I have secured some secret video footage of Derrick Favors' offseason workouts. While his teammates are working on their games and physiques in Santa Barbara at the P3 Gym, Favors is honing his skills against untalented kids. Apparently the Jazz front office wants D15 to work on his self confidence and these workouts appear to be helping him with that.
I would have been honored to have the ever living crap stuffed out of me by Derrick Favors when I played Junior Jazz.
(h/t @ProdigyJF)
Speaking of Derrick Favors, I have been watching some film and crunching some numbers to try and figure out which role would be best for him on the team. I wish we had more minutes and experience to judge from, but I believe that Favors could succeed playing alongside Paul Millsap or Al Jefferson. But I think it is obvious what Derrick Favors needs in order to be successful offensively.
Looking at this chart, I can describe Derrick Favors' successful offense with one word: motion.
Favors was the 202nd best offensive player overall in the the league with 0.9 Points per possession. But as the pick n roll man Derrick was 16th best in the league (1.19 PPP). On cuts to the basket Favors shot 59.7% (1.18 PPP) and in transition, he was the 25th most effective player in the league and shot 85.7% (1.35 PPP). So it is abundantly clear that for Favors to be successful offensively, he will need teammates that can run with him in transition and someone who can get him the ball off pick n rolls or cuts. This shouldn't be a surprise.
It feels like Tyrone Corbin has already spent an entire career coaching for the Utah Jazz, but truthfully, he will begin his first full season in 6 weeks, with a full training camp. Here are the records of the other Jazz coaches in their first year:
Butch Van Breda Kolff: 38-44 (1975-76)
Elgin Baylor: 39-43 (1977-78)
Tom Nissalke: 24-58 (1978-79)
Frank Layden: 30-52 (1982-83)
Jerry Sloan: 55-27 (1989-90)
Tyrone Corbin: ?
There are some amazing things about this list. Only 6 coaches in 37 years. Six coaches is 3 seasons for some NBA teams. Coach Sloan's consistency in winning was amazing from his very first day with the Jazz. And while it's unlikely, Coach Corbin has a shot at besting Sloan's best first season in wins. Just another fun storyline for this season.
This isn't Jazz related, but it made me LMFAO last week when I stumbled upon it. Wanted to share it with all of you:
The Jazz were lucky not to be in that lottery.
Jason Pratt wrote a nice little piece on why the Jazz need to pick up players who have been amnestied next offseason. It's pretty early to talk about next offseason, but Jason brings up a good point. The Jazz probably aren't going to sign a big name free agent next offseason, but they probably will take on players or amnestied players that other teams can't afford. Of the players that Jason mentions as possibilities in his article, who would you like the Jazz to acquire hypothetically?