2014-2015 Exit Interviews: Jordan Farmar

Mincing words wouldn’t be wise at this stage since we can adequately formulate just how bad Jordan Farmar was with the Los Angeles Clippers this season. He showed a lack of chemistry, continuity, and anything resembling a skillset that would help the Clippers as they made their march throughout the season. Due to this, the Clippers eventually cut bait and went in a different direction. What follows is the first of the 2014-2015 Exit Interviews and shines a light on the season that Farmar had in Los Angeles.

VITALS

AGE	YEARS IN NBA	YEARS WITH CLIPPERS	2014-2015 SALARY	CONTRACT STATUS
28	8	1	$1,764,701	Clippers used Stretch Provision to spread out his remaining salary over the next three years at $510,922 per year.

To Farmar’s credit, he’s still a relatively young guy in the NBA both in years and age. He’s a finished product who knows his limitations on the court and has honed a craft that allows him to be useful in certain settings and situations. Unfortunately, for both he and the Clippers, it did not work out as well as expected this season. He was paid a pittance – the Bi-Annual Exception, in fact – to come to the Clippers and performed subpar in his minutes. Due to his lackluster performance, the Clippers eventually reached a buyout with Farmar and used the Stretch Provision to cut bait after just a few months into his first year with the franchise. He will cost the Clippers, as stated, $510,922 per year over the next three seasons because of this move.

IN A NUTSHELL

	PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	3P%	FT%	WS/48	PER	TS%	eFG%
2014-2015	4.6	1.2	1.9	.386	.361	.909	.053	9.9	.513	.497
CAREER	7.7	1.9	2.9	.423	.374	.734	.068	13.3	.528	.508

On the surface, Farmar’s numbers don’t look too horrible actually. Having just shy of a 50 percent Effective Field Goal Percentage and 51.3 True Shooting Percentage isn’t really bad. He wasn’t too far off of the efficiency season that Jose Calderon put up for the New York Knicks this year. The issue lies in his other numbers for the most part. He only averaged 4.6 points and 1.9 assists in just 14.7 minutes per game. Farmar only played in 36 games before the team cut ties with him and he only saw more than 20 minutes in just three games when he was on the roster.

In total, Farmar saw 15 or more minutes of action just 15 times and scored 10 points or more just six times, including a season-high 15 points on December 15 against the Detroit Pistons. Unfortunately, Farmar was waived a month later, on January 16, and went to play in Turkey for Darüşşafaka Doğuş, where he has since averaged 14.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in 29.4 minutes. Farmar seems happier in Turkey and might be able to parlay this run into another NBA contract elsewhere. It just won’t be with the Clippers again.

STRENGTHS It seems odd to point out since he did not play so well this year but Jordan Farmar did have some strengths on the court. He attempted nearly 100 threes; finishing with 97. The 97 attempts actually still managed to rank as the seventh most on the team this season. Oddly enough, Farmar’s 36.1 percent from three finished just behind Matt Barnes and was the fifth best mark on the squad among those seven players. Believe it or not, Farmar shot better from three this season than Jamal Crawford and Spencer Hawes did. And Crawford attempted almost 300 more than Farmar did. Three-point shooting is one thing Farmar can do and did do at times this season. According to SportVU tracking data, Farmar was 25-for-66 (37.9 percent) on catch-and-shoot threes this season and 32-for-82 (39.0 percent) with a defender at least four feet away from him.

Another one of Farmar’s strengths is that he doesn’t turn the ball over at a supremely high rate as a ball-handler. He averaged 0.9 turnovers per game but just 2.2 turnovers per 36 minutes. He can also make some solid passing decisions and showcased an ability to see the floor well at times when he was actually given the ball. One of his other strengths would probably be his grittiness defensively. He’s not the most athletic guy nor the most fleet of foot but he competed and tried to use his body to wall opposing guards off as they drove to the lane. He tried to compete on that end even if things weren’t going well offensively.

WEAKNESSES Is playing next to Jamal Crawford a weakness? If so, that’d be a major one. In the 437 minutes that the duo of Jordan Farmar and Jamal Crawford played together this season, they put up just an Offensive Rating of 97.5 and a Defensive Rating of 102.1. Even more staggering was that Farmar had 48 assists and 30 turnovers in those minutes but had 19 assists and just 2 turnovers when Crawford was off the court. Farmar’s field goal percentage, three-point percentage, assist numbers, and turnover numbers all got worse whenever he was paired with Crawford. And the Clippers couldn’t keep putting both of them on the floor together when they lacked any cohesion whatsoever.

Farmar had trouble finishing through contact this year but that could have been the result of a seriously small sample size. He took just 21 shots inside of 8 feet and made 52.4 percent of them. However, the real problem came when a defender was within three feet of him on those shots. On the 13 shots that the defender was, Farmar made just five of them. It could be just a one time thing but Farmar did shoot just 42 percent on those same shots the year prior, so it could be that he really does just struggle around the rim. Anytime Farmar had to put the ball on the floor, it was a horror show and everything that could go wrong eventually did go wrong.

Defensively, Farmar had problems with quicker guards who could take him off the dribble and get into the lane before he could react laterally and adjust accordingly. While he did do a good job at times of keeping his chest into the offensive player and preventing them from getting to the paint, he couldn’t do it consistently enough to warrant keeping his job throughout the entire season. Any guard who was quicker than him would get into the paint and finish a layup or find someone on the perimeter for a three as the defensive rotated over to the help. Either way, he was solid overall defensively but had a ton of problem areas there, as well.

FUTURE WITH CLIPPERS There is no future with the Los Angeles Clippers for Jordan Farmar. While his first and only year with the franchise had good moments and bad moments, most people will really only remember him as that former member of the Los Angeles Lakers who couldn’t quite hack it with the team across the hall and ultimately had to get bought out and sent packing to Turkey. Fair or not, that’s how it’ll be perceived. Farmar felt that Doc Rivers lied to him and didn’t give him the minutes that he was promised but to say Farmar was a positive this season for the Clippers would be a gross miscalculation. He had his ups and downs but it was a down year for him and for the team that put some eggs into his basket.

I don’t know what the future holds for Jordan Farmar but I believe it’s safe to say that there won’t be a home for him with the Clippers as long as Doc Rivers is running the show. He does have some qualities and an NBA team will most likely bring him in the offseason but we can unequivocally say that the team that does so will not be the Los Angeles Clippers. We wish Jordan Farmar the best in the future and thanks for a couple games here and there of production.