He's there every day and he's accountable; he's very bright and he has a very good sense of humor, one that he doesn't get to show very often to the public. – Dennis Lindsey on Favors
SALT LAKE CITY — As time goes on, the 2011 trade that brought Derrick Favors to the Utah Jazz continues to look more and more lopsided — in Utah's favor.
On Feb. 23, 2011, the Jazz traded their best player at the time, disgruntled point guard Deron Williams, to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for Favors, guard Devin Harris and a couple of first-round draft picks.
The trade, which came a couple weeks following the abrupt resignation of longtime Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, was criticized by some because Williams was already an established NBA star while Favors, the No. 3 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, was still pretty much an unproven rookie.
Fast forward four-plus years, though, and the scales have since been slanted very much in Utah's favor — or, as a punster might say, in Utah's Favors, if you D-Will (sorry ...).
And that's only if you look at it as Williams for Favors, straight up. Throw in Harris, who was eventually traded to the Atlanta Hawks for Marvin Williams, and the draft picks, one of which the Jazz parlayed into Enes Kanter (since dealt to Oklahoma City), and it's really no contest.
"To me, it's the greatest example of humility in putting the organization in front of yourself," Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey said of the 2011 deal that put Favors in a Jazz uniform.
"(Then-director of player personnel) Kevin O'Connor knew he wasn't going to be the GM for another 15 years here, but he did a trade toward the end of his career which was done totally for the long-term heath of the organization. And, in so many ways, it was done for the emotional health, the financial health, and from a talent standpoint and an options standpoint, it's really born fruit.
"Kevin and the Miller famly deserve the credit for that," Lindsey said.
Favors, a 6-foot-10, 262-pound power forward who has also played plenty of minutes at center during his career, has steadily increased his production each year he's been in the league.
After coming to Utah, he averaged 8.2 points and 5.2 rebounds the rest of that first season with the Jazz. His numbers increased to 8.8 and 6.5 the next season, and to 9.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game in his third year here.
Then in 2013-14, when he became a full-time starter for the first time in his NBA career, Favors' stat line jumped to 13.3 points and 8.7 rebounds a game.
This past season, his scoring average continued to climb (16.0 ppg) while he continued to extend his shooting range outside the paint. Yet he still shot 52.5 percent from the field, and there were many nights when he was the best all-around player of the floor.
With the emergence of Rudy Gobert at the center spot, Favors' rebounding numbers dipped ever so slightly to 8.2 per game this season. But he again averaged 1.7 blocks a game, giving the Jazz a dynamic defensive duo of Favors and Gobert which teams must try to combat in order to get to the basket.
It's proven to be no easy task and is one of the reasons the Jazz led the league in defensive efficiency by season's end.
"The progress he's made has been remarkable this year, I think," Lindsey said. "Derrick and Gordon (Hayward's) progress got swept under the wave of Rudy's exponential growth a little bit, but Gordon just turned 25 and Derrick is only 23, so they're both still far from reaching their full potential.
"Relative to Derrick is his leadership role on this team. He's there every day and he's accountable; he's very bright and he has a very good sense of humor, one that he doesn't get to show very often to the public.
"We're very proud of him and we're glad that he's part of the organization," Lindsey said. "He has embedded himself as part of the community, and you know what that means to Jazz fans. It's very, very important, and Derrick has ingrained himself to them in many ways. So we couldn't be more pleased with his growth as a person, which in turn is impactful in his progress as a player."
Instead of splitting his playing time between the 4 and 5 spots on the floor, Favors could focus primarily on playing power forward this season and his production flourished.
"It wasn't difficult at all," he said of playing the power forward position full time. "It was just that, playing the center position, every night I'm going against 7-footers basically and it was kinda tough on my body a little bit, but it wasn't nothing I couldn't handle. Playing with Enes, he was a guy that could space the floor a little bit more out to the 3-point line, and everybody knew he was good offensively on the post.
"But when the trade happened and Rudy came to the starting lineup, it kinda helped me out a little bit more because it gave me a different role. Instead of being the second option on the post, I became the main option on the post. So it helped me develop my offensive game and helped me develop my confidence in being that guy. And when Gordon went down with an injury, that kinda helped me mentally to become like the No. 1 guy on the team, and just figuring out different ways to score the ball and help my team win.
"But overall, playing with Rudy is a lot different," Favors said. "Defensively, obviously, he can block shots, rebound and help out on the weak side. And offensively, he's a guy down there that's gonna get offensive rebounds, set good screens and get guys open."
At the team's locker-cleanout day after the season ended, Favors was open and honest about his feelings regarding how the ballclub progressed this season under first-year head coach Quin Snyder, and about how optimistic he is about what lies ahead for he and his teammates.
"At the beginning of the year, it was a learning process for everybody," he said. "We lost nine straight one time, and that was a learning experience for everybody. We learned a lot from it and, after the All-Star break, we just started playing better as a team, defensively and offensively. We learned from our mistakes at the beginning of the year and guys just got better and kept working.
"Quin kept pushing us in practice every day and in games, and we just improved. And hopefully, we can continue to do that in training camp next year and keep improving. With guys having a year under their belt in Quin's system, basically it was a new system for everybody and everybody was trying to find their roles and find their spots on the team, where they're gonna take shots and how they're gonna be used in the offense.
"So next year everybody's got pretty much a good idea of their role on the team and where they're gonna get shots and how they're gonna get shots within the offense. And hopefully we should be a little bit better next year and we'll be a better team. I'm pretty sure everybody's gonna have a good summer, and training camp next year is gonna be fun.
"I'm very excited," Favors said. "You know, it's almost like a different culture basically. We're playing a lot faster than we have in the past. We're moving the ball a lot more and hopefully next season we can put up a (few) more points and won't be at the bottom of the league in points per game. But overall, I'm very excited."
Favors, who signed a new four-year contract extension in October 2013, also showed his sense of humor when it came to rookie point guard Dante Exum.
"Ex, it's about patience with him anyway," Favors said with a sly smile. "I was happy he came down the lane and laid it up and hit a floater one time, and it was like 'Dang, it's about time, man.' Hopefully, he keeps improving."
And now that Favors has displayed his ability to consistently hit jump shots from the outside, he plans to continue working on his offensive game.
"Now I've just got to figure out different ways to score in the post and hopefully extend my range to the 3-point line," he said.
In the meantime, Lindsey and the Jazz front office are ecstatic about the way Favors has continued to progress not just on the court, but off the floor as well.
"Off the court, when it comes to player development issues, Derrick is one who's really an active listener and is really engaged," the Jazz GM said. "The way he's grown up and matured is exactly the model you hope for in a young player. We point to he and Gordon and tell our younger guys this is what you want to do consistently and you'll be just fine.
"Sometimes young guys get distracted, but they need to keep their love affair for basketball and Derrick has done that. There's another level of performance that he could still reach, there's still another bump or two in production he could achieve if he keeps working hard like he has. ... And I don't see any reason why that can't happen."
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