Jason Collins

[niner2716]

Jason Collins is a waste of space. Why the T-Wolves start this guy and waste 15 minutes a game on him is a mystery. He can't score, he can't defend all he can do is foul. 15 minutes with 4 fouls and a consistent -9 everytime the guy is there.

Your better off starting Love and letting him develop, or throw someone else in the starting lineup like Cardinal or Smith who can bring some energy and offense to the table.

[Vega06]

It's not much of a mystery at all. He does play defense..and he's the only player on the team with size. Love has been lost since that 20 pt game he's not ready to start. It's not like Collins is playing 35 min a game anyway

[drummerrob26]

Its funny I was at the game tonight and when I got home I was going to say this exact same thing. I dont understand why we are giving this guy any minutes. I agree I would much rather see pretty much anybody else in there instead of him. If he is in for his defense it is not enough to justify it. If I am a team I am saying to myself wow this is great on defense it is pretty much 5 on 4 because noone has to guard collins. In tonights game you could see how easy it was for them to bottle up the lane because they had an extra guy that didnt need to guard collins because he has no offensive game to speak of. I say we put love in there because I know he has offense and I have actually been impressed with his defense, especially the spurs game, he really shut down Duncan when he was on him.

[niner2716]

I dont understand what kind of defense he plays. He constantly commits about 4 fouls every 12 minutes. Thats' 8 free throws, thats not good defense. The guy is slow. He is big yes, but he's not a shot blocker because he has zero athleticism.

I'd like to see Cardinal get some minutes and see what he can do. If his knees are somewhat healthy he can help this team.

[karch34]

I'd like to see Cardinal get some minutes and see what he can do. If his knees are somewhat healthy he can help this team.

I don't see him as any kind of upgrade from the other SFs we have on the roster.

[niner2716]

I'd like to see Cardinal get some minutes and see what he can do. If his knees are somewhat healthy he can help this team.

I don't see him as any kind of upgrade from the other SFs we have on the roster.

From what i see with the wolves they definately lack in experience, energy and toughness. A healthy cardinal brings these to the table. He can play the 4 in a lineup with jefferson or love.

I like the way Craig Smith plays the game. But him and Gomes are similar undersized players. They should both be playing SF. And really they both shouldn't be on the same team.

[TrentTuckerForever]

I don't get to see all the games live, but my first question about Collins and fouling would be is he fouling HIS man, or fouling guys who were poorly defended on the perimeter?

Collins, on paper at least, allows Jefferson, Gomes and Smith to play their more natural forward positions. Going small is always a fine option, but the Wolves get killed on the boards when they play Jefferson/Gomes or worse, Smith/Gomes at the power spots.

I'm not saying Collins is an all-star, but starting a real center makes this team better. You can't judge him by stats alone.

[C.lupus]

Is it coincidence that the Wolves are 2-2 with Collins in the starting lineup?

[Devilzsidewalk]

Is it coincidence that the Wolves are 2-2 with Collins in the starting lineup?

he's definitely helped, our defense is dare I say 'pretty decent' when Collins is in the game w/ Al, but I think the biggest reason is that Philly and Detroit can't shoot from the perimeter, and when the Wolves don't get burned on late rotations, the defense looks a lot better

against teams like Portland, GS or Denver, there are guys that'll kill us on late rotations, but Philly and Detroit have terrible perimeter shooting.

We've been getting killed by 3's pretty consistently all year. On the flipside, our own 3 pt shooting is also killing us, I don't know our team percentage, but it has to be well below 30%

[revprodeji]

The improvement in rebounding is not Collins himself, but rather that having Gomes at the 3.

[Howler21]

Is it coincidence that the Wolves are 2-2 with Collins in the starting lineup?

he's definitely helped, our defense is dare I say 'pretty decent' when Collins is in the game w/ Al, but I think the biggest reason is that Philly and Detroit can't shoot from the perimeter, and when the Wolves don't get burned on late rotations, the defense looks a lot better

against teams like Portland, GS or Denver, there are guys that'll kill us on late rotations, but Philly and Detroit have terrible perimeter shooting.

We've been getting killed by 3's pretty consistently all year. On the flipside, our own 3 pt shooting is also killing us, I don't know our team percentage, but it has to be well below 30%

Ironically it was supposed to be our 3 pt shooting that was supposed to give us a boost this year.

[Devilzsidewalk]

I know, that's ridiculous. I think I heard someone say we were last in 3 pt shooting in the NBA, I haven't verified it, but if not last we must be close. Offense was supposed to be a given, Big Al plus Love in the high post finding guys all day plus McCants, Foye, Miller, Carney, and Gomes making it rain.

Instead we're 19th in defensive efficiency and 23rd in offensive efficiency. We're actually a better defensive team than an offensive team, pretty amazing, I never would've expected. I figured we'd be 10-15 in offense and bottom 5 defensively.