Posted by martin:
Posted by JohnWallace44:
Does anybody else think Collins' development is the key to next season other than the health of the team?
If he develops his outside shot even a little, he should create mismatches on offense, and be a shutdown defender on offense. He also runs the offense faster than Marbury. I've said for a long time, Marbury is fast end to end as an individual, but he doesn't seem to run well with others.
As long as Marbury is not hurt he will get 30 minutes a game. And with Crawford and Nate in the mix (and Q/Fran to a certain extent) there will be NO meaningful time for Collins.
Collins minutes will go up and down from game to game. I actually think that he's moved ahead of Nate in the depth chart. He does what Nate can't. He may not be the shooter Nate is, but his defense, size, strength and ability to run the offense make him a more useful player for this team. Nate seems destined to be an instant offense guy off the bench.
I don't know what Isiah is gonna do about Francis, but he's the guy that messes up the works. Minus him we could work things out a bit more. I know they have said they won't buy him out, but I think that's only temporary. Eventually I believe it's the only solution, unless they just do him like Tim Thomas and keep him away from the team.
stanleybostitch mentioned not being concerned with the playoffs and instead rebuilding. I think that this team is about as rebuilt as it's gonna get. It wouldn't benefit us to go any further with youth. We'll add another draftee and with that guy the team has a significant number of guys under 25. We've got 3 older guys 2 yrs from being done. All we'll really have is youngish players.