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I have to admit, after the impressive performance in the playoffs last year, I expected Favors to come back and make the biggest strides over the summer. I have been sorely disappointed.

So, what is up with him? Does he have an injury that I am not aware of? Is he resting on his laurels from his playoff performance and verbal indications from coaches and front office folks that they expect him to start this next year and didn't put the work in? Kanter worked hard over the summer and it shows. Burks obviously worked on his shot, which is much improved. Hayward is taking the ball to the hole with reckless abandon this year. They all seem to have improved more than Favors. Anyone have any ideas?

Although he shows flashes of brilliance, is he another Javale McGee or DeAndre Jordan who are overpaid and overprized due to their size and "potential" label?

I think Favors is never going to need another 5 years to become an adequate backup.

Deandre Jordan? Anyways... aside from that.

I think he will be ok. His defense hasn't regressed. He just hasn't shown the offense that makes the difference between a specialist and a star. He's still the top keeper out of the 4 bigs. I'd like to see Al/Favors and Sap/Kanter rotations.

I think he listened to the press and assumed he was the next best thing and didnt work on his game.

We hear all kinds of stories about Kanter working on his game and we see the improvement.

I dont think Favors worked as hard as he should of.

There's not much reason to play hard defensively in the preseason because the games don't matter.

Offensively, I'm starting to think that he just isn't talented. I don't think he has the touch to be a 15+ PPG scorer in the NBA.

He's still really good though and I think he can still be a top 20-25 player in the NBA if he keeps working on his defense. Corbin might want to think about a role change for him on offense in the future though to where he's scoring mostly on lobs since his other stuff is pretty low-efficiency on offense.

Nothing it's just preseason

IT IS THE PRE-SEASON!!!!

We get tons of stories every year of guys working hard during the summmer and they kill it in the preseason. Then the regular season rolls around and we see not much improvement. Its not always how hard you work but what you work on and what things you do to improve that skill. Don't be fooled by the preseaon, most these guys will not be that much improved.

With that said Favors is still tyson chandler 2.0 which is great and well worth a #3 selection. But you have to be patient with him because he's not gonna show it on a consistant basis anytime soon.

come on guys don't overact these kind of stats. This guy is still 21 and not 25 Compared to Kanter Favors seems to be more shy to the media and i don't think that he doesn't worked hard as Kanter. Maybe the pressure is too much for him and he can't handle it for now. There are 2 kind of players, one who needs pressure the other one more trust and this is Corbins part. I am still rooting for more minutes for Favors and to trade Millsap. This would mean more minutes for Kanter also..

Just goes to show we really do need Al and Sap on the offensive side. If we got rid of one of them, we would be hurting BIG time with our interior offense, no backup plan and our offense would have just flipped from no perimeter offense to no interior offense.

Easy enough to answer....

The coaches. That's whats up.

This preseason has been revelatory. I think Favors has hit his ceiling, and unfortunately it's Olden Polynice.

UTJazzFan_Echo1 wrote:Easy enough to answer....

The coaches. That's whats up.

I think it's clear that the coaching staff doesn't see developing the young guys as their PRIMARY responsibility. They're trying to win every game NOW without much thought for the future.

Now maybe they're doing it the right way, and you can win now while giving the youngsters enough opportunity, but I'm skeptical.

I still don't think he's in great shape, which will naturally come as the year progresses. Look at Kanter vs. Favors. Kanter comes into camp in legendary shape, kicks ass in the preseason, Favors comes back looking pretty much the same physically, and has been pretty average.

Look at his missed shots at the rim, on and off foul trouble etc, leads me to believe he doesn't have his game legs back yet. When he gets them we'll see the same guy we saw last year in the playoffs.

Bat wrote:I still don't think he's in great shape, which will naturally come as the year progresses. Look at Kanter vs. Favors. Kanter comes into camp in legendary shape, kicks ass in the preseason, Favors comes back looking pretty much the same physically, and has been pretty average.

Look at his missed shots at the rim, on and off foul trouble etc, leads me to believe he doesn't have his game legs back yet. When he gets them we'll see the same guy we saw last year in the playoffs.

Where talking about that same guy who shot 41% FG and got into early trouble twice in the playoffs (one of which he almost fouled out the game)? He was missing at rim shots then, nothing different.

So this is playoff Favors so hopefully that means he will be better than that this season. His playoff performance was not that impressive and is being criminally overrated.

Should be noted that Favors always seems to play better against better competition. Maybe he just needs the real season to start to become fully engaged... especially when the coaches still refuse to start him.

reapaman wrote: His playoff performance was not that impressive and is being criminally overrated.

As much as I believe in Favors, I've got to agree with this. The myth of his amazing playoff performance seems a bit out of hand.

Haha.

This kills me. Nothing is wrong. He doesn't appear to have gotten much better offensively, but he's still a demon on D, had his best rebounding night of the season the other night, and is an athletic finisher around the rim. Maybe he's never more than that, idk. But I can say with assurance that he's a legit starter right now and a potential All NBA level player with just his defense/rebounding/finishing skills. If he develops a real offensive arsenal, that's when you start talking about MVP shares, 1st team All-NBA etc.

He'll be fine. All the disclaimers that apply to Kanter's great showing also apply to Derrick's mediocre one. I've seen enough to catch my attention, but nothing that really makes me worry.

StocktonShorts wrote:

reapaman wrote: His playoff performance was not that impressive and is being criminally overrated.

As much as I believe in Favors, I've got to agree with this. The myth of his amazing playoff performance seems a bit out of hand.

I thought I was the only one who thought this. Favors' "great" playoff performance was mostly because of the highlights he had on the defensive end of the court - there's nothing wrong with that.

At the same time, I'm really not that worried, guys. Think about it. Yes, he mostly gets garbage buckets at the moment, plus buckets purely off of athleticism alone. But even then, he's probably able to average 12-14 ppg. Now...WORST CASE scenario: his offense never fully develops - instead he's simply a defensive player of the year talent that still manages to score in double digits. That's not all that bad. In fact, if Kanter, Hayward and Burks reach their ceilings, they'll be able to shoulder the offensive load and Favors' talents will be perfectly complimentary...a complete team.

But honestly I believe in Favors. I do think his offense will improve. He showed a few very nice post moves tonight against Portland. He's shown that he can put the ball on the floor and drive from as far as the 3 pt line. His 15-foot shot should gradually improve.

He'll be fine. Big men are very unpredictable as far as how long they'll take to develop. Bynum took several years, while Blake Griffin and Cousins had immediate impact. Just have more patience and enjoy watching the kid grow and improve.

- Big's game doesn't evolve cheerleading; if Jazz trust Favors' game they better play him
- At the moment an argument can be made about Favors being the 4th Jazz big man... just saying...