Derrick Favors Improvment 48 Games In

Jan 21, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Utah Jazz forward

Derrick Favors

(15) shoots against Cleveland Cavaliers center

Timofey Mozgov

(20) in the first quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Now that more than half the season is over, it is time to check in on Derrick Favors season. We are going to look at three categories to judge Favors improvement: Basic stats, advanced stats, and shot analysis.

Spoiler alert:

He has been a beast!

Basic Stats

Looking at Favors basic, per-game stats you notice a couple things. At 30.7 minutes per game, he is playing almost identical minutes to last years 30.2. However, his per 36 minutes numbers have increased drastically.

More from The J-Notes

While he is playing the same time he has increased his offensive output. Derrick has increased his points per game to 15.8 from 13.3 last game. That 2.5 points per game increase is bolstered by his increase field goal percentage. Favors is scoring at an increased rate, with an increased efficiency. People wanted to see more offense from Derrick Favors last year, and he is delivering this year. He has become incredibly well rounded.

Favors rebounding has decreased by a very small margin. This can likely be attributed to who Derrick is playing with. Last year while playing center, he was playing next to Marvin Williams. This year he is playing next to Enes Kanter, Rudy Gobert, and Trevor Booker. All of these players are superior rebounders, so there are fewer boards for Favors to collect.

Last year fouling out was a huge concern for Derrick every single night. Favors has been able to cut back on the fouls. Last year he had 29 games with more than four fouls. This year Favors is on track to have only 15 of these games. This has been a crucial development for Favors, as the team needs him to stay on the floor.

The one thing that would be nice to see from D-Favs is improvement at the charity stripe. 66.5% from the free throw line is solid, but Favors FT% has decreased three years in a row. This is something that should be monitored. It’s not expected that Favors be hitting 85% of his free throws, but getting to the 71.4% range that Tim Duncan and Blake Griffin are at would be a great achievement.

Looking at Favors per game stats, you do not see the whole story of how brilliant he has been. You need to look at his per 36 minutes number. Derrick is only 15th in minutes per game among bigs. Most players of his caliber are getting around 36 minutes a night. If Favors was getting similar minutes, he would be averaging 18.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.8 steals, and 1.9 blocks per game. If he were playing this many minutes, he would be in discussions for the Most Improved Player of the Year Award.

Advanced Stats

This is where we can see how valuable Derrick Favors has been. Whether you agree with advanced stats or not, they are backing up what our eyeballs are telling us about Favors.

The first stat to look at is ESPN’s PER rankings. PER, or Player Efficiency Rating, is the overall rating of a player’s per-minute statistical production. This stat is regarded as one of the most widely accepted advanced stats — even cited on broadcasts from time to time nowadays — and as you look at the names on the list of the top 20 PERs you can see that this stat passes the “eye test”.

Derrick Favors is currently ranked 15th in the NBA in PER. Last year Derrick was 44th in the NBA. This is a huge jump. This stat is telling us that Favors is one of the most efficient and impactful players in the minutes that he is on the court.

We can continue to see some additional improvements in Favors game by looking at some of the stats above. Whether it be bringing in Karl Malone to help or asking Derrick to model his game after other players, for the last two years staff and fans have clamored for Favors to improve his offense. Quietly Derrick has done exactly that.

Let’s first look at TS%, or true shooting percentage, which is a shooting metric that takes in to account the different values free throws and three pointers. This is essentially an all-inclusive shooting metric. Over a two year period Derrick has increased his TS% by 6.75%. The 56.9% that Favors is posting is 29th among PF’s and C’s. Last year Favors was 64th in this metric. This means he is scoring at a much more efficient rate while posting a career high usage.

One of the reasons that Derrick Favors has become more efficient offensively is his decrease in TO%, or turnover percentage, which is an estimate of turnovers committed per 100 plays. Over the last three seasons Favors turnover percentage has decrease 2.5%, 18.9%, and 25.6% this year. That is incredible improvement. He is currently ranked 35th among all forwards and centers in TO%. Last year Favors was all the way down at 112th.

When you then look at players that have a 20% usage rate, Favors now looks even better. Among said players Favors is 14th in TO%. Some players who are turning the ball over more than Favors are Pau Gasol, Chris Bosh, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Marc Gasol, and Tim Duncan. Favors simply is not turning the ball over.

Offensive Win Share, or OWS, is an estimate of wins added due to a players offense. Favors has increased his OWS every single season he has been a Jazz man. He has increase this number by 235.7% since his first full season as a Jazz man. So where does his 3.3 OWS rank among other forwards and centers? 14th. Yup. Fans often think of Favors as a defensive player, but he is becoming a wonderfully efficient offensive player.

Shot Analysis

Let’s begin by looking at the shot charts of Derrick Favors from vorped.com.

Derrick Favors 2013-2014 shot chart from vorped.com

When you look at Favors shot chart from last season, you notice a couple things. He was a great finisher at the rim. He was able to complete above league average under the basket. He finished at a rate of 63.8% under the basket. You can see that he finished better on the right side, which is not surprising as he is right handed. However, outside of those two zones under the basket Favors only made 35.3% of his shots. This is likely why 63.8% of his shots were under the basket.

Derrick Favors 2014-2015 shot chart from vorped.com

This year Favors has improved in both areas. In the two zones under the basket he is shooting 66.9% this year. This is great improvement. The interesting part about these two zones is that Favors has been more efficient on the left side than the right. Teams are trying to force him to go to his left, and he is punishing defenses for it. Favors has slightly increased his field goal percentage out side of these zones to 36.4%. He has increased that percentage while taking 4.7% more shots in these areas.