Derrick Favors wants to stay in Utah

Derrick Favors is the longest tenured player on the Utah Jazz. He was the key piece back in 2011 when the Jazz decided to move on from Deron Williams. Favs was a rookie at the time, and just reached his 500th game played for the Jazz. He’s been a marque player for a long time. He has been a familiar face and reliable player that it’s almost become easy to take him for granted. His quiet yet confident presence will always be remembered.

He was critical in keeping the Jazz afloat when Rudy Gobert went out with injury earlier in the season. The first 11 games that Rudy was out, Derrick Favors increased his averages to 16.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks. The Jazz were able to win 7 of those games and needed almost every one of those to secure a playoff spot this year.

He never made a fuss when his role continued to change and his place along Rudy was doubted. He just went to work and did everything he could to contribute.

Derrick’s 3690 rebounds in a Jazz jersey puts him at 10th all-time in franchise history. His 666 blocks put him at 7th all-time. His Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 19.1 has him tied with Andrei Kirilenko for 9th all time in Utah. And if things went right for him and the Jazz this summer, he’d continue climbing up those and other stat rankings as well. From this piece in the Salt Lake Tribune (and thoughts out to those that were let go in the recent changes):

I want to be here,” Favors told The Salt Lake Tribune in an interview on Saturday night. “I love my teammates, I love the organization. This is where I grew up. At the same time, I know that if I’m going to be here, there are certain sacrifices that I’m going to have to make. So, I just have to wait and see how things work out when the time comes.”

Almost everyone in Jazz nation wants him back next year. He was a sign of hope, then he was the team’s best player, and now he’s a key contributor for a playoff-winning team. I understand the situation he is in and wish him the best no matter what, but I’d rather not see him in a different jersey.

Former University of Utah player turned Los Angeles Laker Kyle Kuzma recently answered some questions from his fans. It would appear that his time spent in Salt Lake City lead him to have at least some form of a Jazz fan grow inside:

In 3 consecutive tweets just minutes apart he references John Stockton, Karl Malone, and Joe Ingles. That might be the fasted path to Jazz fan’s hearts that I’ve ever seen. I would love to see this guy playing with Utah across his chest again sometime!

It’s the offseason, but Fan Posts never quit! In fact, you all ramped up your game this week!

l3uddyholly talks about Rodney Hood in Cleveland:

Whether or not this has any ramifications for Hood’s role in this playoffs, this year has clearly not gone well for Hood. From failing to secure the main scoring role on the Jazz, to missing time (again) from injuries, to now losing playing time in Cleveland, basically nothing has worked out as planned for Hood. Which is a shame. While I was never sold on him as “the guy” on offense, his game should fit as a rotational guy in the NBA.

From the Jazz POV: If Hood continues to not get minutes for the Cavs, this will only make the Jazz’s acquisition of Crowder look more savvy.

templeguardtm would like to say congrats and thanks to everyone!

Congratulations and thanks to the Jazz.

I have been watching basketball for over 50 years, and this has been one of the most enjoyable seasons I can recall. Despite having a tough winter personally, I always had Jazz games to look forward to. Sometimes it’s easy to think about sports as just a superficial distraction. But more often than we can imagine, it means a lot to its fans.

It’s going to be a long summer.

Theo Kamis gives out a Jazz Fan Evaluation:

It’s not just the players that have exit interviews and receive evaluations...

Beeblebrox42 provides a Jazz Free Agency Primer:

Now that the season is over and the Jazz start preparing for the draft and free agency, I thought I’d put together a few posts about what the Jazz can do this offseason. For this post, I’m going to focus on how much cap space the Jazz have to sign free agents. Most of the information here comes from the excellent CBAFAQ.

Yi Of Little Faith thinks about alternate options if free agents decide not to sign here:

The Jazz are very well positioned going forward. We have a fantastic core of players who will continue to improve together. But if we are to become a championship team we are still probably one major move away which will give us more talent.

And nc2003 talks about old school big men:

All sports leagues follow trends... and if you get creative it’s possible to find a way to exploit the current trend. The trend in the NBA right now is 3-point shooting and positionless basketball. These lineups are usually smaller at power forward and sometimes even at center. What if there was a way to exploit these smaller lineups?

Wow. Just wow. I love Jazz fans and especially the contributors and commenters here at SLC Dunk. This was an incredible season and we couldn’t do it without all of you!

Donovan Mitchell continues to get love from all of the media outlets. Treat yourself to a little highlight reel of his first year:

I guarantee his will continue working on his game, and as hard as it is to imagine, he will come back even better next year for his 2nd rookie season. Oh, right. I mean his sophomore season. I’m so excited to see what else he adds to his game.

Speaking of Donovan Mitchell, even Scottie Pippen jumped onto the Spida bandwagon, and believes in Utahs future. He went on with some Sports Illustrated guys for a Q&A.

Of the up-and-coming teams, who do you think has the brightest future right now? Well, I gotta go with a team from the East and a team from the West. If I go with a team from the West, I’m gonna go with the Utah Jazz. I think Donovan Mitchell has shown that he’s a leader, he’s definitely going to be a star in this league. And I think that they’re a team that’s gonna be in the postseason for many years to come.

It’s always a little conflicting hearing praise from a prior enemy, but I have to admit I do like his choice! It will be so fun to watch this team live up to that.