sportsjabber.net

If the New Jersey Nets had landed Carmelo Anthony, they would have given up a whole lot of potential in 6ft 10in NBA rookie Derrick Favors. And the number three draft pick showed some of that potential in his first NBA game.

The 19-year-old out of Georgia Tech scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a 108-70 rout of Maccabi Haifa of the Israeli Premier League Sunday in the Nets’ first pre-season game.

“I thought I did OK running the floor and giving some energy off the bench,” Favors said. “I’m just an athletic player who likes to dunk. I wouldn’t say I had a great day. It was an OK day. I have some work to do, but it was nice to see some of my hard work pay off.”

Favors energized the crowd with his impressive athleticism, throwing down three fast-break slam-dunks in the opening quarter. In his 21 minutes of play after coming off the bench, Favors went 6-8 from the field and only turned it over once.

Favors’ short time with the NBA has sadly been filled with trade rumours. A four-team trade that was being seriously considered but eventually fell through, would have sent Favors and Nets’ point guard Devin Harris to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for the high-scoring Anthony. Now that things have calmed down, Favors can focus on his game.

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