San Antonio Spurs: 3 Ways John Collins would make Lonnie Walker even better

John Collins can help Walker’s passing

As a shooting guard, passing should never be the focal point of Lonnie’s game. It should be, well, shooting and scoring. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a very important part of a team game, and it has been an area Walker has been slow to improve.

Walker has never averaged even two assists a game, which is bad. Perhaps it could be blamed on the Spurs' poor shooting, which needs to be fixed. But he only averaged 3.2 potential assists per game, which is just around league average.

It’s not just assists. Walker only passes the ball around 18 times a night, which, in 25 minutes, is shockingly bad. Adding another scorer around him like Collins would be an easy fix.

Walker can use Collins as a pick and roll option, and since Lonnie is strong and athletic he can opt to take the ball to the rack himself if need be or make easy lobs to Collins to improve his assist numbers. 

One of the cons of John Collins is he is not great at creating his own shot. Well, Walker can start to set him up for buckets. It’s not all about assists, either. The ball moves more when a guard passes more, setting up the whole team for easy buckets.

As a primary ball-handler, Walker needs to get it started and Collins is a great fit to help him out. When Walker plays with the second unit, the new talent and confidence will translate.