John Collins played 17 minutes in his first preseason game for the Detroit Pistons, but it only took him five to get into his first scuffle, much to the delight of the sparse home crowd.
Collins got his first technical of the season after getting into a dust up with Dillon Brooks (shocker) who was doing his normal thing of being an annoying pot stirrer.
Collins took exception to Brooks' continued fouling after the whistle and let him know with a gentle hand to the throat. Welcome to Detroit!
Aside from knowing his audience, Collins flashed some of the things besides fighting that Pistons fans are going to love.
John Collins has a vertical game
One of the biggest differences between Collins and Tobias Harris is that the former can play above the rim, which we saw last night.
Collins scored most of his 10 points on dunks (only taking one 3-pointer, which he missed) and showed that he can be a lob threat for multiple players.
Ausar Thompson was able to drive into the lane early in the game to set Collins up for a reverse dunk, which is a great sign, as this is one of the ways Thompson can contribute on offense without being a shooter.
Collins gives the Pistons another vertical lob threat that they didn’t have last season, and I expect we’ll see plenty more of it with both Thompson and Cade Cunningham setting him up.
John Collins is a good offensive rebounder
Collins pulled down three offensive boards in just 17 minutes, again flashing a skill that stands out compared to Tobias Harris.
Collins has averaged 2.1 offensive rebounds per game for his career, which is more than double Harris’ career average.
This is another area where his athleticism and verticality are going to be an advantage over Harris, as Collins will buy the team extra possessions and get an easy putback or two every game.
Collins is an efficient scorer
Collins went 5-of-7 on the night for 10 points, which is fairly typical for him, as he’s always been an efficient scorer.
Collins shot 55 percent last season overall, which is right around his career average, while Harris shot just 47 percent, which is also near his career mark.
To be fair, Harris generates more offense on his own and often takes tougher shots because of it, while Collins mostly gets his off the work of others, so they are apples and oranges on offense.
Add in superior 3-point shooting and you see all of the reasons the Pistons were comfortable swapping out Harris for Collins, as he’s more athletic, efficient and a better offensive rebounder.
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