You Will Not Convince Us That Nick Collison Is Good

Nick Collison gets a few double-doubles and suddenly your sports section is filled with articles like "Collison excelling front and center".

Now, since we are ignoring the Sonics, we haven't actually seen this new, improved Nick Collison, but we're willing to bet that his production has more to do with playing time than with any Great Leap Forward.

We've long called this phenomenon of a crummy player accumulating impressive stats "The Christian Laettner Theory." Remember when Christian Laettner was on the expansion Timberwolves, and he'd average 15 points per game every year? Pretty good, huh?

Not really. In an NBA basketball game, somebody's got to score points. No one gets beat, like, 101-37. Laettner was, horrifyingly, the best offensive option on those Timberwolves teams, and so he got the majority of the shots. Another scary example of this is the 1997 David Robinson-less San Antonio Spurs, who recruited Dominique Wilkins out of retirement to be their 38-year-old go to guy, he averaged 18 ppg.

Likewise, when the ball comes bouncing off the rim, somebody's going to pick it up. Collison's played more than 40 minutes at forward three times in the Sonics' last eight games--and if when you spend that much time standing underneath the basket, even this dude would manage a few boards.