John Collins could become one of the Pistons' most important fourth-quarter weapons

The Detroit Pistons didn’t make any splashy moves this offseason, but the additions they did make should improve a big area of weakness, which was their clutch-time offense. 

The Pistons were bad in the clutch last season but have hopefully found some answers to their clutch-time issues, one of them being power forward John Collins. 

Collins may end up playing center at times, and I do think that could be one of the Pistons’ best lineups by the end of next season. 

But even if Collins is playing his traditional role at the four, he’ll add things that Tobias Harris didn’t, which could make him one of Detroit’s most important late-game weapons next season. 

John Collins adds new elements to the clutch-time offense 

The Pistons struggled in the last five minutes of close games, largely because everyone in the arena knew exactly what they were going to do. If you’ve seen the offense from Teen Wolf, it was similar to that, as they basically just threw the ball to Cade Cunningham and stood back and watched. 

Late-game offense is tough enough, but even tougher when there is no space and you have a player or two on the floor that no one has to guard. 

Tobias Harris was not a good clutch performer last season but did become a crutch for the Pistons, as he can at least get his own shot. But he only hit 44 percent of them in clutch-time, which is 11 percent lower than Collins. 

Collins isn’t a guy you are going to throw the ball to in the post and watch go to work, but he does offer things that Harris does not. 

Collins is a vertical threat in the pick-and-roll, a play the Pistons rarely even ran with Tobias Harris, as no one was worried about him rolling to the hoop. Collins is a high flyer and legit lob threat, so if teams want to hedge or go over screens, he can make them pay with dunks. 

Collins is also a pick-and-pop option that teams actually have to worry about. Last season, especially in close games, teams would just go under screens, load the paint and dare anyone other than Duncan Robinson to shoot from distance. 

They won’t be able to leave Collins, which should open up more space for Cade Cunningham and other ball handlers to do their thing. This should be a big factor in close games and make the Pistons more difficult to defend.  

It will be beneficial to have another player on the court that you can’t ignore beyond the 3-point line. 

Collins is also a solid offensive rebounder who can provide some easy put backs late in games, as he averaged double the number of offensive boards as Harris last season. 

The Pistons will be able to offer different looks that will open up their late-game offense, so having Collins in clutch-time should help improve an area of weakness. 

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