John Collins had a lackluster debut for the Detroit Pistons in their opening night win over the Celtics.
Collins couldn’t get into a rhythm on offense and had a hard time staying in front of Paul George. When the Pistons tried to switch him to center, things got worse, as Mitchell Robinson was too much for him to handle.
Collins was stuck in between defensive assignments against a good Boston team, and things aren’t going to get any easier tonight against the Miami Heat.
John Collins is a tweener in certain matchups
Collins was unable to stay in front of the quicker Celtics wings but will have a different challenge entirely against Giannis and Bam Adebayo.
Giannis is less likely to be able to get by Collins with the bounce, but is bigger, stronger and knows how to operate in the post.
You can see why Collins has been referred to as a “tweener” on defense for most of his career, as he’s not strong enough to handle the Giannis types and not quick enough to stay in front of the likes of Paul George.
The good news is not every team has one of those archetypes to throw at the Pistons, so there will be games in which Collins is the one creating the mismatch instead of being forced to deal with it.
The Pistons may switch things up
This is a game when the Pistons will miss Isaiah Stewart, as Jalen Duren isn’t particularly suited to chase Bam Adebayo around on the perimeter.
We may see coach JB Bickerstaff switch things up tonight and put Jalen Duren on Giannis, as Duren’s strength could give Giannis troubles, though the Pistons can only get away with this if Duren can stay out of foul trouble.
Collins is better equipped to hound Adebayo on the perimeter, so we may see the two used interchangeably between the Heat’s two bigs.
The Pistons have to punish the Heat on the other end
The Heat defense should be tough this season, but there are ways the Pistons can take advantage of it.
Collins needs to pull whoever is defending him away from the hoop to take away one of their shot blockers at the rim.
Miami’s bigs may be a tad quicker than Duren, but he is stronger, so I’d like to see the Pistons set him up for some power moves in the post to try and get Giannis or Bam in foul trouble early.
It’s going to be another tough matchup for Collins, but he has to make sure he’s also making it tough for Miami on the other end.
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