San Antonio Spurs: 4 Pros and Cons of a possible John Collins addition

John Collins doesn’t bring any reliable passing to the San Antonio Spurs 

One of the few knocks in John Collins’ game is that he is constantly hunting for individual opportunities to score. While not a selfish player by any means, his playmaking acumen in his four seasons so far has not yet surfaced. In his career, he has averaged more turnovers than assists per game.

A near-constant presence in Pop’s schemes is a big man who can pass. With the likes of Tim Duncan, Boris Diaw and Pau Gasol in recent years, as well as Poeltl making strides as an accurate drive and kick and interior passer, Pop loves having options in the frontcourt who can find cutters and shooters to execute half-court sets.

Observe how he struggles to break down a double team here as he misses two cutters driving to the paint. By the time he gives it up, it is too late and he flicks off a soft pass which then becomes deflected and results into a turnover. This is not a rare instance, as his lack of passing has contributed to why Atlanta’s offense literally lives and dies by Trae Young’s scoring and playmaking.

John Collin’s 1.5 dimes per contest is below average given his abundant touches per game, but it may also be a result of playing alongside Young. Nevertheless, passing is a weakness in his game that needs a lot of finetuning.

Next: Con No. 2