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Kurt from Forum Blue and Gold:

For guys like me who prefer things quantified it’s hard to admit, but sometimes we are drawn to the guys with the intangibles. They are the leaders, fearless about taking big shots, taking charge on the court — and their teammates rally around that. They provide a confidence and a swagger otherwise lacking.

Jordan Farmar is that guy for me. I’ve watched the majority of his games the last two seasons and he’s been my favorite Bruin. I’ve also seen enough to know there are key areas he as to improve to make and impact, or even to stick around long, at the next level. He’s not a consistent jump shooter, shooting just 48% (eFG%) overall last season, he had a pretty weak offensive rating of 99.3 (points per 100 possessions used) and a frightening number of possessions he used ended in a turnover.

But he has the intangibles — and a few tangibles — that I love to watch. You saw that if you watched the NCAA championship game against Florida, Farmar almost single handedly kept the Bruins in the game for the first half. I’d describe him as a “crafty veteran” already, both in his moves and leadership.

He is a solid to good defender, both man and in a team defense system. He is a floor general in the classic sense. His first step is quick and he can get into the lane. He plays well up-tempo. He has great court vision and he can thread a pass, both on the move and standing still. He set the table for lesser players like Arron Afflalo and Ryan Hollins, each of whom had huge seasons. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute learned to move without the ball as a freshman because he found that when he did Farmar got him the rock for an easy bucket. More importantly, when it was time for the big shot, Farmar was willing to take it — and if you doubled him too soon you paid with a great pass. He the focal point of a team that went to the NCAA Finals.

If you’re the focal point of a major sports program in LA you get noticed — Matt Leinart walked on water here, or got into the Hyde Lounge without waiting, which is about the same thing — but Farmar lived relatively under the radar. Well, unless you talk to my daughter.

True story, back in early 2005 my wife, one-year-old daughter and I flew to Phoenix for a family reunion. We came back to LAX on a Sunday night, but our paid-for ride is nowhere to be found. So I’m on the cell phone berating a poor dispatcher when my wife taps me on the shoulder and says, “isn’t that the UCLA coach?” Sure enough, Ben Howland, tie stretched out and top button on the Oxford undone, was standing 25 feet away from us, with the rest of his team not far behind, wearing UCLA sweats, returning from a weekend in the Bay Area.

Most of the team headed for the charter bus going back to Westwood, but a few guys split off to be picked by family or girlfriends. I wasn’t paying much attention, my ride still was not there after 30 minutes of waiting and some poor shlub at the dispatching headquarters was going to listen to me vent whether he could solve the problem that second or not.

Then I turn around to see my daughter, who can barely stand on her own, doing all she can to get the attention of — and flirt with — Farmar, who is leaning against a post waiting for his personal ride. Kids can be remarkably effective flirters, pretty soon she and Farmar are making faces at each other, and he smiles at her as he gets in the car with a coed. I’m not sure what a one year old can see in a guy but intangibles, but that elusive “it” quality. Farmar has that and every UCLA fan, and my daughter, could see it. (I realize that story really points to a future of fretting about this daughter as she grows up. All I can say is at least she went after a guy with NBA skills.)

And Farmar has NBA skills, they just need a lot of polish and more control. That will come with a few years experience, preferably time (at least at first) not as a starter but coming off the bench. He has to learn to harness his skills.

The intangibles he has down.

Nate Jones from JonesontheNBA has known Farmar since they were both children. He tells the story with love. Here's an excerpt:

Jordan would visit his Grandmother a lot, and every time he did he would run straight over to my house (as pretty much everyone did in my neighborhood at the time) to either play baseball (in our front yard) or basketball (in the back). Jordan was the youngest of our neighborhood friends, so a lot of times some of us would try to exclude him from games (mostly as we got older), sending out warnings like: “we don’t want to see you get hurt”, or “you’re too small to be playing with us”. Jordan would have none of that. He would force his way on to the court and then show us all that he could compete by nailing shot after shot. I remember us once all playing him in a game of horse. We all didn’t take the game seriously because we thought we had to make it seem like he was beating us. He saw this and it just made him angry. He wanted us to play hard and wanted to know that he could hang with competition older and bigger than him.

As we got a little bit older I would witness him and his buddy (I don’t recall his name) become so good at 2Ball (an NBA sponsored two man shoot out) that they ended up being the best in the region. This gave him the opportunity to participate in 2ball displays before and after the Laker games (during the 96-97 Season). I’m sure getting to be a part of that at an early age did nothing but fuel his desire and his confidence to believing he could one day play pro ball.

Other stuff:

• Fun little video report in which UCLA fans are interviewed about Farmar's decision to declare for the draft.
• As long as you're watching college video journalism, check this profile of UCLA and USC basketball programs. Nice little Farmar interview. He even helped a friend pass the SATs.
• Farmar shocked everyone by having the best vertical leap measured at the NBA predraft camp. Of course, that camp didn't include some of the top athletes like Guillermo Diaz, Shannon Brown, Rajon Rondo, and Anthony Johnson.