The Charlotte Bobcats are about to find out just how rough life after Raymond Felton can be. With D.J. Augustin and Shaun Livingston as the primary point guards on the roster, Charlotte has added Sherron Collins as the team’s third PG, giving the Bobcats a trio of young guards to pair with Stephen Jackson.
Between Augustin, Livingston, and Collins, the Charlotte point guards will have a combined seven seasons of NBA experience. Livingston is the battle-worn sage of the three, and he’s just 24 years old. The often hilarious Bobcats offense has the potential to get even zanier.
Collins isn’t a surefire NBA talent, primarily because his most marketable NCAA skill -- scoring -- isn’t enough of a strength to guarantee NBA success. Collins wasn’t all that efficient at Kansas, and his shot selection is certainly questionable. This, ladies and gents, is Collins’ supposed strength. His playmaking abilities are secondary to his scoring, but the Bobcats are banking on Sherron’s ability to put up points and defend, and the former is certainly in doubt, to say nothing of the latter (he is sub-six-feet, after all).
Yes, he lit it up in a game at the Orlando Summer League. Collins can do that. He will have good games. The concern is what he’ll do to your team during those other games, where he’s shooting blanks from the perimeter and still insists on being a focal point of the offense. If Collins can adjust to being strictly a catch-and-shoot threat on most nights, he could easily be a quality pro. However, an insistence on being the “offensive force” Collins seemed to think he was at Kansas will doom his NBA career from the start.
It’s definitely worth noting that according to the Associated Press, Collins signed with the Bobcats for two seasons, both of which are unguaranteed. If he lasts through January, his salary for that season will be fully guaranteed for the league minimum. If not, Charlotte is off the hook for his remaining salary.
I think it’s likely that Collins will stick with the Bobcats for the full two seasons, if only because he’s very much in the Larry Brown mold. Somewhere along the line, playing “the right way” changed into “giving perimeter players license to take whatever shots they want.” Collins should dig that. Plus, assuming Collins can overcome his short stature to remain a quality defender, it’s not hard to imagine him being an LB favorite.
