John Collins didn’t have a roaring start to his career for the Detroit Pistons, and the first game showed the kinds of matchups where he will struggle.
Collins finished the game with just six points, missed all of his 3-point shots, and never got into the flow of the offense. He did have a huge, momentum-shifting block, and a couple of timely offensive rebounds, but otherwise, Collins struggled, especially defensively.
He got roasted by Paul George, who must have found a time machine, as he was amazing last night. He was getting wherever he wanted against Collins, who didn’t have an answer.
The Pistons tried shifting Collins to center, but that didn’t work either, and ultimately Detroit wasn’t able to slow down Paul George until Javonte Green came into the game.
Green was much better at keeping George in front of him and forcing him into tougher shots, which was one of the things that flipped the momentum.
It also showed a matchup problem that didn’t get solved by moving Collins to a new position.
John Collins vs. big wings and as a small-ball center
Most teams don’t have two big, shot-creating wings like Boston does, so this is not a problem Detroit will face every night, but when they do, Collins doesn’t have an obvious defensive matchup.
He has a hard time staying in front of big wings that can create, as we saw last night when he repeatedly got blown past by 36-year-old Paul George.
Teams like the Raptors and Knicks that have big wing players at the four will present issues for Collins.
JB Bickerstaff countered briefly with Collins at the five in two stretches last night, neither of which went well for Detroit, as the Celtics just put Mitchell Robinson back in the game and started killing the Pistons on the boards.
Robinson was also able to shake free for an easy lob, so while small ball can be a weapon for Detroit, it is matchup dependent, as Collins isn’t a real center and gives up a ton of size to a guy like Robinson.
It wasn’t a catastrophic night for Collins, as he did have some plays that showed the things he brings that Tobias Harris didn’t, as he had a huge above the rim block and sprung free in transition for a dunk off a nifty pass from Ausar Thompson.
Collins also had a thunderous put-back dunk waived off by a phantom foul call, so he did show some flashes of his verticality even though he struggled overall.
The Pistons have three more tough games coming up against teams that feature power forwards who can create, so Collins will be tested early in his new defensive role.
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