Goodbye Stiemsma, Hello Collins

WHDH TV, the NBC affiliate in Boston, MA reporting the Celtics have signed Jason Collins.

1 year, veteran's minimum salary.

There's the new backup center.

Kind of like enjoying your Cracker Jacks, but finding no toy surprise inside; fills a need, but a little disappointing. You were just expecting a little something more.

He's pretty banged up, but can play good defense when/if healthy.

Also a link from ESPN; http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4696511/sources-celtics-sign-jason-collins

Not sure what else we could expect for the veterans minimum.

Big body, knows how to play, knows how to behave like a pro - seems like a good signing.

One thing Collins will do is give us a third option at center. That should enable us to place Melo on the Red Claws where he can play this year and hopefully reward the risk of picking him by developing into a capable NBA center.

It'll once again be center by committee. But this time, the lead center will be KG from the getgo, supported by Wilcox and Collins. Here's hoping the position is blessed with good health.

Sam

Sam,

Doc Rivers called for you again.

He would like that formula for good health!

Regards

Stiemsma would've been better, but oh well. Collins is hardly anything to get excited about, but at least he's not Darko.

Outside

It's interesting that Collins has apparently acquired somewhat of a reputation as a "Howard tamer." I'm not sure on what kind of evidence that's based, but even a partial contribution against Howard might come in handy—especially if Howard goes to the Lakers.

Sam

Sam,

Below link presents the games that their teams opposed each other but I don't believe reflect their personal head to head records. However, the overall game stats don't speak too well for Collins.
The tiny URL for your query is:

http://bkref.com/tiny/ySEVQ

swish

sam wrote:It's interesting that Collins has apparently acquired somewhat of a reputation as a "Howard tamer." I'm not sure on what kind of evidence that's based, but even a partial contribution against Howard might come in handy—especially if Howard goes to the Lakers.

Sam

Collins is wide and bulky, and he has acquired the skills of an earthbound veteran big man, so he is able to push Howard off the low post and has shown the ability to disrupt him somewhat in the half-court game. He's not a "Howard stopper" by any stretch; more like a "Howard annoyer," and as we've seen, Howard is less effective when he's annoyed and frustrated.