Derrick Favors is the Utah Jazz

Back in February of 2011, the Utah Jazz decided to trade their then-franchise player Deron Williams. The main piece in that trade package was young rookie power forward Derrick Favors. The third overall pick was only 19 at the time, but had shown promise of being a long-term starter in the NBA.

Fast forward a few seasons and Favs is about to go into his 9th season as a member of the Utah Jazz. That puts him in some pretty unique territory. He’s become one of the longest-tenured players in Jazz history, but is also reaching that mark for the current NBA.

With the trade of DeMarr DeRozan and Udonis Haslem being a current free agent, here’s the list of the longest tenured players in the NBA for the upcoming season:

1. Dirk Nowitzki 21 years with the Dallas Mavericks
2. Manu Ginobli 17 years with the San Antonio Spurs
3. Mike Conley 12 years with the Memphis Grizzlies
4. Russell Westbrook 11 years with the Oklahoma City Thunder
5. Stephen Curry 10 years with the Golden State Warriors
6. Derrick Favors (tied) 9 years with the Utah Jazz

I’m a huge fan of bringing the band back for next season. With how this group ended last year, the deserved a full season after some summer development. Plus, seeing Favors in a different uniform would have just been wrong.

Another Utah Jazz fan out there put together some really good looking uniforms for the Jazz. FIRE EMOJI!!

Just take my money!! These are both beautiful IMO and I’d love to see either one of them. The City Jerseys were a huge success, but imagine how fast that #45 purple jersey would fly off the shelves!

In the spirit of the World Cup, someone also threw together some soccer-inspired Jazz jerseys.

No Fan Posts this week. That’s ok, I totally understand. It’s the summer.

Recently I asked everyone to put together their favorite non-Jazz starting 5. Now I’m kind of curious who your LEAST favorite starting 5 of all time would be, excluding all Jazz players. Mine? Honestly, I’m not too sure. It kind of changes by the season. Currently it probably looks like this:

• PG - Mark Jackson (he played for the Jazz, you say? Sure, but he was no Jazzman)
• SG - James Harden. He’s amazing, I just really dislike his style.
• SF - Ron Artest probably
• PF - Draymond Green (Rasheed Wallace a close 2nd)
• C - Zaza Pachulia? (had a hard time at center)

NBA Math has been putting some interesting graphs out lately. They add up a total for what the call GOAT points for each franchise. Here’s how the Utah Jazz shaped up:

First off, Malone was a beast. That much is obvious. Secondly, Andrei Kirilenko deserves some form of recognition from the franchise. You don’t have to retire his jersey if you don’t want to, but at least create some sore of Utah Jazz Hall of Fame or something because he has a big place in the history of this franchise.

Rudy Gobert is already 7th on this list. I can’t help but wonder, how high will he and Donovan rise?

Today is Pioneer Day and (Karl Malone’s birthday) in Utah, so I decided to reach far back into Utah Jazz history for Beat #5 today. Back to the first super star to don the Jazz colors. Before John and Karl was “Pistol” Pete Maravich. Not too long ago, someone put together a fun highlight video and player description of “Pistol” Pete, and I figured today would be a good day to share that.

Have a good 24th everyone! And if you’re not in Utah, well then have an awesome regular Tuesday!