Derrick Favors Interview

[Vlade4GM]

Favors is much stronger than Lee or at least will be in 3-4 years. I think he's more like Dwight with worse jumping. He's not a freak athlete but still elite, say top-20, among NBA big men.

That's fair, but I just want to clarify to people that they're not getting a McDyess/Stoudemire type athlete with him. He's a good athlete, especially for his size and strength, but he isn't as quick or as explosive of a leaper as they were/are. I think David Lee is a pretty good athlete, and Favors probably has better size and length than him.

 

[Vlade4GM]

I see his Favors' future (offensively) as a pick and roll/lob finisher, set shooter, hustle points, low post scorer. While he can still improve his ball handling and his jump shot, his strengths right now are his length and strength. His weaknesses are his jump shot off the dribble, his ball handling, and change of direction ability. He's a straight line run and jump athlete like McDyess, but not as explosive or quick as McDyess. So I don't think that bodes well for much of a high post game. He's pretty similar to Emeka Okafor actually.

Cousins is probably going to be the better creator offensively, but I side with Favors because I like his intangibles better and he's so good defensively.

 

[HighFlyingMonkey]

I'm on the Derrick Favors bandwagon.

I see him as something of a cross between Emeka Okafor and Dwight Howard. People are acting like he's Hasheem Thabeet in the post, but he shows tremendous potential down there. He's got good hands, a soft touch, and the ability to finish through contact. He won't be an impact scorer from day one, but he's very talented and flashes potential that will likely become more solidified as he gains more experience and improves. He had his best offensive game of the season against Duke's huge frontline, which makes his postgame project pretty well into the NBA. His defense is already very mature, as he looks to be a game-changer on that end with his length and athleticism.

So basically with Favors I see an NBA Ready-defender with the talent to be a good post player, which would be an absolute godsend around where we are picking.

 

[Vlade4GM]

I'm on the Derrick Favors bandwagon.

I see him as something of a cross between Emeka Okafor and Dwight Howard. People are acting like he's Hasheem Thabeet in the post, but he shows tremendous potential down there. He's got good hands, a soft touch, and the ability to finish through contact. He won't be an impact scorer from day one, but he's very talented and flashes potential that will likely become more solidified as he gains more experience and improves. He had his best offensive game of the season against Duke's huge frontline, which makes his postgame project pretty well into the NBA. His defense is already very mature, as he looks to be a game-changer on that end with his length and athleticism.

So basically with Favors I see an NBA Ready-defender with the talent to be a good post player, which would be an absolute godsend around where we are picking.

Yup. For an 18 year old, it's very impressive how disciplined and mature he is defensively.

 

[ElRey]

At the moment, the resemblence ends when you get to the skill level part.

so he is no where near as skilled as a freshman Chris Webber? I've only seen youtube highlights of Favors, and most of his highlights are awesome dunks, which show off his great athleticism. Would you say Favors is more athletic but less skilled whereas Cousins is more skillled but less athletic?

 

[Gilles]

People should really stop repeating that Cousins is polished offensively. Finishing through undersized PFs doesn't mean much for his NBA projections. He played Varnado (another undersized PF) with mixed results: second time Varnado adjusted, avoided foul trouble and frustrated Couz.
Two times Couzins encountered frontcourts resembling NBA ones (Connecticut and North Carolina) the results were underwhelming. He will be an excellent rebounder and good finisher in the League but that are the only guarantees.

 

[Vlade4GM]

I think he shows a good basic understanding of footwork and post moves for a freshman in college, but I definitely wouldn't call his skills polished. He has a nice touch, good length (whether it'll he'll have above average reach for a center is yet to be known), and very good strength, but whether he has enough upward explosiveness (especially with contact) and balance to be a very good finisher at the NBA level is still an unknown.

 

[bajaden]

People should really stop repeating that Cousins is polished offensively. Finishing through undersized PFs doesn't mean much for his NBA projections. He played Varnado (another undersized PF) with mixed results: second time Varnado adjusted, avoided foul trouble and frustrated Couz.
Two times Couzins encountered frontcourts resembling NBA ones (Connecticut and North Carolina) the results were underwhelming. He will be an excellent rebounder and good finisher in the League but that are the only guarantees.

I doubt that any 19 year old big man is polished offensively. But he has more of a post game than Favors does. I won't make excuses for the North Carolina and UConn games, other than they were back to back and early in Dec. I thought he improved as the year went on. There were some games where he didn't score much, but he didn't take many shots either. The first time around I thought he played Varnado pretty well. The second time I'll give Varnado the edge, but Cousins still rebounded well in that game.

By the way, I don't think that Varnado is undersized height wise if he comes in at 6'9". But he's certainly is weight wise. But as far as those two games, I usually don't like to cherrypick games. Either good one's or bad one's. For instance I could say that perhaps Parakhouski should be a first round pick because he went for 23pts and 14 boards with 3 blk's against Duke and 21 pt's and 13 Boards with 2 blk's against Aldrich and Kansas. He also had a decent game against Louisville..

Hey, now that I think about it, maybe he should be a first round pick. Who knows? Five years from now people may look back and see that he should have been. Probably not!

Anyway, I do agree that Cousins still has a way to go to be a top post player, but he has youth on his side.

 

[Kingster]

This part, not so much.



Despite his woeful off-court judgment, I wouldn't be heartbroken at getting him. He's only 19, still a kid... he can learn to love dunking on Kobe after he gets here.

It could be one of those love, then hate type relationships...