Darren Collison has not had an easy season. He was benched for Derek Fisher earlier in the year, despite the fact Fisher couldn’t actually move on the court. He’s been yanked off the court for guys like Mike James, and he’s survived the Roddy Beaubois experience.
At no point has it looked like the Mavericks were willing to commit to Collison as their starting point guard right now, let alone any point in the future.
But Collison, to his credit, is not easily deterred. Many other players would have mailed it in on a losing team, but Collison is still playing hard and wants to be a part of the Mavericks’ future:“I hope so,” Collison said when asked if he wanted to stick around long term. “I love Dallas. I love the fans. The fans have been good to me, and the organization has been real good to me. Coach has worked with me and helped me be a better player every day. I haven’t had that in a long time.”
Via Eddie Sefko | Dallas Morning News
Collison will be a restricted free agent this offseason, meaning the Mavericks can match any offer made to him in free agency so long as they issue a qualifying offer and don’t renounce their rights to him. It’s hard to tell what direction Dallas will take with Collison, mainly because they’re in such a weird spot as a franchise. The best players for Dallas are all on their last legs (Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Marion, Vince Carter, Elton Brand) and the young players aren’t good enough to keep the team competitive on their own. There’s no real future piece to build a franchise on, unless you’re much higher on O.J. Mayo than I am.
Although Collison is the hard working, resilient type of guy you want around, he’s still an average point guard at best. You simply don’t invest money and playing time into average players if you want to be anything other than mediocre. Collison is still young at 25 years old, and he is shooting the ball at the best percentages of his career, but he struggles to get guys the ball in good spots and he has almost no in between game. Collison would be a great backup point guard, but Dallas really can’t put the cart before the horse.
