Where is Favors off season improvement?

[LogGrad98]

What I've noticed is that he doesn't seem to be able to get very low in the post, often catching the ball at about 8-12 feet out. That would be fine if he was very capable of just backing a guy down but at this time, he doesn't seem to have that ability to get low, and just back a guy down with legs and butt. Like I said, he is very young, and I'd hope he can gain about 5-7 pounds a year of pure muscle so that three years from now, he's about 15-20 pounds stronger and able to just out-specimen everyone else. But even if he does follow that path, he needs to get a couple go to moves.

That said, I agree. He really needs to work on his post game. He should be able to muscle his way to the basket, almost ala Malone, but the way he plays now he only is a mop-up scorer. He is young and has plenty of time to develop, but I had hoped for a little more this year.

But not playing with a legit PG is a valid point too. Someone needs to step up to be THE playmaker, or they need a trade to fill that role.

 

[Headtrip]

Favors D is a big reason why the Jazz are winning. He's that defensive big the Jazz have needed for so long. The improvement has been on the defensive end and moreso the ability to stay on the court to use it. He definitely needs some polish on O but he is is scrappy and gets points off of putbacks and from the line.

 

[Dr. Jones]

First few posts = /thread

 

[BabyPeterzz]

Or he's just 8 games into his second season.

 

[NotDeadYet]

He's shown more stamina so far. Last season he seemed to have a problem with that. He's only 20; not gonna grow up in 1 year. That plus he's more aggressive and confident in his movements. He's already got a jump shot, which is more than Dwight Howard has to this date. Favors did seem to rush his jumper a bit early in the game vs the Warriors though..

 

[Weezur]

He's not getting major minutes. I hope Ty takes some minutes from Big Al to give Favors the minutes. Nobody should get more than 30 minutes a game this season.

 

[Fishsticks]

The two fadeaways over his defender last night did not impress anyone? Come on! He has improved steadily on offense and by leaps and bounds on defense each game. Little surprised this is a topic at all and even more so that it was not just laughed off.

 

[Joe Bagadonuts]

Have you heard that they will soon be changing the name of this forum to ConclusionJumpingNinnies.com? I think it's a great fit. Some of the people here seem to monitor the team with the sole purpose of identifying anything and everything that they can overreact about.

 

[Stifle Tower]

Difficult to tell since no one other than Harris or Jefferson are allowed to touch the ball.

Just look @ Millsap's stats. Or Hayward's. No one is having a very good year with a point guard that has no clue how to run an offense and a big man who thinks he's Shaq.

I'm not making excuses for Favors. I just haven't seen him with the ball in his hands... Or anyone else's for that matter!

For the one game Jefferson sat, Favors looked pretty damn good. Or was his 20 point, 11 rebound, 10-16 FG performance really a fluke? And our offense finally started to resemble what we all thought it was going to look like. Was it a coincidence that Favors, Millsap, and Hayward were in double figures when Jefferson sat?

The biggest hurdle to Favors (or anyone else on our team) to look good and/or getting an accurate measurement of, is Black Hole Jefferson.

Damn, Thriller. You're really nailing the posts of late.
Mods, can we ban this guy? He's making the rest of us look bad!

Seriously, I agree with your thoughts on Jefferson. Everyone played better and got more involved when he was out. And the same thing happened over in Portland with the loss of Roy. Other guys like Aldridge, Batum and Matthews stepped up. And by trading expirings, they were able to get Wallace. Perhaps Utah can follow a similar model by trading Jefferson.

 

[Revolution 9]

Where are the play calls for him?

 

[bat]

The only thing he's been doing that I have been disappointed with is his tendency to lose the ball when he's going up for a bucket. He's blown several opportunities this year simply because he isn't going up as strong as he should.

Otherwise he's a defensive stud, a legit anchor, and his post moves are developing. If he can get that turn around jumper going like he had in Golden State he can average 16 points a game no problem. It's unguardable with his height and elevation. If he really develops that move, other things on the offensive end will come much easier.

 

[jimmy eat jazz]

The two fadeaways over his defender last night did not impress anyone? Come on! He has improved steadily on offense and by leaps and bounds on defense each game. Little surprised this is a topic at all and even more so that it was not just laughed off.

I agree. From what I've seen, I've been very encouraged. Two double doubles in the first 8 games in limited playing time (how long did it take him to get two double doubles last year?), multiple blocked shots, staying out of foul trouble, etc. The game Jefferson wasn't there, he shined, which I think he would do reasonably consistently if he played starter minutes (I'm not sure to be honest there would be THAT great of a drop-off from Jefferson, plus others would pick up the slack.) I'm very encouraged by what I've seen so far this season keeping in mind the sample size is still small.