Derrick Favors: Next Big Thing In Utah

Its a new era of Utah Jazz Basketball and people are very excited about the future of 22 year old Derrick Favors. Favors who was originally drafted by the then New Jersey Nets was traded to Utah for Deron Williams so that right there just tells you how much potential people think he has. Favors dominated at South Atlanta High School, he dominated at Georiga Tech but will he dominate at the NBA level??

Favors through out his time in Utah has seen limited minutes in the Jazz rotation due to Paul Milsap and Al Jefferson being focal points of the team but with both gone that’s all about to change. Last season he averaged only 23.2 Minutes a game but the production he gave Utah was tremendous off the bench averaging 9.4 points, 7.1 Rebounds on 48% shooting. Thats good production as a bench player for the amount of minutes he was playing. Now he is guaranteed substantial minutes and will likely be the focal point of the offense so the Atlanta native will have a chance to really show the basketball world what he is capable of.

This summer Favors is hard at work attending USA mini camp with some of the NBA's best young talent. Going up against that competition is great but it pales in comparison to the 2 months of training he did with Jazz great Karl Malone. Favors when speaking about the training with Malone said the following "He just taught me just a lot of mental stuff,During workouts we're just talking. He was just showing me things here and there, that everything was mostly mental." That’s a big deal for any young player in this league to work under the Tutelage of a guy like Karl Malone for an extended period of time. Favors spoke more of the training saying "Might sound crazy but the hardest thing was getting ready to work out with him. He wanted me to be in shape, be ready before he got there. We did a lot of things, a lot of conditioning stuff so he wanted me to be ready for him." Favors is training with a great to be great so hopefully this translates to the court this season.

I like Derrick Favors a lot I think at 6-10 and thick 248 pounds he is a physically imposing speciman who is tremendous at using his athleticism to finish around the rim and has impeccable timing when it comes to blocking shots as he averaged 1.7 Blocks in just 23 minutes last year as a bench player. For Favors now its all about developing a post game and then ultimately that “Go to” move in the post that so many of the great big men have. Favors has all the tools now he just needs to put it all together and if he does he will be one of the very few elite big men in the NBA.

Kidds Off The Hill: Grant Hill and Jason Kidd Retire

Everything in life has a transitional period and in the game of basketball it's no different. Over the last few seasons fans like myself have seen guys they grew up watching play retire from the game such as Shaq, Rasheed Wallace and Baron Davis. In the last few days 2 players who I grew up with and have been in the league for as long as I can remember retired from pro basketball. I am speaking about Grant Hill and Jason Kidd of course, who both shared rookie of the year honors in 1994.

Both of these talented players careers take on a different meaning. For Grant Hill it was a bunch of “What if's” due to injuries throughout the course of his career he was never ever able to hit his peak as a basketball player. For Jason Kidd he was a game changer who reinvented himself several times and took the perennial cellar dwelling New Jersey Nets to new heights taking them to the finals twice. Regardless of what happened though both had their fair share of great moments on the basketball court.

Grant Hill had all the hype coming in from Duke capturing 2 national championships garnering hype from many of the biggest names in basketball at that time. “He is simply a marvelous player who can do it all” Larry Brown said. He at one point was heralded as “The next Michael Jordan” and had the explosiveness to prove it just go on youtube. In fact Michael Jordan back in an interview stated the following about Grant Hill”I think Grant Hill's skills are unbelievable, he is definitely the type of player that can take over a game, he's probably top 4 players in the game today”. To actually get that praise from the guy you are being compared is a big deal.

For all the praise Grant received he also was unable to show the NBA world what his ceiling was due to many injuries. From 1999- 2008 Grant had problems staying on the court and never played 75+ games in that time frame. It makes you wonder what a healthy Grant Hill and Tracy Mcgrady could have done in Orlando with the Magic. They most likely wold of been contenders in the east year in year out.

There are many ways we can look at the career of Grant Hill. We can say “Here is Grant Hill who couldn't stay healthy, who let the fans down, Fila down and never maximized his potential”. Or we can say “Here is Grant Hill who didn't live up to the hype but was still a 7 time All-Star who fought his injuries to the very end to still become a productive role player in the league". If you want to know how great Grant Hill was at one point look at the tweet from ESPN's stats twitter account down below and you will see how great Grant was.

Grant Hill retires. He's 1 of 6 players to average 20-5-5 in his first 6 NBA seasons.It's an impressive list twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/…
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 2, 2013

Jason Kidd is different then Grant though he had hype but was more durable to prove it to be true. He came into the league as a guy who could do a little of everything Score,pass, rebound and was a bit bigger and stronger then most point guards which allowed him to get 107 Triple-Doubles over the course of his career.

Jason Kidd will always be known to most basketball fans as the guy who elevated the then New Jersey Nets franchise to new heights taking them to the finals 2 times. The only problem is the Nets ran into the 2 biggest dynasty’s of this era in the Lakers and Spurs but make no mistake about it Kidd was a game changer. Whether with Vince Carter, Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson or Kerry Kittles Kidd made the Nets a must watch team in the NBA and played some of the most exciting basketball of the 2000's leading the league in assists 5 times in his tenure with the Nets. So to the Brooklyn Nets Organization retire #5 at the Barclay’s center.

Of course all the accolades with Nets were great but the legacy of Kidd was cemented in 2011 when as a member of the Dallas Mavericks where he earned his 1^st and only championship ring beating Lebron James and the Miami Heat. From that part of his career to now he had to transition his game from a guy who liked to get to the basket to a guy who became a shooter and worked tirelessly to improve his perimeter J. As he leaves the league he is the 3^rd greatest shooter in NBA History which is a testament to how hard he worked as a player.

So to the careers of Jason Kidd and Grant Hill I on behalf of many basketball fans say so long, It was a joy to watch you play.

Tony Parker: Greatness in Numbers

The San Antonio Spurs are a dynasty in the modern era whether they win a title this year or not. For the last decade they have appeared in half of the NBA Finals played and have won 4 times. They have been called boring to the casual basketball fan but for people who live this game they understand the greatness of the Spurs. Tim Duncan has always been the man in San Antonio but over the last few seasons Tony Parker has become “The Guy”. This whole season the Spurs have been riding Parker as #1 option while playing the usual Elite team basketball they are known for.

The Spurs have been dominant this postseason and what looked like an even match up in Western Conference finals became a one sided affair when the Spurs crushed the hopes of Zach Randolph and the Memphis Grizzlies with a 4 game sweep. Tony Parker has been playing great basketball but people may be unaware of the magnitude of the level he is playing at.

Tony Parker is 31 years old as of this year and you may be surprised on how similar or even better his numbers are in this postseason compared to several point guards In the hall of fame when they were 31 years old.

When Playing amongst stars like Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli Its hard to shine sometimes but at 31 years old he has done that for the Spurs and became a leader kind of like Jason Kidd had been through out his career in his time in 2004.

In the 2003-2004 playoffs Jason Kidd was 31 years old just like Tony Parker is now but Parker s numbers are better then Kidd at 31 years of ago, check the numbers below.

Tony Parker at 31years old: 23 Points 7 Assists 4 Rebounds 1 Steal 47 % FG 37 % 3-Point 79% FT Through 14 games

Jason Kidd at 31 years of old: 13 Points 9 Assists 7 Rebounds 2 steals 33%FG 20% 3-Point FG 81% FT in 11 games

Kidd edges Parker in categories like Assists, Rebounds and Steals but Parker proves to be more efficient having a higher field goal percentage and 3 point percentage but the two are definitely comparable.

While Parker and Kidd are Parker certainly comparable at 31 you will be surprised which Hall of famer's numbers are worse at 31 years old in he playoffs. Isaiah Thomas is a beast anybody who drops a 25 points on a bad ankle in the NBA Finals is but at 31 years of age Tony Parkers Numbers are better.

Tony Parker at 31years old: 23 Points 7 Assists 4 Rebounds 1 Steal 47 % FG 37 % 3-Point 79% FT Through 14 games

Isaiah Thomas at 31 years old: 14 Points 9 Assists 4 Rebounds 1 Steal 40%FG 27% 3-Point 72%FT

Thomas is great and a 2 time champion but like Kidd Points and efficiency gives Parker the edge in postseason numbers at 31.

Arguably the greatest point guard of all-time has comparable playoffs statistics at 31 years of age with Tony Parker. Magic Johnson changed the way basketball was played running point guard for the “Showtime” Lakers of the 80's but his 31 year old playoff numbers are closer with Parker than you think.

Tony Parker at 31years old: 23 Points 7 Assists 4 Rebounds 1 Steal 47 % FG 37 % 3-Point 79% FT Through 14 games

Magic Johnson: 22 Points 13 Assists 8 Rebounds 1 Steals 44%FG 29%3-Point FG 83%FT in 19 games

Magic due to playing at some the fastest pace in NBA history has better numbers then Tony Parker but Magic is known for being one of the best all-around players in league history, so the fact that Parker Is comparable is an accomplish in itself. Magic Doubles Parker up in categories like assists and Rebounds but Parker averages more Points and has better Field goal percentage and three point percentage then Magic and we all know the importance of efficiency is in basketball.

If you didn't appreciate the greatness of Tony Parker before this article then I hope you this helped that. Tony Parker is a hall of famer and winner in this league. His numbers are comparable to some of the best who ever did it at his position.