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Admittedly yesterday I listened to the radio call yesterday more than I watched the game so it's hard to tell, but after Favors switched into Aldridge and got a few stops I was thrilled. Then I heard Corbin had put Kanter in over Favors and I was convinced LA was going to go off on Kanter similar to the way he did against Paul.

However, Kanter may have done an even finer job on LA than Favors did. I also think Kanter is pretty clearly a superior rebounder to Favors, and when he gets the ball down low, he has shown some fantastic footwork.

I love Favors, and still don't think he has remotely touched his potential as an offensive player, but what are the odds that Kanter turns into a better player than Favors?

A lot of the stops on LMA had to do with the Jazz starting to triple him every time down the floor while they left Felton wide-open (which was the correct strategy). Kanter did a good job, but that still needs to be mentioned. Kanter has shown some major strengths (rebounding, one-on-one postup defense) and some major weaknesses (statistically around the worst postup scorer in the league, doesn't protect the rim much), I'm hopeful but I'm not sure how he turns out. He did seem to have postup skills in Eurobasket that would work in the NBA so hopefully he can start to score better.

Favors has been terrible this year, he stands by his man on defense and doesn't try to protect the rim until the ball handler has already entered the paint and is going to score regardless. Everyone knew his offense was raw, but he's been completely awful defensively this year. He's been playing better in the last few games, but he still really needs to pick it up. He still has the tools to be a great player (Like a more muscular Tyson Chandler who can postup a little) though and his defensive fundamentals seem there...

I think Favors would still be more valued as a prospect, but it's getting close at this point.

At this point its a toss up over who actually turns out to be the better player....but I must admit Kanter has looked like the better player to me at times right now....or at least the player that has a bigger positive impact on the game.

I think it's too early to tell...... Favors is much more athletic....... Kanter seems to be a lot more fundamentally sound........

You can teach fundamentals, you can't teach hops.......

However, that's what people kept saying about Stromile Swift (and a long list of others, Tyrus Thomas, anyone), and he didn't turn into a superstar.......

red4hf wrote:I think it's too early to tell...... Favors is much more athletic....... Kanter seems to be a lot more fundamentally sound........

You can teach fundamentals, you can't teach hops.......

However, that's what people kept saying about Stromile Swift (and a long list of others, Tyrus Thomas, anyone), and he didn't turn into a superstar.......

I don't know if Kanter is really more fundamentally sound, Favors has better technique on defense and in the post. Kanter is playing harder and more aggressively though.

favors just hasn't been focusing on defense. Hes trying too much on offense right now kinda forcing it. Kanter is active active active. He hustles and plays with in the system most of the time. Both are still raw.

This is a great post and worthy of discussion.

For Offense: Kanter appears to be able to become the superior player. His footwork is great for a big 270 pound beast. Watch him when a shot goes up.....he goes under the backboard, within 3 feet of it, and just plants himself in there for position. If the ball bounces his way he can easily seal the opponent off. I think Kanter will eventually show great jump shot range to 16 feet.

Favors has the great physical tools, tall, huge wingspan, fast for his size, good hops.
It remains to be seen how good he will be on offense, but he has the toolsfor 16-18ppg.

For Defense- Kanter- It depense on how you value rebounding. He is not great at blocking shots, but neither was Karl Malone. Sometimes if you just consistently shove your opponent out of the paint and force them to take longer shots.....that is great defense.

Favors opught to block 2 shots a game, get 10 rebounds, I think he will improve and becomethe better defensive player.

I say Kanter will be slightly better than Favors, but both can be 20/10 guys, Favors need to show more for me to think he has a higher ceiling.

Sometimes Favors shows some great hops and power though.

Of course, both are #3 picks, which is incredibly low. They both went at a young age and we all have high expectations.

I think Favors underestimates his own ability so far. His laid back personality gets in the way of what should be a dominant all star caliber basketball player. So far he has taken a step back from last season. This is concerning for a young kid that needs to establish himself in the league.

Kanter has already established a rebounding ability, in this way he has a upper hand on Favors

I think one thing Favors is struggling to learn is how to use his body first, and his athleticism second.

Using his athleticism first at this level is causing him to get into foul trouble, and taking him away from easy buckets that he used to get in high school and college.

If he would embrace his size a little more, the way Kanter already does, he'd be a far superior player.

I doubt he's ever had to use his strength to dominate his opponents because he's always had the height and atheticism to score easily, but that isn't the case anymore, and he needs to adapt.

I've yet to see much evidence that Kanter can be an offensive player in the NBA. Not saying he can't be, but I haven't seen it yet.

HappyProle wrote:I've yet to see much evidence that Kanter can be an offensive player in the NBA. Not saying he can't be, but I haven't seen it yet.

He's shown a move here or there, but overall he's got some work to do.

He needs to spread his game out a little more to open up the middle for some easy buckets.

Every video leading up to the draft showed he had a jumper, he's just yet to find his range in the league.

As soon as he gets that 10-15 footer working again, he'll be just fine.

I don't think Kanter's been given the green light for a mid-range game. He's doing what coach is asking AFAIK. The main thing he suffers from is poor spacing of the team- he gets surrounded by opposing players- only Shaq could have dunked his way out of that. Kanter gets his shots at the rim blocked a lot but a couple of easy tweaks and he can change that. I think it also is really apparent because of the volume of rebounds and put-backs he gets.

About a month ago at another site a similar question was asked and I picked Kanter and I still do. He already is elite at something, he's strong as anyone and he's fearless. He keeps his emotions in check but still brings a lot of life to the game. Favors I think will probably come on strong later in his career like Shawn Kemp did.

Favors hasn't figured out yet how to use his athleticism... that's rare because sometimes he seems compleyely out ofthe game. However, if I recall it correctly, it took Dwight Howard about 4 seasons to figure out his game... lets hope Favors has a better learning curve...

Kanter is ahead of Favors right now. By the end of the season he will be making those mid range jumpers at a ahigh rate, and then he will be an important factor dismantling defenses.

outerspacefella wrote:Favors hasn't figured out yet how to use his athleticism... that's rare because sometimes he seems compleyely out ofthe game. However, if I recall it correctly, it took Dwight Howard about 4 seasons to figure out his game... lets hope Favors has a better learning curve...

Kanter is ahead of Favors right now. By the end of the season he will be making those mid range jumpers at a ahigh rate, and then he will be an important factor dismantling defenses.

Dwight was at 16-13 by his second year. He did struggle a bit to contribute wins to his team though.

Favors is only 20. He'll figure it out. Look at Bynum, he took forever to figure it out but once he did he became a stud.