What to Expect From Collins (If the Suns Sign Him)

by Wil Cantrell on Oct 22, 2009 8:02 AM MST in Phoenix Suns Commentary

PHX Stan first reported the possible Collins signing last night. Now Paul Coro is also reporting the possibility of a Collins tryout. I suppose there is no need to jump the gun since we are not totally certain he will be a Sun, however, impatience is a hobby of mine. I put out posts on SLC Dunk and Blazer's Edge, AKA Bedge, to see what they all thought of Collins:

On the Positive Side:

Smart, articulate guy who draws a lot of charges
He is very consistent and will unfailing provide 6 fouls every game
Won’t make any trouble, and is a warm practice body, can take charges, stand in the way and hand out fouls.
What you can expect from him: lots of fouls, drawing charges/flopping (two sides of the same coin), and physical defense.
He is a classy guy who will be a good presence in the locker room. He will work hard and do exactly as the coach tells him. He is not the most athletic big out there but he is not slow either. He would make a decent replacement. Don't expect many points or bounds…..if he was given 30min a game I would guess he would be anywhere around 8-10pts 5-6reb

Why He Didn't Make it in Portland:

Because of a numbers game. He seems to be a smart dude with good character, but the only basketball reason to sign him is that you need another big body for practice.
Mills (Patty) forced the Blazers’ hand. The front office opted for potential at a needed position rather than back-up for a filled position. Of course, this is all for a 15th roster spot. Collins isn’t that great, but he’s not a bad player to have on your bench for injury protection.

The Negative:

He isn’t a player you want to rely on for anything more than insurance in case your other bigs get injured or in foul trouble.
He is not a game changer, good shooter, good rebounder
Like his brother, he is a historically bad rebounder for a big man. And doesn't do much on offense either.

Provided we pick up Collins, it seems fairly clear that his impact will be minimal, and perhaps his play will make Robin Lopez look like an All-Star when he gets back.

Tweet Comment 20 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

i don’t want another idiot on our team…we already have griffin and tucker. why can’t kerr wait and see how things go before picking up some guy that won’t do anything positive on the court.

by kuato lives on Oct 22, 2009 11:43 AM MST reply actions

id hardley refer to those guys as "idiots"

if u mean they are lacking in skill or talent, then maybe. but idiots? i havent seen griffin or tucker do anything outright foolish ever (granted, i havent seen either of them very much).

also, it could be useful to have a big guy in practice to bang around with amare. if he really wants to improve on defense, having a physical 7 footer to guard during practice would help.

plus, most people say collins has decent basketball IQ. unskilled, perhaps, but not necesarily an idiot.

by yanyanman2 on Oct 22, 2009 12:21 PM MST up reply actions

Not many Total Recall fans who are also Suns fans. Props.

by jburning on Oct 22, 2009 2:11 PM MST up reply actions

I'm a total Recall Fan

Read the book, own the movie. Great plot.

Fanaticism is not logical

by SunDolphin on Oct 23, 2009 5:18 AM MST up reply actions

I own every arnold movie

fyi…. Predator and T1 are the best IMO

They say "don't swim with the sharks", but I'm faster than sharks so it's not a big deal...

by Eutychus on Oct 24, 2009 12:30 AM MST up reply actions

From what the post says

From the description given from his time in portland and the heinous D on Gasol, I’d say “physical” 7 footer doesn’t describe Collins.

by eagleheart on Oct 22, 2009 12:40 PM MST reply actions

He played in a handful

of preseason games in Portland and you can find a photo like that of ANY NBA player

I remember Collins playing solid D in Utah and being a smart player.

Given the other options out there, he’s not a bad choice. A strong option for the Suns is to do nothing and save the money but I think the team needs this kind of depth right now and if they are willing to even spend the minimum for him than I see that as good thing.

He’s not going to do much but what he does do would be more than not having him.

Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @phoenixstan

by Seth Pollack on Oct 22, 2009 12:50 PM MST up reply actions

I think somebody said before.

We really have to compare him to robin lopez if our purpose is to replace what we are missing in robin. I think when you do that and that alone, you get a decent feeling about this situation.

TO THE NBA - " Yeah, you have created a rift within me ; Now there have been ; several complications ; that have left me feeling nothing ; I might say, you were ; wrong to take it from me ; Left me feeling nothing " - Disturbed, "Numb"

by antiw0rm on Oct 22, 2009 12:57 PM MST up reply actions

Agreed, which is agreeing with myself…Ha.

Really though, Stan is correct, he is a depth signing. I don’t think anyone with insight into this team thought we were going to pick up a dominant force as a replacement for Lopez. All this guy needs to do is take up space, grab a rebound from time to time, and get in front of the rim. He probably won’t play much and I think he is the current solution to the current problem of replacing Lopez while he is out. Lastly, if this guy stuck around a Jerry Sloan coached team for several years, you can be sure of two things: He did what he was asked to do, and when he played, he played the game the right way.

by Wil Cantrell on Oct 22, 2009 1:39 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs

+1

They say "don't swim with the sharks", but I'm faster than sharks so it's not a big deal...

by Eutychus on Oct 22, 2009 1:42 PM MST up reply actions

very good point with sloan

he does not suffer slackers gladly…

by Fritzy on Oct 22, 2009 2:33 PM MST up reply actions

If we want to get

a physical guy who will beat people up, we need to get Pryzbilla. Unfortunately, Oden’s lack of progress has the Blazer’s holding on to their non-scoring big man. I bet he wouldn’t have let Gasol score without a shove or a forearm in the chops.

I remember once Amare lit him up in the first half – made him look helpless. But come the 4th quarter, Pryz was still out their, and STAT had been reduced to a whhining baby by all the bumps and bruises while Portland smoked us in the overtime.

That’s the kind of backup we need.

April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?

by Hawk42 on Oct 22, 2009 1:40 PM MST reply actions

except he makes

$6.8m and is the highest paid guy on that team (aside from the Darius Miles cap hit)

Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @phoenixstan

by Seth Pollack on Oct 22, 2009 1:54 PM MST up reply actions

plus...

he’s slower than all get out.

Headlights, deer, and the Suns this season, the Golan Heights from Slovenia, in their own time, affecting half of the court seized Dragic is expected to come a point guard. We will be displayed.

by Trevor Paxton on Oct 22, 2009 4:27 PM MST up reply actions

Don't get me wrong...

I am not advocating that we get Pryzbilla. I am just lamenting the fact that we allow people to waltz to the rim, and may be acquiring another of the same ilk.

April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?

by Hawk42 on Oct 23, 2009 7:02 AM MST up reply actions

this just in...!

Jake Voskuhl is available…our problems are solved!!

heh heh

by Fritzy on Oct 22, 2009 2:35 PM MST up reply actions

Center

Kerr is already thinking that we need to find the weakest, thinnest, shortest (under 7 foot) white guy that Sarver will pay a non-guaranteed contract to so he can cut him later!

by eagleheart on Oct 22, 2009 11:44 PM MST reply actions

undersized white guys aren't the problem

(See Lou Amundsen). I get so tired of people harping on the race thing. We just need to get someone with some heart. I don’t care what color he is.

April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?

by Hawk42 on Oct 23, 2009 7:06 AM MST up reply actions

I sense sarcasm, but honestly, we are looking at a small pool of players to sign for a couple months. If you take a look at the waiver wire, the majority of C’s and F/C’s are absolute stiffs.

At this point bringing in a big is a non issue to me. We are 18th in the waiver line, so we may not even get a chance at Collins, at which point we could be looking at someone much worse.

IMO I say we forget about it altogether and let Amundson and Clark do their thing. We’ll get blasted on the boards and some dominant 5’s will ruin us, but whose to say adding a Collins won’t result in the same thing?

by Wil Cantrell on Oct 23, 2009 12:56 PM MST up reply actions