Derrick Favors Media Availability – July 14, 2020
On the practices in Orlando so far:
“Man, it’s been a great couple of days in practice. It’s been very competitive. Guys came back in shape and just ready to go. From what I’m seeing, we’re just trying to build on what we did at the end of the season before it got cancelled…just trying to refresh our memories on the offensive end of the floor and on the defensive end of the floor, and just trying to build that chemistry back. Overall it’s been some very competitive practices and guys are just ready to get back on the court and start playing in regular season games and just trying to get this playoff spot.”
On the food in the Orlando bubble:
“The food has been good to me, in my opinion. It’s not as bad as most guys are making it out to be. It’s up and down. It depends on what you like, depends on what you want. In my opinion, the food hasn’t been that bad. They have a nice little selection for us. But that’s just my opinion. Some guys want to go out and get their own food, do their own thing. But for me, the food has been pretty solid.”
On if he has been ordering food from outside of the hotel or eating the team meals:
“I did it once. I ordered some takeout food once, just to try it…just to see what it was like. But overall, the food has been solid. No complaints from me from it.”
On how he would describe his first six days in the bubble and what he plans to do on his day off tomorrow:
“I don’t know. Tomorrow is my birthday, so I’m trying to make the best of it. Being in the bubble, it’s been different, especially with the practices and just being isolated. Overall it’s been a challenge, but for tomorrow I’m going to make the best of it because it’s my birthday. I’m going to make the best of it tomorrow.”
On what it would say about the resilience of the Pelicans if they were able to make the playoffs despite starting the season 7-23:
“That just shows the type of players that we have on this team, the character of guys we have that just keep fighting. The beginning of the year started off kind of rough for us like you said, the record and a couple of injuries here and there. But the guys on the team kept fighting. The coaches kept helping us out and we put ourselves in a great position to make the playoffs, even though we started off kind of rough. I think that just means that we’ve got a good group of guys on the team that have great character, strong will, (who) are just willing to lay it all out on the line on the court to try to achieve that accomplishment.”
On trying to figure things out on the defensive end with Jeff Bzdelik only being available virtually and how he would evaluate where the team’s defense is right now:
“We’ve still got some work to do. Obviously the defensive coach is not here, the guy who goes through all the defensive stuff. But we’ve got a good coaching staff that (is) just helping us a lot along the way, putting us in great position. I think it all falls on the players. You’ve just got to go out there and be ready to play, be ready to guard our guys, be ready to stick to the game plan, and just be ready to play.”
On what it says about this Pelicans team that most of the guys have come back to the team in good shape and used their time off to stay ready:
“Just committed. A lot of guys on the team just came back into camp in shape, healthy. It just shows that guys on this team are just committed to their jobs and committed to each other to come back and be better and to also continue to get better because we all have that one goal of making it to the playoffs. Like I said before, we’ve just got a great group of guys who work hard and (are) just committed to the group.”
