Avery Johnson Sees a Bit of Tim Duncan in Derrick Favors

Favors’ new coach has rather high expectations of the kid, to say the least. From FanHouse: “Not that Avery Johnson wants to put any extra pressure on rookie power forward Derrick Favors. Then again, when you make a comparison to Tim Duncan, that’s pretty heady stuff. ‘He reminds me of Duncan in the way he’s coachable,’ the New Jersey coach said. ‘Duncan was that way, very coachable, but also very skilled. Duncan came in with the left and the right hand and came in with the ability to shoot the ball. And this kid didn’t even go through college as long as Duncan. We’re just getting him after his freshman year.’ Johnson knows quite a bit about Duncan, who played four years at Wake Forest before being the top pick in the 1997 draft by San Antonio. Johnson was Duncan’s teammate for the first four of his now 13 seasons with the Spurs, including being on hand when Duncan won the first of his four NBA titles in 1999.”