Kenneth Faried
Kenneth Faried‘s best years came early in his career, and he never seemed to rise to the impressive heights that he was once forecasted to. An impressive rebounder with a relentless rebounder, he was once commonly referred to as ‘The Manimal’ for his ability to out-hustle anyone.
That injection of hustle, energy and rebounding are all traits the Jazz could benefit from, especially in a second unit that has lacked all of those things. And while Faried is somewhat undersized for a big at six-foot-eight, he weighs in with 220 pounds of muscle and is a force to be reckoned with, even for opposing bigs with more height on him.
In his last stint of NBA action with the Houston Rockets, Faried was actually a pretty solid contributor, averaging 12.9 points on 58.7 percent shooting from the field while nabbing 8.2 rebounds per contest in his 25 games played. Those are really good marks for a deeper rotation player, which is what he would be for the Jazz.
Also of note during his play with Houston was he shot a respectable 35 percent from deep. That’s not setting the world on fire by any means, but it’s quite solid for a big man of Faried’s build and skill set. If he were able to be a threat for the occasional three-point bucket, he could add in a new dynamic to Utah’s second unit.
Faried has more burst and power than Noah, but wouldn’t be quite as tough on defense. Still, his rebounding remains superb, and his size alone would be helpful for a Jazz team with little depth in its frontcourt. The Jazz also have a reputation for developing and revitalizing players, so perhaps they could be the ones to work their magic and get Faried back to the ways he once displayed so wonderfully in his early career in Denver.