Utah Jazz ’17-18 review: Derrick Favors, a Jazz lifer
Derrick Favors finished his eighth season with the Utah Jazz with a question mark hanging over him, but he proved his worth with his play this season.
We all know the biggest question hanging over the Utah Jazz this summer is Derrick Favors and his free agency decision. However, this is not why I’m here. I’m here to talk about the season that was 2017-18, the eighth NBA season for Derrick Favors.
More on his free agency was written by my J-Notes colleague, Jared Woodcox:
The Utah Jazz certainly have some important and tricky decisions to make this offseason. Via @jaredwoodcoxhttps://t.co/226gMM07VN
— The J-Notes (@TheJNotes) May 20, 2018
Derrick Favors came into this season with a lot to prove. The narratives surrounding his place on the team were… not great. We heard that “he’s not a four, he’s a five”, “he can’t space the floor therefore he can’t play alongside Rudy (Gobert)”, and “he can’t stay healthy”.
After an injury-checkered year in 2016-17, Favors knew he had to make a statement, not just for his next contract, but for his love for his team and the organization. Derrick Favors is the kind of guy that really cares about that stuff.
He knew he wouldn’t have a prominent place in Quin Snyder’s motion-heavy “advantage” offense. With Rudy Gobert as the main roll-man, Favors seemed destined to be relegated to back-up center. The plan was to play him five minutes at the start of each half alongside the starters, then quickly sub him out and only return with Rudy on the bench.
At 12.3 points per game, Favors did not have a career scoring year. But he was also crucial to this team’s success. There were games where he was a better match-up, or he was having a better night, or Rudy was in foul trouble. He stepped up when he was needed.
Even more telling, if you sort Derrick’s games by “Game Score” (a sort-of catch-all metric to determine how good an individual game was by a player used by basketball-reference.com), 13 of his top 15 performances were Jazz wins.
What this tells us: If Derrick is successful, the Jazz are successful.
| Rk | G | Date | Age | Tm | Opp | GS | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS | GmSc ▼ | +/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 | 2017-11-18 | 26-126 | UTA | @ | ORL | W (+40) | 1 | 24:56 | 10 | 12 | .833 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 1.000 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 28.4 | +13 | |
| 2 | 21 | 2017-11-28 | 26-136 | UTA | DEN | W (+29) | 1 | 32:40 | 12 | 16 | .750 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 26.3 | +30 | |||
| 3 | 19 | 2017-11-22 | 26-130 | UTA | CHI | W (+30) | 1 | 29:11 | 8 | 11 | .727 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 8 | .875 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 22.6 | +27 | ||
| 4 | 13 | 2017-11-11 | 26-119 | UTA | BRK | W (+8) | 1 | 35:28 | 9 | 15 | .600 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | .857 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 24 | 22.1 | +7 | ||
| 5 | 23 | 2017-12-01 | 26-139 | UTA | NOP | W (+6) | 1 | 33:42 | 7 | 9 | .778 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | .571 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 21.7 | +7 | ||
| 6 | 55 | 2018-02-14 | 26-214 | UTA | PHO | W (+10) | 1 | 32:32 | 7 | 9 | .778 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 4 | 6 | .667 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 20.4 | -3 | |
| 7 | 54 | 2018-02-12 | 26-212 | UTA | SAS | W (+2) | 1 | 25:06 | 6 | 9 | .667 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 7 | 10 | .700 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 20.3 | -8 | |
| 8 | 68 | 2018-03-23 | 26-251 | UTA | @ | SAS | L (-4) | 1 | 34:14 | 8 | 10 | .800 | 1 | 2 | .500 | 5 | 7 | .714 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 20.1 | +4 |
| 9 | 67 | 2018-03-22 | 26-250 | UTA | @ | DAL | W (+7) | 1 | 31:08 | 8 | 14 | .571 | 1 | 2 | .500 | 2 | 2 | 1.000 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 19.5 | +12 |
| 10 | 47 | 2018-01-30 | 26-199 | UTA | GSW | W (+30) | 1 | 26:08 | 9 | 11 | .818 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 18.1 | +6 | ||
| 11 | 35 | 2017-12-30 | 26-168 | UTA | CLE | W (+3) | 1 | 30:28 | 8 | 11 | .727 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1.000 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 17.3 | +17 | ||
| 12 | 20 | 2017-11-25 | 26-133 | UTA | MIL | W (+13) | 1 | 29:00 | 6 | 8 | .750 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | .571 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 16.6 | +6 | ||
| 13 | 59 | 2018-03-02 | 26-230 | UTA | MIN | W (+8) | 1 | 25:36 | 7 | 8 | .875 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 2 | .500 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 16.4 | +1 | |
| 14 | 76 | 2018-04-10 | 26-269 | UTA | GSW | W (+40) | 1 | 21:29 | 7 | 9 | .778 | 2 | 3 | .667 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 16.2 | +18 | |
| 15 | 34 | 2017-12-27 | 26-165 | UTA | @ | GSW | L (-25) | 1 | 25:30 | 7 | 11 | .636 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | .750 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 15.8 | -6 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/25/2018.
Something else that also demonstrates the kind of man Derrick Favors is – after hurting his ankle in the playoffs on a contract year, he could have decided to rest in order to not hurt his upcoming contract. But instead he chose to play. He knew his team was counting on him. His performances against the Houston Rockets didn’t appear that great, but it was easy to forget he was playing through an injury.
Derrick even moved beyond his typical cryptic tweets this season (but he still had plenty of those too).
Not true at all https://t.co/13T3SJxJfG
— Derrick Favors (@dfavors14) January 28, 2018
Next: Utah Jazz: Rudy Gobert shut out of All-NBA honors
Whatever happens this summer, Derrick Favors is a Jazz man for life, even if he plays for a different team.