Whether Derrick Favors admits it some day or not, his career needed a fresh start.
Favors averaged a pedestrian 9.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game three years ago. Of course, he was only appearing in 23.7 minutes a contest, but that was by design. Quin Snyder had asked his young big man to sacrifice his production and minutes for the good of the team and the efforts did contribute to three consecutive playoff trips for the Utah Jazz.
Playing alongside Rudy Gobert for large stretches was no longer tenable since the modern game demanded offenses space the floor as wide as possible and not crowd the rim.