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SALT LAKE CITY — When Mike Conley got to the Utah Jazz before last season, he kept hearing about one player over and over again: Derrick Favors. The thing was, though, Favors was no longer on the team.
"Everybody loves Fav," Conley said. "He was talked about almost more than anybody when I first arrived here — even when he was in New Orleans."
Now, Conley can see for himself what all the talk is about. There was an outpouring of joy from the Jazz players when the news broke Favors was returning. There were excited text messages and jubilant video calls, and it gave the Utah Jazz head coach a chance to reflect.
"You're reminded as a coach of really why you do this: to have a chance to go through the good and the bad times with someone that you rely on and trust," Quin Snyder said. "And that's a special part of the job, and I think it's unique to team sports."
When asked how the atmosphere at practice had changed with Favors back, Snyder said "it felt normal." He wasn't gone for very long and his team apparently was already talking about him anyway.
"He's a great teammate," Snyder said. "His temperament, his character — he's just got a unique way about him, as far as being selfless. Anytime you have a guy that the players know is that way and approaches the game that way, it's infectious."
For most of the team, bringing Favors back meant the band was getting back together. Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Joe Ingles and Royce O'Neale were all major parts to the last Jazz team Favors was on. But the team he is rejoining is still vastly different.
While Snyder continues to preach defense, the Jazz joined the rest of the league in leaning toward a more offensive mindset. Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic and Jordan Clarkson were brought in to add more offensive skill. How do they see Favors fitting in with this new version of the Jazz?
"To have him back on the squad is a blessing in a lot of ways," Conley said. "His leadership and his abilities as a big man and a guy that can play alongside Rudy — they've had a lot of success doing that in the past — and some somebody that I think everybody on our team trusts and believes in to go in there and get the job done whatever he's asked to do so."
With Favors returning to fill the backup center role — a role the Jazz didn't quite realize the importance of until he left — the debate over whether or not he and Gobert can play together shouldn't need to begin again. The same can be said about the persistent trade rumors that followed Favors during his first stint in Utah. But it didn't take long for those to be hinted at once again.
In a season preview in The Athletic, John Hollinger (who was critical of the move to bring back Favors) did write "Favors was the best available player in free agency and thus could have trade value in-season." When Snyder said things felt normal, he probably wasn't referring to that. But Favors' teammates, both the old and the new, think things will work just fine.
"I mean, I think that he's gonna be great for us," Bogdanovic said. "His basketball IQ is pretty high, he's got playoff experience which is most important for us … and he's going to give us depth to play either with the two bigs or helping the second unit. So I'm happy that he's here with us and I think that he's gonna be a big part of what we are doing."
Clarkson could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Favors' return. He'll now have an experienced screener and pick-and-roll man to play with in the second unit. That should make life a little easier for the guard who had to do most of the heavy lifting on the second unit last season.
"He's a great screen setter so I know he'll get me open," Clarkson said. "I know he's able to catch, finish and make plays, so he's definitely a big factor of this second unit and this team. Excited to play with him, excited to run him, just glad that he's here."
He and everyone else.
Everybody loves Derrick Favors.
