Tag Archives: Rick Carlise

I’m a Hater: Darren Collison

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Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

Darren Collison is currently the Mavericks’ second best player, and I hate him. Collison may be a good guy, but he couldn’t be more wrong for the Dallas Mavericks. People were quick to speak about the Mavericks’ good fortune when Jason Kidd turned down their three year offer, and soon after they were able to trade for Collison.

Collison is much younger than Jason Kidd, but nothing he does is more beneficial to the Mavs on the court. Kidd, with all his age and wisdom, is currently 7th in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio. Collison is 41st. Unlike Kidd, Collison can’t help the Mavs’ poor rebounding, and most importantly, can’t run the Mavs’ flow offense. It seems that when Carlisle developed his offense, Collison’s patented “jump, panic and pass” technique wasn’t part of it.

Collison’s greatest sin, however, has been his inability to play effectively with Dirk. Darren has been so poor at involving Dirk that the Mavericks have begun playing Roddy B with Dirk in high pick-and-rolls. Roddy B. Yes, Darren Collison has been so bad that the player that Rick Carlise seems to want to wish out of existence is put in his place at times. Carlise would rather wear Larry Birds’ back brace everyday than play Roddy Buckets, but Collison’s inability to pass the ball to a 7 foot man has given him no choice. With Collison running the point, Dirk’s usage percentage* is down 5.7% from last season to 23.5%. That is his lowest usage percentage since 1999, when he still had buck teeth and Michael Finley was the Mavericks’ best player.

Collison might be a decent NBA point guard who is being asked to do too much by running the Mavs fluid system. He is truly a one man fast break whose speed puts pressure on opponents. But at 13.1 points per game, he doesn’t score well enough to justify leaving one of the 50 best players of all time at the other end of the court as he jets down to miss yet another layup. I wish the best for Darren Collison, but his one year here will have been one year too long.

-Travis Kvaal

*Usage percentage is an estimate of team plays used by a player while he was on the floor.

Stats from basketball-reference.com and correct as of 1-15-13

That’s 3

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Jerome Miron/US PRESSWIRE

It all seems much brighter now.  The Dallas Mavericks won their third straight game against the Minnesota Timberwolves 113-98.  This game was the Darren Collison Show, as he seems to be becoming much more comfortable in Rick Carlise’s flow offense. Collison scored 23 points on 7-11 shooting and added 9 assists. He was a much better facilitator tonight than he’s been for much of the season while maintaining his aggressiveness. I do worry about his future with the Mavericks as he still has not found a way to make Dirk Nowitzki’s life any easier.

Dirk did not look good on the offensive end tonight, scoring 10 points on 5-12 shooting. Perhaps even more telling, he did not attempt a single free throw in 33 minutes. It wasn’t all bad for Nowitzki, as he did have 6 assists, ran the court well and looked pretty active defensively. Bob Ortegal made the point that he thinks Dirk is setting the tone moving the ball. That theory is lent credence by the fact that the flow offense didn’t work without him.

The Mavericks had 33 assists tonight on 46 field goals. The ball movement was certainly as good as it’s been since the departure of Jason Kidd. The major beneficiary of that ball movement was Elton Brand. Brand scored 20 points on 10 of 13 shooting and looked like the player the Mavs had hoped for when they claimed him off the amnesty waiver wire.

Two players on the Timberwolves that the Mavericks should covet are J.J. Barea and Nikola Pekovic. Barea took out his frustrations of not being resigned after the 2011 title by scoring 21 points to go along with 5 assists in just 26 minutes. Pekovic is a rare breed in the NBA as a good rebounding, solid defending, high percentage shooting center. He had 20 points on 11 shots and 12 rebounds. This surely is a player that Donnie Nelson dreams about at night.

OJ Mayo had 20 points and 9 assists on the night. Mayo has really picked up his game with crisp passing. His turnovers were killing Dallas two weeks ago, but he seems to really have worked to correct that issue and is now moving the ball the way Carlise requires from a shooting guard.

While Dallas also caught Minnesota on the second night of a back-to-back and they allowed them to get back into the game after it looked like they had them put away, this game was impressive. Even without Kevin Love, the Timberwolves are a good team, and three wins in a row shouldn’t be scoffed at by this year’s version of the Mavericks. The mountain now seems a little less steep, and your Mavs look a little more capable.

-Travis Kvaal