06-09-2021, 04:11 PM
(06-09-2021, 02:14 PM)StrandedOnBeauboisHill Wrote: Watching him this postseason has been pretty eye opening just in terms of the fact that the Hawks view him as their best wing defender. Not saying that it makes him a GOOD defender considering that roster makeup but he certainly had a lot to do with Randle being slowed down in the first series.
I look at it as Collins vs Kleber and it's looking more and more like the drop off from a defensive standpoint is less than I thought about a month ago and I think the offensive improvement is more than the defensive drop off. Also, Collins is up and down this post season but he doesn't look as nearly afraid of this moment as Kleber has two years in a row now which is disappointing because I love Kleber.
A couple of things:
It is at least encouraging to hear that Collins held his own on the perimeter in the playoffs. That makes him at least a viable option next to KP defensively. There is no question the offensive fit is perfect.
Kleber was significantly off defensively this year (just like KP) and my hope is that both were due to Injury related issues and that they will rebound next year. Kleber struggled with Covid for a long time and also struggled with the workload of being a starter in a condensed season. I think his defense will be better next year, but he is probably best suited to a versatile role player in the mid 20s minutes wise.
So from that standpoint, there is no question Collins is an upgrade over Maxi. The question is long term fit. This team needs to get significantly better defensively to have any chance of reaching contender status. Even if KP gets back to previous rim protection levels, and Collins is only small downgrade to Maxi, we still probably need upgrade in the backcourt defense. We also need a secondary play maker to relieve some of the pressure from Luka and keep our bench from getting killed. But giving Collins a max contract will require us to operate under the cap with not enough left to re-sign THJ, let alone get that 2 way SG we desperately need. From this perspective, I feel like Ball probably makes more sense as he fills more gaping holes.