By Tony Xypteras
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I’ve been trying to write something about Darren Collisonfor a while now. He deserves a lot more praise than he’s received this year. That isn’t because people aren’t recognizing how well he’s played, but because there has been so many pressing issues to talk about that it's kind of gone overlooked. I think we’ve finally reached the point where anything and everything that has to be said about how, why, and when Michael Malone was fired has been said. The Kings are starting to pull themselves out of this rut they’ve been in, and I think we can start to refocus on basketball.
Let’s talk numbers.
Statistically speaking, it would be difficult to find a category where Darren Collison doesn’t land somewhere inside of the top-15 or so point guards. He’s the 13 th ranked scorer, 7 th in field goal percentage, 12 th in three-point shooting, 7 thin free throw attempts, 6 th in steals, 16 th in assists, etc. Raw numbers can only say so much, but the point is that he’s right up there with everyone else. If you looked at some of the All-Star level players he’s ahead of in multiple categories, you’d be surprised.
And the fact that he’s putting up bigger numbers on a team where he’s playing a bigger role isn’t shocking or revelatory, but the more I watch Collison play the more I’m realizing that he isn’t just your run-of-the-mill point guard. He’s a little more unique than I gave him credit for.
For starters, his midrange, pull-up jumper is a legitimate move. He uses it often, and he uses it effectively. There are only a handful of point guards who can attempt that shot with that regularity and actually call it a good possession. He’s 4th in the league (for point guards) at pull-up jump shooting percentage, falling just behind Chris Paul, Stephen Curry and Tony Parker. That’s pretty good company.
We knew Collison had that mid-range jumper, but I didn’t realize how much it would open up the Kings' transition game. There has been a noticeable uptick in pace (I know, we hate that word) since Corbin took over. These ‘push-the-ball-up-the-court’ possessions usually open with the ball in Collison’s hands.
What happens next is usually up to Collison, and because of his pull-up jumper that defenders have to respect, he’s actually a pretty dynamic transition player. I’ve seen him run through every option over the past couple of weeks. If the defense plays off him, which they do quite a bit because under most transition defense scenarios the player with the ball is going to try to attack the rim, he knocks down his jumper. If the defender plays up on him, and the Kings have another player running up the court, that player has a wide-open lane to the basket where Collison can lob a pass over the top. And if the defender is unsure about how he wants to defend him, Collison has the speed to abuse off-balance defenders who are trying to figure out if they want to play up or back off.
And if he doesn’t like any of his options, he’s not afraid to reset the possession entirely. Sometimes, it’s what you don’t do that sets you apart from everyone else. I can only think of a handful of Kings possessions that ended with Collison taking a shot I didn’t think he should be taking. He had a little bit of a reputation as a gunner before the Kings signed him this offseason. If he was that guy before, he isn’t anymore.
Remember all of those statistics I mentioned earlier? Allow me to make them sound even more impressive. He’s doing all of this with a usage percentage of 21.2. That number is the percentage of a team’s offensive possessions that a player uses while on the court. For comparisons sake, DeMarcus Cousins has a usage percentage of 34.1. His should be that high because he is the Kings' best player. For more context, Isaiah Thomas had a usage percentage of 26.3 last year. This isn’t meant as a knock on Thomas, but the high usage percentage of Cousins, Thomas and Rudy Gay was a concern last season and moving forward. Collison has balanced out the offense considerably.
In fact, there are 60 players in the NBA that NBA.com’s statisticians define as ‘guards’ (point guards and shooting guards combined) who have a higher usage percentage than Collison. 60! That’s roughly two guards per team that use more possessions than Collison. That’s called maximizing your opportunities. It’s pretty remarkable how well he’s been able to pick his spots.
So why does any of this matter? Every team has good players. The Kings found one this offseason in Collison. And you don’t need any of these numbers to know how good he’s been. If you’ve watched the Kings, you’ve seen it. He’s doing anything and everything we could has asked of him, and then some. We’ve already established that he is a good player.
The one thing that sets Collison apart from any of his ‘top-15 point guard’ peers is his salary. The Kings locked up Collison for three years at $16 million this offseason, and that has quickly become one of the best non-rookie contracts in the NBA. The level of production the Kings are getting relative to his cap hit is incredible. I cannot stress that enough. If nothing else, you should be excited about how flexible Collison’s contract is. He’s an asset now. And for an organization that is trying to build a team based on values, numbers and market trends, Darren Collison is the poster boy for how Pete D’Alessandro is trying to build this team. You can say what you want about him as a general manager, and I have my concerns as well, but he nailed this one.
