How about some props towards Collison

by dbcb on Jan 5, 2012 8:18 AM EST

DC is quietly showing some improvement this year and I don't think it is being appreciated enough.

To start, our offense runs 100x better when he is on the court. It isn't just yesterday in Miami where this has happened. When DC leaves the court, our bad offense gets 100x worse and really starts to stagnate. DC is doing a MUCH better job this year being a floor general and keeping the offense moving. This will become much more apparent when we actually start hitting our shots.

Defense is hard to look at quantitatively, but to me, it seems like he is trying a hell of a lot harder this year. His defensive rating is better so far this young season (103 vs 108) and there seems to be fewer moments where he acts like a doorman.

But let us look at his offense, statistics wise. He is currently averaging 10 ppg, down from 13 ppg last year. But he is doing that on only 7 shots a game, hitting 50% of his fga and 55% of his 3pt fga. His assists per game are at 6.2, an improvement from the 5 he registered last year. And it isn't just because he is playing more minutes, as his ast% is up from 29 to 34. And he is doing all of these while his usage has plummeted from 22% to 15%.

So while he may be no Derrick Rose or Steve Nash, Collison is playing solid basketball and should be the least of our worries at the moment.

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Yeah.

For sure he has looked far better this year than he did last year. He actually looks like he knows what he is doing now. I would like him to be more aggressive at times, since he seems to be able to get into the lane so easily.

Give Hibbert his props too, he has been very good this year too.

"A champion is someone who gets up when he can't."
- Jack Dempsey

by infinityzero.systemerror on Jan 5, 2012 8:32 AM EST reply actions

If this is the hibbert we are getting for the next 8 years (if we resign him)

then sign me up and extend him now. I will take 13 and 10 with a block on over 50% shooting any day of the week. And he is doing it with less that 30 minutes per game as well

Hell, George isn’t playing half bad either so far. 12ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1 block, 1 steal on near 45% shooting.

It is just the rest of our team is playing so freaking bad on offense right now. When your best player is shooting 32%, and you prize FA pick up is shooting 40%, and you prize trade pick up is shooting 39%, life is going to suck

www.themindofshadow.blogspot.com/

by dbcb on Jan 5, 2012 10:12 AM EST up reply actions

That's part of my concern with Roy

He can’t play very many minutes and be effective. In another thread I was discussing how we should not overpay for him. I love the guy, and normally for a small market team, with a guy who’s decent but not great, you might overpay to keep him just b/c he’s a great person on and off the court and he’s better than average at a tough position to fill, but the fact that we would need to invest heavily in a backup to play 18-20mpg b/c he can’t be effective for long stretches…then it makes it even harder to overpay him.

PG24 has looked great. If you consider his age and experience, he’s looked like the best player on the court in the majority of our games. In fact, he had a couple passes last night, perhaps they could’ve been a little crisper, but they were nice…alas, Hibbert and No-Handsbrough mishandled them as usual.

That’s what we need, an explosive big with good hands. If there’s any chance West can get back his average-to-above average hops, that would be awsome.

peac.e

by trucutter on Jan 5, 2012 10:57 AM EST up reply actions

I agree. When DC goes out and Hill comes in, our offense seems to shut down.

And it's now my sig
by Bronn on May 17, 2011 4:56 PM EDT

by Sparhawk on Jan 5, 2012 10:10 AM EST reply actions

I wonder what DC's assists per game would look like

if West, Granger, Hill, or Hans could hit a damn shot to save their lives

www.themindofshadow.blogspot.com/

by dbcb on Jan 5, 2012 10:13 AM EST up reply actions

true that.

And it's now my sig
by Bronn on May 17, 2011 4:56 PM EDT

by Sparhawk on Jan 5, 2012 1:24 PM EST up reply actions

I've been really impressed with Collison

Where last year he’d go through stretches where he was aggresive attacking the lane, but it sort of felt forced and like it was on his terms. I don’t know how to explain it, but he seems to have a much better understanding for the flow of the game and attacks at times when the defense seems not to be expecting it. Then when they start to collapse on him, he’s back to dishing to open shooters and cutters.

peac.e

by trucutter on Jan 5, 2012 11:00 AM EST reply actions

agreed

so why do we want to trade him for an old man with maybe only 2 years left of basketball? Nash is great, mite get us a few more wins this year. but in the long-term will be a terrible trade for us.

by hoosier18 on Jan 5, 2012 1:24 PM EST reply actions

agreed.

peac.e

by trucutter on Jan 5, 2012 1:57 PM EST up reply actions

Second that.

by Jmahoney on Jan 5, 2012 6:17 PM EST up reply actions

I have been very happy w/ Collison

But I don’t feel like his production is that hard to replace. The only starting point guards who are worse than collison that I can think of off the top of my head are teague, augustin (does kemba start yet?), and chalmers…I guess ridnour but that is Rubio’s job anyway. I think collison has been a bright spot so far but I would flip him for nash in an instant. He would help us win now and players like collison aren’t really that hard to come by. He’s a typical mid-late first round talent.

by hilliard on Jan 5, 2012 3:50 PM EST reply actions

I won't say Collison is in the top half of the league.

But, there’s no way I’d be comfortable moving him for Nash. Yuk. I like Nash and all, the dude was about to start Kindergarten when I was born…and I’m old.

Collison is not being set up in a scenario to succeed. He’s been at least aveage thus far and his stats would show it if others could knock down shots.

I would tell you to be prepared to be very, VERY disapointed if Nash were to come in here and stuggle just as much (in different ways though),…but at about 4 times the cap hit.

peac.e

by trucutter on Jan 5, 2012 7:00 PM EST up reply actions

Clearly if we traded for Nash and he struggled I would be disappointed but I believe his basketball IQ is simply too high and his shot is too accurate to really ever struggle again in his career (a la Jason Kidd). Like I said I’m happy with Collison, but I think Nash would help us in 3 main areas. 1. I think he would dominate the ball a little bit more and decrease the amount of possessions where our wings have to create. Basically, it would turn Granger into more of a spot up shooter and make him significantly more effective. 2. He would be able to get the ball into the post without having to ball fake 8 times and Roy/David might be able to actually take advantage of good post position. 3. He would put us over the edge on the veteran leadership front. Granger would be the third option and would no longer have any wiggle room to be inefficient. The message that we are an unselfish professional team would be loud and clear and I doubt Nash and West would have any trouble controlling any dissenters. Collison has been very good for us and is one of my favorite players on this team, but Nash makes us much better and I don’t think it will be that difficult to replace Collison’s talent once Nash retires.

by hilliard on Jan 5, 2012 9:37 PM EST up reply actions

Perhaps.

Nash hasn’t dominated games with his athleticism, but don’t fool yourself into think he’ll be anywhere near as effective just b/c he’s smart. He’s always been pretty quick and aggresive and he is (was) a very good athlete. Jason Kidd is diminishing and it’s affecting Dallas. He’s still effective, but we aren’t a year or two away from competing for an NBA title, so I think it would be a dumb rental in my mind.

peac.e

by trucutter on Jan 5, 2012 10:28 PM EST up reply actions