The Detroit Pistons just threw a serious chunk of change at a familiar problem. John Collins is signing a three-year, $51 million deal according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, and it’s hard not to read this as insurance on Jalen Duren walking out the door.
Collins lands in Detroit as his fourth team in five years. He spent last season with the Los Angeles Clippers where he put up 13.6 points on 55.2% shooting with 5.3 rebounds in 27.1 minutes a night. Solid numbers. Nothing flashy. But the Pistons didn’t pay him $17 million a year to be flashy.
They paid him to be a lob threat for Cade Cunningham and a safety net at power forward. Charania reported Collins was a top target for Detroit and is expected to slide into the starting four spot. That makes sense because Tobias Harris who held that job this season is likely leaving in free agency.
And then there’s Duren. The 21-year-old center is testing his value on the open market and has already met with the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings according to reports. The Pistons haven’t confirmed anything about Duren’s situation but the timing of the Collins signing speaks for itself. You don’t drop $51 million on a forward unless you’re covering your bases.
The Collins fit in Detroit
Collins is 28 years old which puts him in that weird zone where he’s not young enough to be a long-term project but not old enough to be a band-aid. He’s a career 54% shooter from the field and has enough bounce to make Cade Cunningham’s life easier in the pick-and-roll. Detroit needs shooting. They need spacing. Collins isn’t a knockdown three-point shooter but he’s competent enough to keep defenses honest.
The bigger question is whether this move actually makes them better or just different. The Pistons have been stuck in rebuild purgatory for years. Adding a veteran forward who’s been traded twice in the last three years isn’t the kind of splash that changes a franchise. But it’s a move. And for a team that needs to show its young guys some kind of direction, that counts for something.
More details on the contract structure and Duren’s decision should come in the next few days. For now, Detroit has its power forward and a whole lot of questions still hanging in the air.
Leave a Comment