12-01-2022, 03:09 PM
(12-01-2022, 01:40 PM)Chicagojk Wrote: Collins is weird to me. He was awesome in ATL's ECF run two years ago and he does have some eye popping plays. Although too often you see a 12 point 4 rebound stat line from him. Maybe it is the pairing with Capela but you would think they would try to max out his play. Weird.
I think ATL will move him. They have younger players who are going to demand playing time. The thought was Collins would lead them to get another all star caliber player or help them get some of their lost draft capital back. We can't help them there.
I do think a good shooting Bullock would help though. Wood could be a short term solution to fill off the bench. It is interesting, but I think you need Bullock playing much better for a stretch and for ATL not being able to find a more attractive trade.
Great thoughts here.
I fully believe that he is just being utilized incorrectly because of their current roster construction. His second year in the league he was playing 47% of his minutes at the 5 and this year he has played 2%. The emergence of Okongwu (who btw is slowing turning into the player everyone thought Jonathan Issac would become) has made it basically impossible for him to find minutes there where he can be a very dynamic rim runner and pick and roll partner to Trae. He also held his own defensively against the likes of Embiid during his solo minutes at center during that ECF run so it really just feels like the roster changes have kind of iced him out of his best role as opposed to him playing himself out of that role.
It does beg the question though, would Kidd even use him properly if he was here? Based on his usage of Wood I have concerns about the answer. Would he need to be paired with Maxi the same way Wood is so he can be used as a rim runner? Would his shooting come back enough for him to handle a ton of minutes at the 4? It obviously all comes down to his defense as the 5 in Kidd's eyes and while he clearly wants a bigger rim protector/rebounder in that spot based on the McGee signing, he also clearly will take someone who makes great rotations despite lacking those two traits (Powell) over someone who is easily the best offensive big on the roster (Wood). I want to believe that he is a headier player than Wood on the defensive side of the ball and will earn more trust to play minutes at the 5 in this system the same way we've trusted Powell but I also told myself that all Wood has to do is learn how to rotate like Powell to take his minutes and I've been wrong about that so far.
The idea of Bullock needing to play better to make the trade attractive is kind of funny because Atlanta needs the same thing out of Collins right now to make him more attractive. Do those two facts perhaps cancel each other out in a way? Even if Collins does see a little uptick (which he has in over the past few games last I checked), it feels a lot like the KP situation and how this board spoke of the expectations of a hypothetical return vs the reality of what taking on that contract means to owners and the value in that action alone.
At the end of the day it feels like this is definitely the year he finally gets traded not only because of young talent like Hunter and Okongwu but also because they're already at the tax line for next season even before addressing free agents like Bogi (Player Option) and extensions like Okongwu. That's why I think our package will be intriguing to them because it saves 68 to 73 mil after this season depending on how they handle Bullock's contract. Obviously requires our owner to open his wallet which is something we haven't seen lately.