duncan228
06-07-2010, 09:22 PM
Georgia Tech PF Derrick Favors: ‘I Think Now My Game Is Ready For The NBA’ (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=tsn-georgiatechpfderrick)
SportingNews
Derrick Favors entered his freshman year at Georgia Tech as one of the top young prospects in basketball, with the size, frame and athleticism that drew comparisons to Dwight Howard and Amare Stoudemire. Though Favors was up and down early, he finished the season well and his NBA draft stock has remained solidly among the top 5. Sporting News’ Sean Deveney and other reporters spoke with Favors about the draft.
Question: Which guys playing now would you compare your game to?
Derrick Favors: Probably guys like Amare Stoudemire and Kevin Garnett.
Q: Have you paid much attention to talk of where you might go, No. 2, No. 3, the mock drafts and all?
DF: No, I don’t listen to it. I just go in, go do my workouts, go as hard as I can and let the chips fall where they may.
Q: A lot of scouts and G.M.s are saying you might be the best big man in this draft.
DF: I mean, if they say I am the best big man in the draft, then, OK, I am. But it doesn’t mean anything at this point.
Q: Having been in Atlanta for a while, you have had some experience working out with NBA players there, haven’t you?
DF: Definitely. I worked out with a lot of guys with NBA experience around Atlanta, guys like Dwight Howard or Dion Glover sometimes or Josh Smith sometimes. They just tell me to keep working hard and it will pay off.
Q: Has it really hit you yet, what you have coming as far actually being there on draft day and having your name called? That has to be exciting.
DF: It’s pretty exciting for me. I am 18, I am basically still a kid. So, it hasn’t really hit me yet what I have ahead. I have watched the NBA draft just about every year, so to see myself up there, that is something I am excited about.
Q: Not long ago, you might have been someone who came out right from high school. Would you have liked that? Do you think the year at Georgia Tech helped you?
DF: Georgia Tech definitely helped me a lot. I don’t know about coming out of high school. But Georgia Tech was good for me. I got a lot stronger, a lot more used to not having the ball in my hands all the time, moving without the ball, setting screens. Georgia Tech helped me that way.
Q: You could wind up third in the draft, going to New Jersey. They had a rough year, of course. Does that deter you in any way?
DF: It doesn’t deter me, they had a rough year, but I am pretty sure it is part of the rebuilding process. They have some good players and I think I will be able fit in.
Q: There’s talk among scouts that maybe you didn’t get used as much as you could have at Georgia Tech, that the point guards struggled to get you the ball. Would you agree with that? Will you show a different game in the NBA?
DF: I think I got used pretty good at Georgia Tech. I will probably improve in other areas, but I will have pretty much the same game. I think now it is. Now that I had that experience at Georgia Tech, I think now my game is ready for the NBA.
Q: You were more productive as the season went on.
DF: At the end of the year, I got a lot more comfortable with the system, I got a lot more comfortable with my guards and the guards started realizing we needed to get the ball into the post more. It was a combination of things.
Q: If you’re an NBA general manager and you have the first pick, who do you take?
DF: I would take myself first, if I was a GM.
Q: Why?
DF: Because I know what kind of player I am and what I could bring to the floor.
SportingNews
Derrick Favors entered his freshman year at Georgia Tech as one of the top young prospects in basketball, with the size, frame and athleticism that drew comparisons to Dwight Howard and Amare Stoudemire. Though Favors was up and down early, he finished the season well and his NBA draft stock has remained solidly among the top 5. Sporting News’ Sean Deveney and other reporters spoke with Favors about the draft.
Question: Which guys playing now would you compare your game to?
Derrick Favors: Probably guys like Amare Stoudemire and Kevin Garnett.
Q: Have you paid much attention to talk of where you might go, No. 2, No. 3, the mock drafts and all?
DF: No, I don’t listen to it. I just go in, go do my workouts, go as hard as I can and let the chips fall where they may.
Q: A lot of scouts and G.M.s are saying you might be the best big man in this draft.
DF: I mean, if they say I am the best big man in the draft, then, OK, I am. But it doesn’t mean anything at this point.
Q: Having been in Atlanta for a while, you have had some experience working out with NBA players there, haven’t you?
DF: Definitely. I worked out with a lot of guys with NBA experience around Atlanta, guys like Dwight Howard or Dion Glover sometimes or Josh Smith sometimes. They just tell me to keep working hard and it will pay off.
Q: Has it really hit you yet, what you have coming as far actually being there on draft day and having your name called? That has to be exciting.
DF: It’s pretty exciting for me. I am 18, I am basically still a kid. So, it hasn’t really hit me yet what I have ahead. I have watched the NBA draft just about every year, so to see myself up there, that is something I am excited about.
Q: Not long ago, you might have been someone who came out right from high school. Would you have liked that? Do you think the year at Georgia Tech helped you?
DF: Georgia Tech definitely helped me a lot. I don’t know about coming out of high school. But Georgia Tech was good for me. I got a lot stronger, a lot more used to not having the ball in my hands all the time, moving without the ball, setting screens. Georgia Tech helped me that way.
Q: You could wind up third in the draft, going to New Jersey. They had a rough year, of course. Does that deter you in any way?
DF: It doesn’t deter me, they had a rough year, but I am pretty sure it is part of the rebuilding process. They have some good players and I think I will be able fit in.
Q: There’s talk among scouts that maybe you didn’t get used as much as you could have at Georgia Tech, that the point guards struggled to get you the ball. Would you agree with that? Will you show a different game in the NBA?
DF: I think I got used pretty good at Georgia Tech. I will probably improve in other areas, but I will have pretty much the same game. I think now it is. Now that I had that experience at Georgia Tech, I think now my game is ready for the NBA.
Q: You were more productive as the season went on.
DF: At the end of the year, I got a lot more comfortable with the system, I got a lot more comfortable with my guards and the guards started realizing we needed to get the ball into the post more. It was a combination of things.
Q: If you’re an NBA general manager and you have the first pick, who do you take?
DF: I would take myself first, if I was a GM.
Q: Why?
DF: Because I know what kind of player I am and what I could bring to the floor.