Derrick Favors

“I'm 19 years old from Atlanta, then a year later I go to New Jersey. I'm there for a couple months then the next thing I'm traded across the country to a place I've never been before. It was tough.”

“Out in Utah, it's chill, laid-back. There's not a lot of rah-rah stuff going on. You can focus on your job, your career, whatever else you have going on.”

“You just have to know how to put in the work, know how to be patient, how to take advantage of every opportunity that you get.”

“After what happened with my mom passing, I was just like I need to get back. I just need to get back to my routine, get back to playing basketball.”

“In the past years, I got in a lot of foul trouble because I was out of position, or because I was just too aggressive. I was trying to block too many shots. It's really just learning when to take a chance at blocking shots, and to get to spots early.”

“Utah has become my home and I am excited to be able to continue my career playing for the Jazz and the best fans in the NBA.”

“I thought it was destiny that I was going to play basketball.”

“Everybody gets the wrong idea because I try to hide it, I try to walk around smiling. But I'm always angry.”

“Guys aren't going to have it going offensively every game so you need to find ways to contribute to the game, whether it's hustle plays, defense or whatever.”

“I do make a difference. I just come out and provide a presence in the paint, defensively and offensively. I play hard.”

“I took a trip down to Mexico. It kind of changed my perspective on life a little bit.”

“I had to take that time off just to get my mind back refocused and just talk to my family and be around my family so I can feel that love and support.”

“The biggest thing is to work hard and keep your head on straight and work hard.”

“I think people really don't know how hard I work, how hard I play.”

“Cartoons only showed you certain things. The comic books go in deep.”

“Whatever coach tells me to do, that's what I do.”

“Some games you going to play great. Some games you're not. So, it's all about moving on to the next game, next possession. Just come in there every day working, figuring out what you got to work on and see what you did wrong in either in the last game or the last season or whatever.”

“I've just gotta continue getting better and developing.”

“I know DeAndre Jordan, he's a good player, good rebounder.”

“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.”