Derrick Favors Has Proven He’s Not a Cornerstone for Utah Jazz

On Saturday night as the Utah Jazz defeated the plummeting Philadelphia 76ers by a count of 104-92, Jazz center Derrick Favors came up big against a putrid defense. In 35 minutes, the big man put up 15 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks, one assist and one steal while shooting a solid 6-9 from the floor and 3-4 from the foul line.

Coming into the 2013-14 NBA season, the Jazz made their intentions of developing young talent like Favors and fellow big man Enes Kanter when they made the decision not to re-sign both Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap, who essentially comprised most of their offense last season and almost led them to the postseason.

The Jazz are far away from the playoffs this year in the loaded Western Conference, but they have certainly given ample opportunities to young players like Favors. However, Favors hasn’t had the monster season that many people expected him to.

Through 53 games this season, the 22-year-old big man has averaged just 12.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 30 minutes per game while shooting 51 percent from the floor. Don’t get me wrong, Favors has been solid for a struggling Jazz team. However, he hasn’t looked like the potential star that the Jazz were hoping he’d be.

While Favors has been quite productive in the pick-and-roll, he’s not been a huge threat in post-up situations, averaging only 0.73 points per 100 possessions. According to Synergy, that rate ranks only 110^th in the league and isn’t helped by the fact that he shoots only 37.4 percent from the floor in post-up situations.

Favors is still quite young and still pretty obviously developing and could eventually make it to being a big part of a quality team. However, I haven’t yet seen the consistent production or signs of the skills that would make him the cornerstone for the Jazz franchise. As always, there’s still time, but things don’t look entirely too promising at the moment.

Cody Williams is a Senior Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20, add him on Google and like his Facebook page.