Who Would You Trade For Carmelo Anthony (Part IV: Derrick Favors)
Sep 3, 2010 Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Favors, Devin Kharpertian, Trades
With the Nets constantly being mentioned by the mainstream sports media as a potential landing spot for Carmelo Anthony, the NAS squad is going to take a look over at some of the players who would likely be included in a deal for the All-Star SF.
Note: Earlier this week, we at NAS incorrectly referred to a rule that noted Derrick Favors could not be traded within the year. In actuality he is only trade-protected within 30 days of signing his rookie contract. We apologize for the error.
Would You Trade Derrick Favors?
The Case For Trading Derrick Favors:
The Nets Will Make The Playoffs If… The Derrick Favors Edition
Aug 24, 2010 2011 Playoffs, Derrick Favors, Devin Kharpertian, Troy Murphy
The Nets could find themselves playing more than 82 if this guy steps it up.
After struggling with a 12 win season last year, Nets fans are feeling good about their current situation. A much improved roster, a successful coach, and an owner willing to spend has fans thinking about the playoffs. We here think that the playoffs are a possibility but not a guarantee. In this third installment, we are going to look at something that needs to happen for the Nets to make the playoffs.
The Nets will make the Playoffs if… Derrick Favors earns the starting PF role.
Why Is It Important?
Meeting Up With The Nets’ Rookies
Aug 18, 2010 Damion James, Derrick Favors
Yesterday, I was lucky enough to be allowed to attend Panini’s 2010 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot. Over 40 rookies were in their uniforms walking around from station to station, getting their pictures taken for their first Panini basketball cards. Media were allowed in, and I was able to grab both Derrick Favors and Damion James and talk to them for a little bit.
What really impressed me about both James and Favors is that they were both willing to talk about their weaknesses and what they needed to improve on. I asked Favors about his defensive struggles during Summer League and what he needed to do to improve on that end, and he offered no excuses saying “Adjust to the NBA style of play. I got called for defensive three seconds a lot so I just need to adjust to the NBA-style of defense.” When I asked how he would be able to do that, he told me “It comes with work and experience.” Favors also mentioned that he was working to improve everything, especially his strength. Meanwhile, James told me that he was working on his ballhandling. This is pretty important, because James played both the three and the four in college, but at the pro level he is going to play the three mostly. He needs to be able to handle the ball a bit better than he did in college (turnover rate of 14.0 last year with Texas). It was reassuring to see that both James and Favors are able to identify their weaknesses, come to terms with them, and be willing to do the work to improve on them.
In addition to their weaknesses, both rookies seem to be excited about building a winning team and playing for coach Avery Johnson. As Favors told me, “He’s a nice guy, and I am going to try to help build something with him.” As for Damion James, I was really interested to see what he had to say about coach Johnson because he has been mentioned as an Avery Johnson type of player. When asked if he was excited to play with coach Johnson he said, “No doubt man. I know he is eager to come back to coaching and he is going to try to turn the team around. I want to be a part of that, and I look forward to it.”
Finally, with the fact that most guys have seen Derrick Favors play, but haven’t been able to see Damion James play too much, I asked him to describe his playing style. “I’m a guy that’s relentless. Never let up on my opponent and try to dominate him on every play. I go hard on both ends.” And then, to make sure he got his point across, he concluded, “I play hard.”
After the jump, check out some video of both James and Favors getting their picture taken and some general thoughts/observations of the photo shoot.
Derrick Favors’ Offensive Skillset
Aug 12, 2010 Analysis, Derrick Favors, Devin Kharpertian, Video Breakdown
Transcript after the jump.
Interesting Article About Derrick Favors
Jul 28, 2010 Derrick Favors, Links
Derrick Favors told FanHouse in Orlando during the Nets summer league games that he had no idea who his father was or knew anything about him. However, Favors’ father got in touch with FanHouse and the result is a really interesting article on the situation, including the fact that his father was a basketball player as well, even playing in college:
What Favors, 19, is doing now is embarking on an NBA career with the New Jersey Nets after being the No. 3 overall pick in last month’s draft. The 6-foot-10 forward will start a basketball season this fall for the first time knowing who his father is and believing he inherited some talent from Parker, who was a high school star in St. Louis before signing in 1976 with St. Louis University, where he averaged 10.3 points as a freshman.
The whole article is really interesting and I urge you to check it out. A really good read on a slow Nets’ news day.
Daily Link: For Favors, It’s About Strength
Jul 28, 2010 Daily Link, Derrick Favors
In a Ben Couch interview with Derrick Favors, a common recurring theme kept coming back to the rookie’s strength and conditioning. Favors seemed pleased with his summer league performance and progress, but knows where he needs to make improvements:
NJNets.com: What did you take away from your week at Summer League in Orlando?
Derrick Favors: That I need to work a little harder, in the post, on all things. Get a little stronger.
I’m obviously pulling for the kid, but I hope given his rawness that fans cut him a little slack in his rookie season.
Derrick Favors & Georgia Tech’s Offensive Issues
Jul 22, 2010 Analysis, Derrick Favors, Devin Kharpertian, Video Breakdown
Transcript after the jump.
Daily Link: TWill a Negative on Favors?
Jul 19, 2010 Daily Link, Derrick Favors, Summer League 2010, Terrence Williams
Nets fans and observers who think Terrence Williams may be best suited as trade bait for a starting quality power forward got some more fuel for their fire in a Marc Spears column over at Yahoo! Spears suggests that #3 Draft Pick Derrick Favors was one of the “losers” of the Summer League, but it really wasn’t his fault:
The third pick in the draft averaged just seven shots in the New Jersey Nets’ first four summer league games in Orlando because teammate Terrence Williams(notes) was busy hoisting away. Williams, the Nets’ second-year guard, averaged 19 shots a game.
When the Nets limited Williams to just four minutes in their finale, Favors went for 23 points and 11 rebounds while making 10 of his 17 shots. If the Nets could do it over, they might want to feature Favors a little more prominently.
I didn’t get to watch too much of the summer league this year because I’m not a league pass guy, so maybe Sebastian and Devin can chime in over here, but it seems a little premature to say that it was solely TWill who affected Favors’ performance. I just have to wonder if some of these writers are being set up by Nets brass to go negative on TWill to make a trade of his a bit more acceptable as it seems inevitable.
Summer League: Statistical Recap
Jul 13, 2010 2010 Summer League, Damion James, Derrick Favors, Devin Kharpertian, Terrence Williams
The Summer League stats for the Nets are now up on our Statistics page, and over the five games a some interesting indicators came up in the numbers. Because of that, I’m going to do a quick statistical breakdown of the Nets players and how they fared last week.
First, the Big 3:
Terrence Williams (18.8 PPG, 3 RPG, 5 APG, 4.2 TPG, 44.3% FG%) was the star of Summer League. While he was off at times – in game 3 he struggled from the floor, shooting 8-26 – he was the most consistent producer for the Nets throughout. Attacking the rim regularly, T-Will took almost 16 attempts from the floor per game and a little over 6 attempts from the free throw line.
One important note is that in the 5th game, he only played for the first five minutes, so only looking at his stats from the first four games produces a line of 23-6.3-3.8-5.3-44.7%, which other than the huge turnover number is very impressive. As I mentioned in the game 3 recap, it did seem that T-Will was experimenting a lot with his game, so the turnover number doesn’t bother me too much. If he tightens his play up for the regular season, he will have a very good year.
Damion James (18.8 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1 APG, 46.4 FG%) showed a lot of signs that he’s going to be an impact player at the next level. Although he was forced to sit out the final game due to injury, James was aggressive at all times on both sides of the floor and really showed off his impressive stroke. He hit many mid-range jumpers and shot 4-10 from the field over the five-day period, two of those in his 30-point breakout on Wednesday. His only serious issue is free-throw shooting – he shot 19-34 (a paltry 56%) from the charity stripe, which is worse than his college average this past season (67.4%) but not by much. His weaknesses pale in comparison to everything he brought to the team last week, and he’ll have a definite impact on the Nets next year.
Derrick Favors (10.6 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.2 APG, 4.8 FPG, 46.7 FG%) Had an up-and-down Summer League performance, but really started to put it together by the end of the week. While struggling with foul trouble, turnover issues, and an occasional lack of aggressiveness early in the week, Favors dominated in the final game of Summer League, breaking out for 23 points, 11 rebounds, and a variety of post moves and high-flying jams. After watching in-depth for a week, the talent is clearly there – he just needs to work on his aggressiveness in the lane and work on the flaws in his mid-range jumpshot. He’s got all the unteachables – an NBA body, ridiculously smooth athletic ability, and a knack for finishing around the rim – all he needs now is a coach who will get in his head that he actually can score on anyone. Luckily, the Nets have the perfect man for the job in Avery Johnson.
The rest:
Summer League Game 5 Recap, AKA “Why We Should All Be Excited About Derrick Favors”
Jul 10, 2010 2010 Summer League, Awesome Dunks, Derrick Favors, Devin Kharpertian, HOPE!
In the fifth and final game of summer league, the Nets enjoyed their easiest victory yet, securing a winning record by defeating a depleted Boston Celtics roster 86-68. Despite Luke Harangody’s excellent play (18 points & 8 rebounds) and the absence of Damion James and Terrence Williams (who sat for the game after a short stint in the first), the Nets had a great all-around game from start to finish. Many of the role players played well – Jakim Donaldson was active all game and finished with 15 points on 5-6 shooting from both the field and the line, Brandon Heath showed off an impressive touch, and Connor Atchley attacked the boards – this fifth summer league game was won because of the excellent play of the guy we’ve all been waiting for to break out: Derrick Favors. Let’s see what it was he did so well.