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Utah vs. San Antonio w/ a Favor
Posted by: Matt Webb on April 25th, 2012
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.A few things.
I don’t mean to unnecesarily predicate on one particular player but Derrick Favors coming into his own (an on going process) is simply the best under covered story this year.
He IS Dwight Howard 2. something. He forces teams to play differently and hey thats what is most important to winning after all.
1.Learn to play hard. CHECK
2.Learn to play smart. CHECK
3.Learn to make the opponent adjust to your play. (Or dominating) CHECK
He is obviously younger than Dwight but he is now almost on an identical trajectory as fas as career numerical paths go.
He has made the line up of Harris/Hayward/MillsapJefferson/Favors into one of the best defensive units in the entire league.
He is now taking starting caliber players completely out of their game. Did you see how he physically and mentally took Marcin Gortat (A player I really like and in fact thought was the missing piece to the Williams/Boozer squads) out of the game. He couldn’t do anything about it either and he knew it. Not many players in this league have that affect.
Crazy to think that after all th speculation amongst the league and fans about who may leave during the off season the Jazz may hove found a real source of optimism. Harris/Hayward/Millsap/Jefferson/Favors with Kanter and Burks and maybe a GSW lotto pick off the bench. That is a killer line up. With the young players getting better this team is turning into something different.
And now to my thread point/question.
How will the series play out?
I cannot say enough for my respect for the Spurs franchise. They are the model. Maybe they got two of the greatest players ever(Duncan & Robinson) but hey they evaluated them just as they did Manu, TP, and Kawhi. Pop is the real star though. Best coach.
But they are old and thin up front. Tony parker will indeed get his, but Devin Harris hasn’t exactly been slumping. Manu vs. G-Time/Burks is going to be in the favor of the Italian. Still I see this being extremely competive.
Thoughts bball fans?
Replies: 9
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9 Responses
Derrick Favors is already filthy good. Far and away the best defender on our team–quite possibly the best defender we’ve ever had (well Ok, malone and Stockton are considered some of the best defenders to ever play the game as well). The man is a beast whose physical prowess can best be compared to Dwight Howard.
Derrick Favors will be unstoppable in a couple of years. Maybe even next year. For me he’s tied with Devin Harris for Most Improved Player on our team.
Derrick Favors is going to be the key ingredient in our playoff run, along with team basketball and team defense.
After the game Locke compared Favors to Howard. Howard is like 1/2 an inch taller, and has a 1 inch longer wing span.
Derrick Favors has a standing vertical leap a full 1 inch higher than Howard, and a max vertical 1.5 inches higher.
Locke said he’s going to get some more stats today to make some comparisons.
With the Gasols getting old, Dwight Howard’s back problems, the only players comparable to Favors right now are Bynum and Chandler. But me, I’d take Favors any day.
He’ll be an all star next year. Mark my words.
The only thing stopping this lineup from beating the Spurs is Corbin, apparently Corbin has already announced that he won’t be starting them against the Spurs. Corbin only played them together for a total of 18 minutes in the biggest game of the season against the Suns last night(luckily that was all they needed to blow the game open). So if I had to guess I would bet that they will be under-utilized against the Spurs, and if that’s the case then in all likelihood the Spurs will win. Let’s hope Corbin wakes up and gets out of this lineup’s way!
I believe Derrick Favors has proven himself as inside post man, Forward-C enter positions affectively and offensive posture in rebounding and scoring. Some brilliant moves. Will need him more than ever against Tim Duncan, other big men of the Spurs!
Favors will be worth more than D Will wiil be. Straight up trade would be fair, but the jazz got away with the greatest heist of all time! Thanks Nets.
@Lance your scaring me…I am a natural pessimist so am always waiting for the bad news: GSW will win tomorrow, and then that pick wins the lotto, number 11 pick. AND I see Corbin going back to Howard, Bell, and CJ in the playoffs. Hope not, but…..
*number pick going back GSW*
Lol @ Italian Ginobli. He’s Argentinian.And Argentinians are some of the most pompous, snobbish people you’ll ever meet.
Just for the record, it’s not “Argentinian”, it’s “Argentine”
Sorry, my mistake.
True story. I know from personal experience that they think Ginobli is like the best basketball player ever… They even tried to convince me he was better than MJ.
I just smiled and laughed.