Friday, February 15, 2013
Collison as a free agent
By Tom Carpenter
Darren Collison will be a restricted free agent this offseason and has been making a great case this season for a decent payday. He has started the 24 games the Dallas Mavericks have played since Christmas and has averaged 14.2 points and 6.0 assists over that stretch. He also has shot better than 50 percent from the field over the past two and half months and has bumped his assists up to 7.3 per game in six games this month.
Here is what he had to say when asked if he would like to stick with the Mavs, according to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
“I hope so,” he said. “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.”
The Mavs will have to decide what role they see for Collison going forward before considering his future with the team. The market may play a role, too, as it's difficult to peg his free-agent value. Collison has looked promising this season, just as he did as a rookie with the New Orleans Hornets. However, he was far less impressive in his two seasons with the Indiana Pacers.
As ESPN NBA Insider Kevin Pelton notes, Collison's diminutive size at 6-feet and 175 pounds makes it even more difficult to nail down his value:
Kevin Pelton
Top NBA free agents of 2013"Collison is too accomplished to be strictly a backup point guard, but not good enough as a starter to keep his teams from trying to upgrade the position. That puts him in a weird spot in free agency. Ideally, he would play behind a bigger starter who can slide to shooting guard at times."
