With even more evidence that a Derrick Favors return to action is imminent, Utah Jazz fans should feel excited about the prospect of their star power forward getting back into the mix.
Last week I explored the likelihood of Derrick Favors nearing a return to action for the Utah Jazz as there were a handful of signals that his recovery was progressing well and that we could see him on the court sooner rather than later.
Now with a new week upon us, those signs are becoming even more apparent.
First of all, Derrick Favors finally made his return to practice on Monday afternoon for his first time in about a month. He’s also optimistic that he will be able to participate in tomorrow’s practice as his knee is slowly but surely feeling better.
When asked about his current condition, Favors responded saying, “I’m still working through a little bit of discomfort, but overall it’s feeling good. It’s feeling a lot better.”
And while it will take a lot more than just “feeling good” for Favors to get back to 100% health and also into game shape, it’s a huge step forward from where he’s been. While his status is still very much up in the air for Wednesday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder (I know, sorry, don’t get too excited just yet) it’s been announced that he will participate in shootaround prior to that game and be reevaluated from there.
Therefore, without causing any unnecessary speculation, it is a real possibility that Derrick Favors could be back for that game or perhaps for Friday’s home contest against the Mavericks.
With that being said, while there truly is a realistic chance, don’t be surprised if the Jazz take a cautious approach and decide to hold off a little longer still. If there is too much discomfort, it’s much better to play it safe than risk him playing in a couple of games just to miss 15 more.
Our very own Ryan Aston recently advised Jazz fans who were complaining about players missing time due to injury to take a deep breath and relax as the training staff is only taking into consideration the long term and bigger picture with their players. Derrick Favors seems to agree with this approach:
“They’re thinking about the long term of your career and just trying to make sure that you’re healthy enough to be able to play come playoff time (and) come January, February you’re 100 percent instead of trying to push you to play a couple of games in November and December.”
While Favors realizes how important it is for him to get healthy, he admitted that the competitor inside him is itching to get back out there. If there weren’t any long-term risks, you can bet that he would find a way to play despite the discomfort, but it’s great to know that he and the training staff understands what’s at stake for this team and their formidable big man. He added:
“I tried to be tough and fight through it, but I’ve got to be smart with it. It got too bad, too much for me where I couldn’t take it anymore so I just had to tell the coach and the training staff that it’s hurting. I just had to take care of it. Sometimes you’ve got to man up and just say, ‘Look, I’m not feeling right, something’s wrong,’ and just take care of it.”
But the good news is that despite his absence, Favors has been engaged with the team and working hard to get back on the court. And by the looks of things, his return should be coming sooner rather than later.
While I don’t want to get ahead of myself, it would be exceptional if the Jazz could get him up and running at least in time to play in the rematch against the Golden State Warriors on December 20th as his size and defensive abilities would provide a major lift.
It’s incredible to think that even without Favors, the team’s second leading scorer from a year ago, Utah is still 15-10 so far on the season and has seen enormous contributions from its role players all season long.
And he hasn’t been the only one sidelined as several other Jazzmen have missed significant time. Luckily, it looks like Rodney Hood will likely be back for Wednesday’s contest, however George Hill could very well be out at least another week and there still have been no true indications that an Alec Burks return is imminent.
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Nevertheless, Derrick Favors’ absence has been perhaps one of the most notable as we’re used to seeing him pair up with Rudy Gobert to create one of the most daunting defensive front courts in the league while being an effective post-up and pick-and-roll threat on offense.
I know the anticipation has been brutal for quite a few weeks, but hang in there, Jazz fans. It’s truly looking like D-Faves will be back in action very soon.
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