Derrick Favors impresses in NBA debut
If the New Jersey Nets had landed Carmelo Anthony, they would have given up a whole lot of potential in 6ft 10in NBA rookie Derrick Favors. And the number three draft pick showed some
of that potential in his first NBA game.
The 19-year-old out of Georgia Tech scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a 108-70 rout of Maccabi Haifa of the Israeli Premier League Sunday in the Nets’ first pre-season game.
"I thought I did OK running the floor and giving some energy off the bench,” Favors said. “I'm just an athletic player who likes to dunk. I wouldn't say I had a great day. It was an OK
day. I have some work to do, but it was nice to see some of my hard work pay off."
Favors energized the crowd with his impressive athleticism, throwing down three fast-break slam-dunks in the opening quarter. In his 21 minutes of play after coming off the bench, Favors
went 6-8 from the field and only turned it over once.
Favors’ short time with the NBA has sadly been filled with trade rumours. A four-team trade that was being seriously considered but eventually fell through, would have sent Favors and
Nets’ point guard Devin Harris to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for the high-scoring Anthony. Now that things have calmed down, Favors can focus on his game.
"It feels good not having to worry about trade rumors and all that stuff," he said.
The Nets’ new coach Avery Johnson liked what he saw out of his highly-touted rookie power-forward.
"He was good," Johnson said. "He was in the right spots on defense and he was decisive on offense. He ran the floor well and got out well in the break. For his first professional game,
he did some good things."
The thumping got underway as soon as the game began with the Nets outscoring Maccabi Haifa 30-20 in the first period. The whopping 38-point victory was the result of a balanced attack
by the Nets. All in all, six Nets players scored in double-digits. Harris finished second in scoring behind Favors with 12 points. Sylven Landesberg of Maccabi Haifa led his team in scoring with 24 points.
The Nets, partly-owned by rapper Jay-Z and moving to Brooklyn in 2012, finished with the worst record in the league last season at 12-68. But with the continued development of Harris and
centre Brook Lopez, as well as new additions such as point guard Jordan Farmar, forward Troy Murphy, and Favors, they should be able to improve upon their paltry record from last season.
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