Sacramento Kings: Is PG Darren Collison For Real?
Darren Collison is playing with his fifth team in six seasons since entering the NBA. Generally that’s not considered a very good sign.
But with Collison as their starting point guard, the Sacramento Kings are off to a surprising 3-1 start.
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And it’s not as if Sacramento is taking advantage of a soft schedule–after losing their opener to the Golden State Warriors the Kings beat the Portland Trail Blazers at home, then defeated the L.A. Clippers and Denver Nuggets in back-to-back nights on the road.
Coming off a 28-54 season, expectations for the Kings are not much better this year. Most forecasts have them finishing among the bottom five teams in the Western Conference. With Isaiah Thomas (and his 20.3 points and 6.3 assist per game in 2013-14) gone to the Phoenix Suns, the Kings appeared to be in rough shape at the point guard position.
Few people, including myself, thought that Collison was the answer. It’s only been four games, but to this point in the season it’s looking like he may well be.
Collison posted a near triple-double with 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in Sacramento’s 103-94 win over the Blazers. He scored 14 in the 98-92 victory over his former team in L.A., then led all scorers with 21 in the Kings’ 110-105 win at Denver.
For the season Collison is averaging 16.3 points, 6.5 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game, significantly better than his career numbers (12.0 points, 4.9 assists, 2.7 rebounds, 1.1 steals).
He’s also posted at least 13 points, four assists and four rebounds in every contest, something he hadn’t done in four straight games since his rookie year in 2010.
Last season with the Clippers Collison did show signs that he might be capable of leading a quality team. While starting 18 games at point guard when Chris Paul was out, Collison averaged 13.3 points and 6.5 assists. L.A. went 12-6 over those 18 contests.
After his club’s recent loss to the Kings, Clippers coach Doc Rivers talked about how much he misses having Collison on his team (via Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles):
"He was very versatile for us. He played the 1 and the 2, he can guard the ball at times and it could give CP at times some rest. So far we haven’t been able to do that so we miss that. Right now Jordan [Farmar] hasn’t defended the way DC defended. He just doesn’t have that speed so CP still may have to guard the best offensive player."
Collison also discussed the influence that both Rivers and Paul, who was previously his teammate with the then New Orleans Hornets in 2009-10, had on him (from The Sacramento Bee‘s Jason Jones):
"To sit behind (Paul) for two years whether it was in New Orleans or last year, it’s been a blessing. It made an impact on my game. And Doc, too. Doc Rivers has really helped my game grow. … Doc was harder on me than any other player on that team last year. He helped me grow as a player, and I thank him for that."
We’ll find out a lot more about Collison and the Kings in the next two weeks. After hosting Denver they go on a four-game road trip to Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Dallas and Memphis, then come back home to play the San Antonio Spurs, New Orleans Pelicans and Chicago Bulls–a very difficult stretch no matter how you look at it.
If Collison is still putting up the same numbers and the Kings can remain over .500 through those eight games, at that point it’ll be time to admit that both of them could be for real.