Utah Jazz: Best candidates for 2018-19 NBA awards
By Mason McFee
Most Improved Player: Derrick Favors
Joe Ingles could certainly make a case to be in contention for this award, but he’s not the player that’s technically in a contract year.
Derrick Favors was re-signed to a two-year, $36 million contract. It was later revealed that the second year is non-guaranteed, meaning that the Jazz can cut him without any further costs to them. Luckily for Favors, he has one thing working on his side: familiarity.
Favors has been with the Jazz all but 56 games of his career. While the Jazz have gone through a few head coaches since Favors arrived back in 2010, Quin Snyder has been his coach for the past four years and will be next season. That may seem like an insignificant fact, it could actually determine Favors’ impact next season.
Quin Snyder knows that Favors is trying to secure his long-term future next season. Snyder also knows that Favors (to date) is not a good 3-point shooter. He probably knows that the Jazz only had one 20 points per game scorer. Favors can be that guy, he just needs to be fed.
One of the biggest qualifiers to win the Most Improved Player award is that the player’s scoring average takes a big leap, along with an increase in at least one major statistical category. It’s not out of the question for Favors to average 18-20 points per game and closer to 10 rebounds a night.
Odds: Decent