THE FLATS – Derrick Favors has rejoined a Utah Jazz team rising to top level of the NBA … Thaddeus Young proving quite favorable in the analytics world … Josh Okogie back in the Timberwolves’ starting lineup … Iman Shumpert worked hard to return to the NBA.
This week’s #ProJackets Report compiles more of the latest news, stories and social media posts on former Jackets and their activities of the past week.
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FAVORS REJOINS A JAZZ TEAM RISING TO NBA ELITE
From ESPN.com: After their latest victory Tuesday night, a 122-108 decision over the visiting Boston Celtics, the Jazz are now an NBA-best 20-5 this season and have won 16 of their past 17 games … The one prominent player Utah added during the offseason — big man Derrick Favors — had spent the vast majority of his first nine seasons in Utah before being dealt to the New Orleans Pelicans last offseason, leaving him extremely familiar with what it was the Jazz would want him to do. Read more
From Salt City Hoops: Having Derrick Favors back in a Jazz uniform is fun for the fan base. It’s also great for Utah’s offense because it means they have two capable diving bigs. Favors’ repertoire includes this soft touch floater. Read more
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THE ADVANCED ANALYTICS LOVE THADDEUS YOUNG
Thaddeus Young is playing some of the best basketball of his career this season, and that’s not usually the case for a 32-year-old role-playing veteran who recently had his long-time career as a starter moved to the bench. Aside from the scoring improvements, Young’s biggest improvement has come from facilitating the basketball. Donovan’s new motion offense puts all of his players’ basketball IQ to the test, and Young is passing with flying colors. More from Bleacher Nation
Young finished with 14 points, six assists and five rebounds. No other Chicago player scored more than 11 points in the Bulls’ 105-101 loss Monday to the Wizards. The Bulls are 9-14.
From the Chicago Sun-Times: “According to an NBA source, teams hoping to acquire talent by the tentative March 25 trade deadline are increasingly looking to the Bulls as a potential trade partner, with veteran forward Thad Young suddenly drawing the most interest.” Read more
VIDEO: Young with the buzzer-beater vs. the Magic
Chicago is +6.9 points per 100 possessions when Thaddeus Young is on the floor and -9.0 when he isn’t.
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) February 9, 2021
“Thadgic with the fake!” 😂@NBCSChicago | @yungsmoove21 pic.twitter.com/Pd9jMsQn9G
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) February 6, 2021
OKAY THAD @yungsmoove21 👀 pic.twitter.com/x8RW0H8zgC
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) February 6, 2021
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OKOGIE BACK IN WOLVES’ STARTING LINEUP
Josh Okogie contributed 11 points (3-3 FG, 1-1 3Pt, 4-4 FT), two rebounds, one assist and one block in 26 minutes during Monday’s 127-122 loss to Dallas. Okogie moved back into the starting lineup for that game and did not miss a shot. He had seen less than ten minutes in the Timberwolves previous two games.
josh found the baseline and 😲
//@CallMe_NonStop // pic.twitter.com/4hGGijBHsm
— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) February 9, 2021
📸 @CallMe_NonStop 📸 pic.twitter.com/GcOAUDj6zx
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) February 9, 2021
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SHUMPERT HAD DRIVE TO RETURN TO NETS
Staying ready turned Iman Shumpert into a non-stop commuter.
One gym for workouts, another for weights. Over to the Georgia Tech facilities for treatment. Colleges, high schools, brand-name fitness franchises. Wherever Shumpert could find the time and the space to do what needed to get done, off he went.
“It was kind of like the most blue-collar thing that I have done in a long time,” said Shumpert. “With the time I’ve spent in the league, I think at some point you just sort of get comfy with knowing you’ve got somebody standing over you telling you what time you’ve got to be somewhere. It was kind of cool to go back to that high school feel, that high school hunger of, ‘I just want to play basketball, I don’t really care.”
The veteran swingman is once again a Brooklyn Net, having signed with the team on Jan. 30, though he has yet to appear in a game after waiting several days to clear health and safety protocols.
More from BrooklynNets.com | More from NetsDaily.com
However, his return to the court with the Nets will have to wait, as Shumpert has injured his hamstring, according to the New York Post.
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LAMMERS IN GERMANY: “ENGINEERING IS ALWAYS AN OPTION”
ALBA Berlin center Ben Lammers is in his second campaign as a professional basketball player – and first in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, but there was a time that he thought he would spend his mid-20s doing much different things with his life. Lammers studied engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, a school he decided to attend more for its excellence in the sciences than for its famed basketball program.
“I was a mechanical engineering major at Georgia Tech. So I kind of, I guess, had both worlds go in there with some pretty tough classes and also with all the athletics,” Lammers said.
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JARRETT JACK IN ORLANDO HELPING G LEAGUE PROSPECTS
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Jarrett Jack’s principal job with the NBA’s G League Ignite is to make sure his young, impressionable teammates are not blown off course by hubris or anxiety. He was hired, so to speak, in part to be the on-court, wise counsel to Ignite’s 5-star high school talents who shunned major college basketball to get started on their professional careers.
Jack, 36, has been given many nicknames by his young teammates, including “OG” for original gangster. But the 14-year NBA vet and glue of Georgia Tech’s 2004 Final Four team isn’t ruling out a return to the show — and this current opportunity could jump-start that comeback.
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