he was right. Everything worked out.”

[Phil]

No Place Like Home

Farmar doesn't have far to go, as the Lakers make him the 26th pick in the first round. However, Kupchak cautions that he might not play much next season.
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
June 29, 2006


In the age of scouting players, from the Dakotas to Dakar, the Lakers didn't stray very far to find their first-round pick in Wednesday's NBA draft.

In need of backcourt help, they were delighted to see Jordan Farmar's name still on the board when the draft's 26th pick rolled around.

Farmar, 19, is a blend of court awareness and defensive savvy who led UCLA to the NCAA championship game two months ago.

He was expected to be gone when the Lakers took their turn, but the New Jersey Nets, seeking a point guard to develop behind Jason Kidd, selected former Connecticut and Crenshaw High standout Marcus Williams, who unexpectedly slipped several spots in the draft.

[Phil]

Draft grades:Chad Ford

LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Round 1: Jordan Farmar, PG, UCLA (No. 26)
Round 2: Acquired Danilo Pinnock, SG, George Washington (No. 58) from Dallas Mavericks for future second-round pick.

Analysis: I think Jordan Farmar will be a solid point guard in the pros and I think the triangle offense will be good to Farmar. He's a solid shooter, ball-handler and defender, though not great at anything.


Don't expect him to do too much in L.A. next year. After all, we know Phil Jackson isn't fond of rookies.



Grade: B

[Phil]

Mavs make deal, with eye on next year
Second-round pick taken, then shipped to Lakers for '07 choice

12:55 AM CDT on Thursday, June 29, 2006
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News


A swap meet broke out at the NBA draft Wednesday night. So you just knew the proceedings wouldn't end without the Mavericks doing something.

Their movement was barely a ripple in the turbulent ocean of wheeling and dealing that centered on the Portland Trail Blazers and included half of the league. But the Mavericks still had to get their little piece of the action.

They saw no need to keep any player who was available when their second-round pick (58th overall) rolled around. So the Mavericks did the only thing they could do. They took George Washington's J.R. Pinnock and dealt him to the Los Angeles Lakers for a second-round pick in 2007 that originally belonged to Miami.

[Phil]

Mark Heisler:
The NBA
Game of Pick-Up Quickly Becomes Let's Make a Deal
June 29, 2006


Right on schedule, the NBA draft started and teams started going in all directions.

Five deals went down within 14 picks. After Knicks General Manager-Coach Isiah Thomas dashed the hopes of cheering fans in Madison Square Garden, taking little-known Renaldo Balkman of South Carolina with the No. 20 pick, the league was lucky to finish before the audience stormed the stage.

The Portland Trail Blazers stole the show, pulling off three deals within seven picks, swapping their No. 4 choice for Chicago's No. 2 to take LaMarcus Aldridge, the highest-rated big man, trading reserve point guard Sebastian Telfair to Boston for No. 7 to take Randy Foye, then trading Foye to Minnesota for its No. 6 pick, Brandon Roy, the highest-rated guard.

Nevertheless, illustrating what all this sound and fury meant in the immediate future, the Trail Blazers are still expected to lose 60 games.

The Lakers got what they figured to get with the 26th pick in this draft, a young player who might help in the future but won't change the direction of their program any time soon.

Stirring restlessly as they sorted through their short list of options after the season, the Lakers cast around desperately for a big move, trying to trade up for a high pick — reportedly to take Roy — even inquiring about the Bulls' Kirk Hinrich.

However, the Lakers didn't make Lamar Odom available, still clinging to their hope that Odom and Kobe Bryant can be the nucleus of a rising power. As they found out, no one was remotely interested in anything else they had to offer.

With no cap space until 2008, few players anyone wants and only the No. 26 pick, the Lakers were enchanted to see UCLA's Jordan Farmar drop to them.