The Emergence of Jordan Farmar and How it Has Kept the Nets Somewhat Competitive

There is no doubt that this season has been an incredibly tough one for the Nets on the court. They have suffered an unheard amount of injuries early on, they haven’t been able to score consistently at all, and, maybe worst of all, they have been absolutely atrocious on defense and are even being considered one of the worst defenses in the NBA of the last 20 years.

There have been a few bright spots with this team, mainly in the play of Deron Williams and Kris Humphries and the emergence of rookie shooting guard Marshon Brooks as a prolific scorer. Another bright spot who isn’t getting the credit that he deserves is point guard Jordan Farmar, whom the Nets signed in the 2010 offseason, right after Farmar had been a reserve point guard for his hometown Los Angeles Lakers from 2006-2010. During that timespan, Jordan won two NBA championships with LA but wanted more playing time, leading to him signing with the Nets.

Last season, in his first year as a Net, Farmar backed up Devin Harris and later D-Will. He saw his minutes jump nearly seven a game from his final season in LA and even though he averaged a career-high 9.6 points per game, Farmar did not shoot for a high percentage at all and seemed out-of-place at times. Jordan shot a career-low 39 percent from the field in 2009-10 and was even worse from behind the 3-point arc at nearly 36 percent.

Coming into this lockout-condensed season as one of the only players on a Nets squad that was with the team the year before, Farmar knew that he would serve an increased and more important role. He has really stepped up to the plate and swung that responsibility out of the park (or arena, depends on your preference). For the first time in his career, Jordan has averaged double digits in points (11.1 PPG) and has also been incredibly accurate from the field and even from 3-point range as well. Shooting 48% FG, 46% 3FG, and even a nearly automatic 93% FT, Jordan Farmar has shown that he can be trusted in important game situations to knock down clutch shots from almost anywhere on the court, especially when Deron isn’t playing that well.

Exhibited by his play in the last 14-or-so games, Farmar has only scored less than 10 points one time in addition to having multiple high-teens to low-20s scoring performances on multiple occasions. Even when all else on the offensive end has failed for the Nets, which it has constantly, Farmar has been a steadying force and has turned himself into a smart player that can be trusted to run the New Jersey offense well enough to get a solid shot attempt for either himself or his teammates. Farmar’s impact is going to be felt even more when Brook Lopez returns from injury as the two proved to play a good high-low game with each other last season, opening up scoring chances for the both of them in the process.

When the Nets signed Farmar as a free agent two offseasons ago, they knew that he was a smart player that could run an offense decently and could score a few points in limited minutes off the bench. However, he has shown to coach Avery Johnson and staff that he deserves more than just limited bench minutes and that he should play during crunch time since he is an asset for any team to have in close games. Without Farmar’s steady offensive presence, the Nets might have a lot less than the eight wins they currently have on this season.