Starting Jordan Farmar over Kendall Marshall Is Wrong Move for LA Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers have quite a few tough calls to make in the future as they attempt to undergo a quick transition from bottom-feeding pushover to legitimate contender, but the present isn't exactly devoid of nail-biting decisions either. 

A battle is brewing at point guard, with Kendall Marshall in one corner and Jordan Farmar in the other. 

Marshall began his career with the Lakers in sensational style, but he's fallen back to earth in Icarian fashion over the last few weeks. After the lefty went scoreless four times in a five-game stretch, it was quite clear he no longer had a stranglehold over the starting spot. 

Now he doesn't even have a grip on it. 

"He (Farmar) could start. We’ll talk about it," Mike D’Antoni said during a press conference following the loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, as relayed by Mike Medina of InsideSocial.com. "I like him playing 25-30 minutes whether he starts or not. Then whoever plays well will finish the game. We’ll talk about it and see if he needs to start."



Too bad that's not the right decision. 

It's not exactly a bad one, as this argument can swing in either direction with relative ease. But given the perceived intent of the remaining portion of the 2013-14 campaign, starting Marshall is more of a positive than letting him come off the bench to spell Farmar. 

 

Marshall Is a Legitimate Talent



Let's not be so quick to throw Marshall's talent aside just because of a bad shooting stretch. Granted, the UNC product has connected on only 17.6 percent of his shots from the field over the last seven Lakers contests, and he's averaging only two points per game during the same span. 

Clearly, he's in a scoring slump. There's no point in denying that. 

But even with defenders slacking off him to jump passing lanes a...

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