"John Collins is the answer" for Sacramento

[jazzfan1971]

He'd be lethal on the Kings in the Trey Lyles role and small ball 5' off the bench. Way more explosive, athletic than Lyles and just to Collins sheer size, athleticism would be a better defender than Lyles at the 4' and small ball 5'. Outside of Len, he'd actually be the Kings best rim protector too which would help a bit next to Sabonis even.

It's an intriguing fit.

Does Collins have size? Every time I watch him play I am shocked at how small he looks, vertically and horizontally. I think he might be smaller than Jaylen Brown who is 6'5 at best.

He is slender. Still managed 10.9 rebounds per 36min. Blocks some shots also.

I would like to see him paired with a good pnr pg.

[The Beam King]

Bottom line. I don't mind Collins as the target. However, I do believe their are better targets that will be available that I would rate higher than Collins and yes contract and the expenditure of the assets we have would be the friction to getting Collins to Sactown. Of course pick(s) feom Utah to Sacramento could and should be the lubrication to overcome thar friction.

[HadAnEffectHere]

Lol at people randomly using Jalen Smith to compare to John Collins ... Um that's selective comparison. Smith's season stats last year per minute were absurd - you can compare his stats to any forward making $25-$30 million per whether it's Collins, Aaron Gordan, Michael Porter Jr, Cam Johnson etc etc and it'll look comparable. Just because he's underpaid doesn't even mean Collins is overpaid.

People love to hate on Collins the last 2 years. It's fascinating really. Hawks did it the year before using his as a scapegoat, and they were even worse when he left. Somehow we got people criticizing Collins in this thread for essentially not leading the Jazz to playoff contention? (Since he was the #2 option pretty much not incl Markannan who got shut down).

Sure you put him in a leading #1 or #2 role and he'll look poor. And he does have a clubky fit next to a traditional center like Kessler. Yes. But that's why team building matters. You put him next to a center that can shoot (or Turner) or even a center simply with ball handling perimeter skills (like Sabonis), or put him as a small ball 5' and run pick and roll to death and he can definitely provide a lot of impact. His defense is being overstated as bad too; it's average in my opinion. Offensively, historically his efficiency has been ridiculous and he can shoot at a decent clip. Great defensive rebounder too which is a part of defense.

He'd be lethal on the Kings in the Trey Lyles role and small ball 5' off the bench. Way more explosive, athletic than Lyles and just to Collins sheer size, athleticism would be a better defender than Lyles at the 4' and small ball 5'. Outside of Len, he'd actually be the Kings best rim protector too which would help a bit next to Sabonis even.

It's an intriguing fit.

Jalen Smith is the comparison because Jalen Smith is a small ball 5 who can score and rebound and stretch the floor, but is too small to ever play center against starting lineups and is too unskilled to play PF. This is the same situation Collins is in and Smith's contract suggests that Collins is paid 3x more than NBA teams value him at.

[BigJimFinn]

What question is Sacramento asking exactly?

Which NBA big man, paired with Sabonis, would make up the worst defensive frontcourt in the league?

Collins has no lateral quickness to switch or guard on the perimeter. He has no length or awareness to be a rim protector. He is too small and slight to bang against centers in the post.

On offense, he can shoot spot-up threes OK despite the irritating bunny hop that slows his release.
He can jump, rebound and finish inside, as long as he doesn't stop with the ball, or he gets blocked (once per game).
He can't handle, pass, use post moves or do anything really on the ball.

He isn't a bad player as such and belongs in the league, but he isn't good either.
Overpaid and would be a bottom-quartile starter at C or PF.
Correct role would be as undersized stretch-5 off the bench on a MLE contract.
His numbers always look better than his game, so could I interest you in a trade?

[BrianInPhilly]

He'd be lethal on the Kings in the Trey Lyles role and small ball 5' off the bench. Way more explosive, athletic than Lyles and just to Collins sheer size, athleticism would be a better defender than Lyles at the 4' and small ball 5'. Outside of Len, he'd actually be the Kings best rim protector too which would help a bit next to Sabonis even.

It's an intriguing fit.

Does Collins have size? Every time I watch him play I am shocked at how small he looks, vertically and horizontally. I think he might be smaller than Jaylen Brown who is 6'5 at best.

Collins plays big as a rebounder for sure compared to other similarly slender guys … I was comparing his size to Trey Lyles. Lyles is a couple inches shorter than him and more vertically challenged. For a Kings team kind of in need of a more versatile, athletic, taller PF Collins fits the bill even if he’s not “big” weight wise persay

His contract is pretty irrelevant too. It’s 2 more years. With Fox, Monk, DeRozan, and Sabonis all locked in they won’t have cap space next offseason anyway, and Collins comes off the books right when Murray is up for extension.

[BK_2020]

He'd be lethal on the Kings in the Trey Lyles role and small ball 5' off the bench. Way more explosive, athletic than Lyles and just to Collins sheer size, athleticism would be a better defender than Lyles at the 4' and small ball 5'. Outside of Len, he'd actually be the Kings best rim protector too which would help a bit next to Sabonis even.

It's an intriguing fit.

Does Collins have size? Every time I watch him play I am shocked at how small he looks, vertically and horizontally. I think he might be smaller than Jaylen Brown who is 6'5 at best.

Collins plays big as a rebounder for sure compared to other similarly slender guys … I was comparing his size to Trey Lyles. Lyles is a couple inches shorter than him and more vertically challenged. For a Kings team kind of in need of a more versatile, athletic, taller PF Collins fits the bill even if he’s not “big” weight wise persay

His contract is pretty irrelevant too. It’s 2 more years. With Fox, Monk, DeRozan, and Sabonis all locked in they won’t have cap space next offseason anyway, and Collins comes off the books right when Murray is up for extension.

The Kings are a very good rebounding team, though. If they need to add size it's because of defense.

[LightTheBeam]

Does Collins have size? Every time I watch him play I am shocked at how small he looks, vertically and horizontally. I think he might be smaller than Jaylen Brown who is 6'5 at best.

Collins plays big as a rebounder for sure compared to other similarly slender guys … I was comparing his size to Trey Lyles. Lyles is a couple inches shorter than him and more vertically challenged. For a Kings team kind of in need of a more versatile, athletic, taller PF Collins fits the bill even if he’s not “big” weight wise persay

His contract is pretty irrelevant too. It’s 2 more years. With Fox, Monk, DeRozan, and Sabonis all locked in they won’t have cap space next offseason anyway, and Collins comes off the books right when Murray is up for extension.

The Kings are a very good rebounding team, though. If they need to add size it's because of defense.

We are okay rebounding. Sabonis is a great rebounder and pads the entire team, but realistically anytime he's pulled out of the paint its a crap shoot. Barnes was absolutely awful rebounding last season, his athletic decline really started to show. 3rbs over 30mpg was pathetic. Murray improved there, but he was our best perimeter defender until Keon came around so it wasn't consistent.

Collins definitely isn't going to solve all the Kings problems, anyone thinking he will is fooling themselves. That said I'm not sure what we lose from moving Huerter. IMO Keon completely replaced what we needed from Huerter (while adding defense and being much cheaper), if his shooting keeps pace and Carter looks good when he's healthy, Huerter won't really have a spot.

Looking at this from a playoff POV

Fox/Monk/Keon/Carter
DeRozan/Keegan
Sabonis/Lyles

That is our best 8. Who fills more needs, Collins or Huerter? To me it's pretty clearly Collins, but I can also see the argument for letting Huerter fill Carter's minutes to start the season, hopefully building up some value to eventually grab someone better than Collins. Also more players should become available at the deadline.

Won't be upset either way.