The Detroit Pistons pulled off a sign-and-trade for John Collins to make him their marquee offseason addition, but they will quickly face the defensive issues the LA Clippers dealt with last season. Collins shot 40 percent from 3-point range and is known for his scoring. The Clippers only played him 27.1 minutes per game and benched him down the stretch because defensive issues kept cropping up. Those are the Pistons' problem now.
Detroit needed a trusted number two option. Tobias Harris was that in the playoffs, but he left for San Antonio. The Pistons need Collins to be the volume scorer he was in Atlanta. If they can get 17 to 20 points per game as he shoots over 55 percent from the field and 40 percent on his threes, that would be ideal. Collins did it two years in a row for the Hawks and hasn’t reproduced those numbers on a winning team since 2021.
No matter what Collins offers offensively, the Pistons need him healthy and playing defense. The 6’9 big man has averaged just 58 games per season over the last seven years, and Tobias Harris showed up every night. The defense will be a problem. Clearly, Detroit is banking on having enough around Collins to make it work.
Pistons will quickly have to deal with John Collins’ defensive issues
The 6’9 big man struggles to defend in space, off the ball, and protect the rim. The Clippers had a 116.9 defensive rating with him on the floor. That is 0.5 points per 100 possessions worse than when he was on the bench and would have been firmly in the bottom ten defensive ratings for the season. That group is littered with tanking teams. Collins is a defensive problem if his team is trying to win.
Head coach JB Bickerstaff should already be scheming how to hide Collins on defense. LA tried. The big man averaged his worst per-36 rebounding numbers of his career last season. The Clippers just couldn't find a scheme that improved his defense.
This has been a problem dating back to his Hawks days. Collins was elite offensively in Atlanta, which made up for his defensive issues. The moment his offense started to slip, the warts were more difficult to hide.
Pistons’ frontcourt defense could be disastrous
The Pistons should be worried about a Collins and Jalen Duren frontcourt. Both have defensive issues. Detroit will be an elite perimeter defensive team, but the interior could quickly become a problem.
The opposition shot 69.8 percent at the rim against Collins and 63.6 percent against Duren. Fans know Duren's defensive issues well, but Collins can’t guard on the perimeter or at the cup. The 6’9 big man needs to hide on a lesser option and hope the opposition doesn’t try to exploit his matchup.
Collins had a negative-0.7 defensive estimated plus-minus by Dunks and Threes. That was the same as Darius Garland and Brandon Ingram, two players known for bad defense.
No matter the metric, John Collins struggles on defense. The Pistons rode the second-best defense in the NBA to the top seed in the Eastern Conference last season. They have ignored the spacing issues between Ausar Thompson and Duren because the team's defense is so good. Collins will negatively impact that, and it is on coach Bickerstaff and his staff to adjust.
The Detroit Pistons will quickly face the same defensive problems the LA Clippers had with John Collins. There will be miscues, missed assignments, and easy buckets allowed that will result in Detroit having a better defense without him on the floor. His defense is an issue, and now it is the Pistons' problem.
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