Derrick Favors hungry for more playing minutes as he enters his third season in NBA
Derrick Favors is a young and energetic talent who is now growing impatient for his opportunity to shine in the league and make a name for himself.
The 6 foot 10 power forward for the Utah Jazz was selected by the New Jersey Nets in the 2010 NBA Draft, and was traded to the Jazz in the same season. He averaged 8.2 points and 5.2 rebounds for Utah in 22 games during the 2010-2011 season, getting 20.2 minutes of playing time on average.
In the 2011-2012 season, Favors averaged 21.2 minutes per game and finished the season averaging 8.8 points and 6.5 rebounds.
Favors recently spoke to the Deseret News, and said:
“I want to play more than what I played last year. If it’s starting, cool. If it’s coming off the bench, cool. I don’t mind. I just want to play more. I don’t want to sit on the bench no more.”
The intentions of this up and coming star are quite clear, which might create some problems for the Jazz coaches and front office.
Utah are stacked well in the front court with Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson. They are two consistent veterans who have proven themselves in the NBA and are critical to the Jazz franchise. It would be difficult to take one of the two out or limit their playing minutes in favour of Favors, who is still a young and unproven talent in a starting or more central role.
Utah can however go with an all big front court and add Favors to the starting line-up, or give him more minutes coming off the bench. They did use this combination in the last season, although only for short instances and looked pretty good with that.
If nothing works out, this will be an ideal case of how teams and players reach a clash of interest, even though they both mean good at heart. Favors will then want to change teams so that he has an opportunity to play a more central role in a team and prove his talent, while strengthening his career.
Millsap is going to be a free season pretty soon, and maybe the Jazz are holding on to Favors till the time the future of Millsap is decided. After all, if they part ways with Favors and Millsap also leaves for a better offer, they will then be left with a weakened front court.
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