Last year if you watched the Utah Jazz there was one player who you knew the team was built around, and that was Gordon Hayward. The Jazz responded to Hayward’s leadership on the court and his teammates matched his production as he went on to have the best year of his career. That was last year.
This year for the Jazz it has been much different and their leader looks like someone who’s kind enough to give you a helping hand after taking you off of the dribble and finishing in the paint with an authoritative dunk in traffic. This year Derrick Favors looks like he’s taken that role from Hayward and the Jazz have thrived under his leadership.
It was evident to see that Favors is the player that the Jazz look toward when they need a big bucket. Against the Atlanta Hawks on the road, the Jazz were winning 95-93 with less than a minute remaining.
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They needed a dagger to close the game out and Rodney Hood passed the ball to Favors at the top of the free-throw line and he made the cold-blooded 18-foot jumper and left the score 97-93 with Utah leading.
A minute later the Jazz walked off the court with a 97-96 road win against an Eastern Conference playoff team, a 5-5 record and better yet, a seventh-place standing in the Western Conference.
At only 24 years old, Favors looks like he’s the unquestioned leader of the Jazz and it’s because he’s been their most consistent player. This season if you look at the numbers across the board, it’s very difficult to see that Favors is actually Utah’s biggest threat offensively. It also looks like he’s had a bad start at the beginning of the year.
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However, to those who have watched Favors play this season see that he’s become much better than he was last year.
Offensively, Favors this season is averaging 15.8 points and 1.5 assists per game. Favors is also shooting 51 percent from the floor and 66 percent from the free-throw line. All of those numbers offensively have decreased from last year, when Favors had his breakout season.
Nevertheless, those numbers offensively have taken a slight dip but it’s not anything to get too concerned about because Favors defensively has shown that he’s taken a huge step in his game. That big leap is the sole reason why he’s becoming Utah’s most important player.
Favors this season is averaging career highs with 9.1 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game, and is matching his career-high with his 1.7 blocks per game.
The best defensive game of Favors career came against the Miami Heat. Favors put up a monster game of 25 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, three steals and seven blocked shots. Those numbers also came against two players in Chris Bosh (an NBA All-Star) and Hassan Whiteside (a should-be lock for the 2016 All-Star Game).
Derrick Favors joins Anthony Davis as the only player since 2001 to have 25 points, 12 rebounds, 3 steals and 7 blocks in a game.
— David Locke (@DLocke09) November 13, 2015
The biggest difference why this team looks like it has naturally become Favors team is because of the way that this roster and coaching staff has constructed the team. The game plan of the Jazz is to dismantle their opponents by not allowing opponents to get inside of the lane for easy scores.
With Favors playing alongside with center Rudy Gobert, the tandem form one of the best front courts in the league and they each are defensive oriented players. With their help, the Jazz already allow the third-lowest total in the league at 91.8 points per game.
Having Gobert playing with Favors has opened up his game so much more because it allows him to strictly focus on one aspect of the court at a time. For example, when Favors played with Kanter he would have to worry about defending as much as he would about scoring since Kanter lacked as a defender.
Now with Gobert, when Favors plays defense he doesn’t worry as much since Gobert is a shot blocking machine as well.
For as good as Favors has been playing, he’s going to have to pick it up offensively. Even though the Jazz don’t score a ton of points, even though Favors is only shooting the basketball 11.9 times a game, and even though Utah doesn’t have a true go-to scorer, he needs to start shooting and scoring more.
One of the goals that many Utah Jazz fans see in Favors is that he’s an All-Star ready talent. However, if his production offensively doesn’t increase, it will give the NBA another excuse to give his spot to someone less deserving, as they did last year with Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki.
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Jazz fans have been dying for someone to make the All-Star Game. They’ve also been dying to make the playoffs again. If Favors continues to play successfully then he’ll make sure both of those events happen for Jazz fans to get proud.