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Poll: Should Jazz Pay Hayward More Than Favors?

October 22nd, 2013 at 4:16pm CST by Chuck Myron

More than 45% of Hoops Rumors readers who voted this weekend believe the Jazz agreed to give Derrick Favors too much in his new four-year extension, while fewer than 6% think Favors should have gotten more, suggesting the deal is player-friendly. I posed the question before today’s revelation that the deal, worth $48MM in base salary, is slightly less lucrative than the $49MM+ figure that was originally reported, though I imagine the difference wouldn’t skew the results too far.

Perhaps the most striking news to come out of Jazz camp since the news of Favors’ deal is that the team is working on an extension for Gordon Hayward that would be worth more than the one Favors just got. The Jazz should have a better idea of what they have in Hayward than they do with Favors, since Hayward has seen about 30% more minutes the past two seasons than his counterpart has. Hayward has shown continual improvement, but he still drifted in and out of the starting lineup last season on a team that featured uninspiring wing talent, like Randy Foye, Marvin Williams, Alec Burks and DeMarre Carroll. Those names don’t inspire the same confidence as Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap, who blocked Favors’ path to the opening tip.

I predicted a four-year, $40MM deal for Hayward in August, when I broke down his extension candidacy, but it sounds like the Jazz are prepared to exceed that amount by more than $8MM. Do you agree that Hayward deserves more than Favors? Let us know, and elaborate in the comments.

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Northwest Rumors: Favors, Williams, James

October 22nd, 2013 at 3:15pm CST by Chuck Myron

The base salary for Derrick Favors‘ new four-year extension with the Jazz is a little lower than the $49MM+ that was originally reported, according to HoopsWorld’s Eric Pincus (Twitter link). It’s a $48MM deal, with likely incentives that would take it up to $48.733MM, and unlikely incentives that could lift the value to $53.133MM, according to Pincus. There’s that and plenty more coming out of the Northwest Division today, where we’ve also heard the Nuggets may be shopping Kenneth Faried, the Jazz are still interested in signing Jamaal Tinsley, and the Wolves will exercise their 2014/15 option on Ricky Rubio. Here’s the latest:

  • The Wolves will pick up their 2014/15 option on Derrick Williams, just as they will with Rubio, and Williams expressed relief today in comments to reporters, including Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune. “It helps, (having) the security.” Williams said. “You’re guaranteed at least one more year in the NBA. As long as you have that, I think everything is good.”
  • Damion James is the last player without any sort of guarantee on his contract who still remains on the Nuggets roster, and it doesn’t look like he’ll entice the Nuggets into cutting one of their guaranteed deals, as Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post examines. His best shot to make the team would have been if Quincy Miller struggled in camp, but Miller has impressed new coach Brian Shaw. James has played Jordan Hamilton to a draw this month, but Hamilton’s $1,169,880 guaranteed salary gives him the edge.
  • Hamilton will likely make it to opening night, but the decision on whether to pick up his $2,109,294 team option for 2014/15 is not as clear, given the Nuggets‘ depth at small forward, Dempsey observes in the same piece.
  • Favors and Enes Kanter have only started one game together in the NBA, but that total figures to grow much larger, especially now that the Jazz have locked up Favors’ for the long term. Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune looks at how Favors and Kanter will fit together, noting that coach Tyrone Corbin sees them as interchangeable parts at center and power forward.
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Poll: Did The Jazz Overpay For Derrick Favors?

October 20th, 2013 at 8:58am CST by Chuck Myron

The Jazz locked up one of their promising young players this weekend, signing Derrick Favors to a four-year extension for more than $49MM. The total could exceed $50MM if Favors cashes in on incentive clauses. GM Dennis Lindsey pointed to the 22-year-old’s defense, rebounding and youth as reasons why the team felt comfortable enough to commit more than $12.25MM a year to a player who’s never averaged as many as 24 minutes or 10 points a game.

Favors’ range doesn’t extend any farther than three feet away from the basket. He shot just 29% last year from outside that limited territory, as I pointed out when I looked at his extension candidacy in August. His offensive shortcomings were why I figured that Favors would see a deal similar to the four years and $44MM that the Bucks gave fellow defensive stalwart Larry Sanders in his extension.

Still, executives from around the league told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who broke the news of Favors’ extension, that Favors would have received multiple offers of contracts worth $13MM a year if the Jazz had let him hit restricted free agency next summer. Favors’ ability to finish 13th in the league in blocks per game last season despite playing just 23.2 minutes per contest no doubt intrigues many NBA decision-makers.

Lindsey said yesterday that he’s primarily focused on Favors’ defense, and that the Jazz are willing to wait for his offense to develop, as Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune notes on Twitter. Favors is set to become a regular starter for the first time in his career this season, so we’ll soon see how the Jazz mitigate Favors’ limited range when he’s on the floor for most of the game. Regardless of how it goes, the Jazz have already committed major money to a big man whose shooting percentage has declined each year since his rookie season. They gave up the chance to see how he performs this season and use it to gauge whether to re-sign him in free agency next summer.

Let us know what you think about the Favors extension with a vote, and explain your position in the comments.

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Northwest Links: Favors, Jazz, Blazers, Orton

October 19th, 2013 at 5:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

Derrick Favors is relieved to have signed his four-year, $49MM+ extension with the Jazz, and he hopes someday to retire in Utah, as Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune notes (Twitter links). Retirement is a long way off for Favors, who’ll still be two weeks shy of his 27th birthday when the extension runs out in 2018. His youth is a major plus, as GM Dennis Lindsey conveyed to Falk.

“He’s still 22,” Lindsey said. “Literally, I’m scouting 22-year-olds right now in college and internationally.”

Here’s more on the Favors extension and other Northwest-related news:

  • Lindsey said the Jazz’s familiarity with Favors was a factor in deciding to grant the extension, according to fellow Tribune scribe Steve Luhm, and the GM believes the big man is on par with Tyson Chandler and Joakim Noah as a defensive anchor. (All four Twitter links). “Very rarely do you get a 6’10”, 260-pound young player saying, ‘Hey, I’m a defender. I’m a rebounder. … That’s what I want,” Lindsey said. “If he can be our Bill Russell, we’d be very pleased.”
  • The Blazers made a nod to tradition with their acquisition of classic center type Robin Lopez to complement LaMarcus Aldridge, but if second-year man Meyers Leonard or Thomas Robinson, another new Blazer, sees more time next to Aldridge, it will represent another step in the evolution of big men, opines Sam Tongue of Blazer’s Edge.
  • Blazers coach Terry Stotts is “somewhat” concerned that all five starters have yet to appear together at the same time on the court this preseason, tweets the Oregonian’s Mike Tokito.
  • Former Thunder center Daniel Orton played more than twice as many games with Oklahoma City’s D-League affiliate as he did with the big club last season, but OKC’s decision to waive him last week may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. The 23-year-old signed with the Sixers three days ago, and he has a chance to crack the rotation, writes Michael Kaskey-Blomain of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Spencer Lund contributed to this post.

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Jazz Sign Derrick Favors To 4-Year Extension

October 19th, 2013 at 11:30am CST by Chuck Myron

SATURDAY, 11:30am: The Jazz confirmed the extension via press release.

FRIDAY, 9:18pm: The deal doesn’t contain any options, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.com.

8:11pm: The Jazz and Derrick Favors have agreed to a lucrative four-year extension to his rookie scale contract, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The base salary totals more than $49MM, and there are incentives that could carry the package well over $50MM, according to Wojnarowski. The deal could be a bargain, depending on the outcome of those incentives, since Woj hears from executives around the league that several teams would give him a $13MM annual salary if he were to hit restricted free agency next summer. Instead, it looks like the Wallace Prather client will be in Utah for quite some time, as the extension is set to run through 2017/18.

The Jazz placed a high value on Favors’ desire to remain with the team, as Wojnarowski writes. He becomes the fifth eligible player to strike a deal for a rookie scale extension this offseason, joining DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George, Larry Sanders and John Wall. Favors and Sanders are the only ones of that group to agree to annual salaries of less than the maximum, as the Bucks gave Sanders four years and $44MM. Utah’s deal for Favors resembles the extension Serge Ibaka and the Thunder signed last year. Ibaka’s getting $49.4MM in base salary, and he can earn an additional $100K each year in performance incentives that he’s likely to meet.

The 22-year-old, 6’10” Favors came to Utah in the middle of his rookie year as part of the Deron Williams trade after the Nets drafted him third overall in 2010. He’s yet to average 10 points per game in any NBA season, but he’s seen little playing time behind Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap in Utah. That figures to change this season, as both Jefferson and Millsap are gone, and Favors will have the chance to demonstrate whether his career per-36-minute rebounding average of 10.6 will hold up in starter’s minutes. He’s also played stellar defense, blocking 2.6 shots per 36 minutes in 2012/13.

My prediction in March of a four-year, $48MM extension for Favors was a lot closer to the mark than the revised view I took when I examined his extension candidacy in August and figured the two sides might do a deal for between $42MM and $44MM. Utah only has about $4.5MM in guaranteed money on the books for 2014/15, not including likely option pickups for Enes Kanter and Alec Burks, so this represents the first major commitment for the team after this summer’s retooling. There’s plenty of room for an extension to Gordon Hayward, the team’s other player entering the final season of a rookie scale contract, and I could see him striking a four-year, $40MM deal, as I wrote when I looked at his case for an extension. The team has been in negotiations with Favors and Hayward since August.

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Fallout From Derrick Favors’ Extension

October 18th, 2013 at 11:04pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Jazz are probably going to struggle to win games this season, but they took a step forward tonight in their plan to return to playoff contention, agreeing to terms on a $49MM+ extension with Derrick Favors. He’ll likely sign the extension Saturday, according to an ESPN.com report, and when he does, there will be one fewer intriguing name on the list of players set to become free agents in the summer. There’s more on a couple of potential free agents tonight as we look at the ripple effects of Favors’ deal:

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Odds & Ends: Heat, Jazz, Bulls, NBPA, Collins

September 30th, 2013 at 2:54pm CST by Luke Adams

The potential expiring contracts for the Heat's Big Three will be a major topic of conversation throughout the 2013/14 season, but LeBron James and Dwyane Wade both downplayed the subject at Media Day in Miami today.

"You have concern when you feel people want to go elsewhere," Wade said, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel (via Twitter). "I don't think nobody is looking to go elsewhere."

Here's more from around the NBA:

  • Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey confirmed that the team is still in talks with Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward about possible rookie-scale extensions, tweets Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune.
  • In talking to reporters, including Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, about why he decided to sign with the Bulls, Mike Dunleavy Jr. pointed to the team's "high character."
  • Dahntay Jones is ready to compete in training camp for a spot on the Bulls' regular-season roster, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune details.
  • Former Illinois guard Brandon Paul, who went undrafted in June, explains to Gino Pilato of Ridiculous Upside why he's heading overseas rather than to NBA training camp. According to Paul, he received and passed on camp invites from the Wolves, Nets, Blazers, and Heat.
  • After previously having tackled ten of the best contracts of the offseason, Mark Deeks of HoopsWorld shifts his focus and identifies ten of the worst contracts, including the Bobcats' signing of Al Jefferson, and the Pistons' deal with Josh Smith.
  • The NBA Players Association is aiming to have a new executive director in place by the 2014 All-Star break, sources tell Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.
  • ESPN.com's Marc Stein tweets that Jason Collins continues to work out "a ton" as he attempts to stay in shape in the hopes that an NBA team will show interest in signing him once the season gets underway.
  • Evaluating the Kings' signing of DeMarcus Cousins to a max extension, Daniel Leroux of RealGM.com gives the team a grade of D+ and the player a grade of A.

Read more

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Odds & Ends: Extension Candidates, Heat, McGary

September 17th, 2013 at 6:25pm CST by Michael Pina

A few random notes from around the league.

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Poll: Will Jazz Extend Favors And/Or Hayward?

September 6th, 2013 at 4:33pm CST by Luke Adams

As our list of players eligible for rookie-scale extensions shows, six NBA teams entered the season with multiple extension-eligible players on their respective rosters. Of those six clubs though, only a couple have more than one legit extension candidates under contract.

The Wizards and Bucks have already locked up John Wall and Larry Sanders respectively, but it'd be a bit surprising to see Trevor Booker or Kevin Seraphin sign a long-term deal with Washington, and Ekpe Udoh seems unlikely to re-up with Milwaukee quite yet. The Celtics and Grizzlies also don't have two genuine extension candidates on board.

But one team that realistically could extend multiple players is the Utah Jazz. By electing not to re-sign Paul Millsap or Al Jefferson this offseason, Utah committed to a youth movement centered around young players like Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward, Enes Kanter, and Alec Burks. Kanter and Burks are still a year away from being extension-eligible, but Favors and Hayward could be locked up long-term before November.

We heard in mid-August that the Jazz are comfortable heading into the season without new deals for either player, but the team is still engaged in extension talks with both guys, and Hayward tells Zac Keefer of the Indianapolis Star that he'd love to continue his career in Utah. It may also be in the team's best interest to work out deals now, before Favors and Hayward see a huge bump in minutes — and, presumably, in the rest of their numbers.

Utah's books are fairly wide open for the next few years, with no expensive long-term contracts tying up the club's cap space. In a pair of pieces on Favors and Hayward for our Extension Candidate series, Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors suggested both players could be in line for deals in the four-year, $40MM+ range, and the Jazz could afford those easily. On the other hand, perhaps the team prefers to wait and see how its young players respond to the increased responsibility and workload before committing too significantly to them. Without extensions, both guys would still be restricted free agents in 2014, so the Jazz would be able to keep one or both if they wanted to.

What do you think? Will the Jazz sign Favors and/or Hayward to contract extensions by the Halloween deadline?

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Extension Candidate: Derrick Favors

August 25th, 2013 at 10:31am CST by Chuck Myron

The Jazz invested heavily in Derrick Favors from the very start. The former No. 3 overall pick highlighted the package Utah received from the Nets for star point guard Deron Williams, so if then-GM Kevin O'Connor's surprise gambit at the 2011 trade deadline was going to work, Favors had to deliver. The Jazz have since bumped O'Connor up to executive VP of basketball operations, and he and new GM Dennis Lindsey executed a roster overhaul this summer that will give the team its first look at Favors as a full-time starter. Still, Favors and the Jazz have a major decision to make before the 22-year-old can take his place in the spotlight. 

It's poor timing for both team and player that Favors has become eligible for an extension to his rookie-scale contract when he's yet to average as many as 24 minutes per game in any season. Utah doesn't get the chance to see whether Favors can handle being the team's first or second option on offense, and Favors hasn't had the opportunity to show what he can do in a marquee role. The Jazz could have at least afforded themselves a look at Favors as a starter for a couple of months if they had traded either Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap or both at the trade deadline. Yet if they had done that, they probably couldn't have wound up with two future first-round picks, as they did when they used cap space to absorb a couple of Golden State's regrettable contracts this summer. It's another example of the team's strategy of sacrificing the present for the future.

The decision whether to extend Favors will nonetheless have long-term consequences. As Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors explained this week, rookie-scale extensions often turn out to be bargains compared to the deals that restricted free agents get. Favors is likely to get a deal for four or five years either this summer or next, so inflated annual salaries could wind up costing the Jazz for years to come.

O'Connor and Lindsey could propose an extension similar to the four-year, $32MM deal that the Bulls gave Taj Gibson, another player who had primarily come off the bench, but Favors' reps at Perennial Sports & Entertainment would balk at that, since their client has much greater potential. The Favors camp may propose an arrangement closer to the roughly $49MM that Serge Ibaka is getting from the Thunder, but that figure is just as likely to elicit a "no" from the team.

I predicted in March that Favors and the Jazz would strike a deal worth $48MM for four years, and while that seems a little high now, especially since that's the kind of money Larry Sanders just got from the Bucks, I still think it's closer to reality than an extension similar to Gibson's would be. The case of Sanders is somewhat instructive here. He, like Favors, didn't see much playing time in his first two seasons in the league, but he blossomed into a Defensive Player of the Year candidate with starter's minutes last season. It's reasonable to expect that Favors is poised for a breakout, too. He's recorded a PER of 17.3 in his two full seasons with Utah, and in the same timeframe, he's displayed a knack for rebounding, grabbing 11.1 boards per 36 minutes. 

The major question mark for Favors is his offense. He shot just 48.3% last season despite the majority of his attempts last season coming at the rim. That's largely because of his putrid 29.0% shooting from three feet and out, as Basketball-Reference shows. That's a mark that will have to get much better if he is to thrive in Utah's beloved pick-and-roll. His shooting percentage ticked up slightly with more a few more minutes and shot attempts per game after the All-Star break, but more drastic improvement is necessary.

There's no such concern on the defensive end of the floor. According to HoopData.com, Favors' blocks, steals and charges drawn per game add up to 2.53, a figure equivalent to the total posted by All-Defensive Second Team selection Paul George, who saw more than 15 extra minutes of playing time per night. Favors used his 7'4" wingspan to block 1.7 shots per game last season, good enough for 13th in the league despite his limited minutes.

So, it's not as if Favors doesn't have an NBA track record. He'll encounter something new this year in Utah, where instead of a contender for a playoff spot, the Jazz are set to field a team that will struggle to win 25 games. Defenses will pack the paint with Favors on the floor, and without much in the way of scoring talent around him, baskets will be hard to come by. Favors may never again play on a team that surrounds him with so little in the way of talent and experience, so this season might not provide the most accurate glimpse of his potential. That's why I think the Jazz and Favors might be best served to do a four-year extension for between $42MM and $44MM. Utah could wind up with a budding defensive stalwart and rebounder extraordinaire on the cheap, while Favors gets an eight-figure salary despite never having averaged 10 points per game. The most significant risk would be on Utah's side, but as the Nuggets showed when they re-signed Nene and quickly swapped his five-year, $65MM deal for JaVale McGee's expiring contract in 2012, there's almost always a team willing to take on a promising big man, no matter the price. 

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