Utah Jazz: Complete 2018 offseason grades

Re-signing Derrick Favors

The duo pictured above will be together for at least one more season, thanks to the two-year, $32 million contract extension Derrick Favors was signed to. While the Jazz certainly have the most “traditional” frontcourt in the league, that doesn’t mean it’s automatically bad.

Ever since the Golden State Warriors brought about the 3-point revolution (and won a few titles along the way), just about every other team in the NBA has tried to emulate that with their roster construction. Some have found great success — the Houston Rockets, for instance — but the Jazz have gone against the grain.

It didn’t work at first. Despite having stars like Gordon Hayward and Rudy Gobert, the Jazz were plagued by poor guard play and playmakers. Then last offseason, they acquired Ricky Rubio and drafted Donovan Mitchell and it all came together; culminating in a 48-34 record and a postseason berth. The Jazz are going to look to build off of that.

After the news broke, The Ringer writer Danny Chau wrote on how the money may have been better spent elsewhere:

"“The Jazz may have positioned themselves as countercultural in a league of superteams and small-ball offenses, but sometimes backward thinking is just backward: Committing to a player, perhaps with a deal above market value, only to keep him off the floor in the most critical juncture of the season doesn’t seem to be in the best interests of either party.”"

While there is legitimacy to Chau’s point, Favors also has a 7’4″ wingspan and understands the offense much better than most of the players currently on Utah’s roster. The move is arguably as much about keeping roster continuity as it is having another player coach on the sidelines.

The contract is non-guaranteed in the second year, so if it doesn’t in 2018-19, the Jazz can turn their attention to the deep 2019 free agency pool. (Khris Middleton, anyone?)

Grade: B+