To Jason Collins, My Sincerest Apologies

I feel I owe it to the guy to make a short post today after a splendid performance defending Dwight Howard last night. I made a post a couple of weeks back about how having 5 centers on your roster (and 4 useless bigs in general) was not a good way to construct an NBA roster. I still feel this way, but one of those useless bigs proved that he does have some use. Granted, its a very limited one, and it doesn't hide the fact that there are 3 other useless bigs on the roster taking up 4 roster spots (including the open one that the vet's minimum contracts are preventing the Hawks from using at this time).

However, Jason Collins earned his paycheck last night, and then some. He played great physical, positional defense, drawing charges and frustrating the hell out of Howard all night, not letting Howard get to the spots he is accustomed to against most other centers. After witnessing the one of the most lopsided playoff series' ever last spring between the Hawks and Magic, a first round tussle between the same 2 foes could be a competition. This probably has more to do with the Magic turning over their roster than any improvement by the Hawks. But, Jason Collins seems to be able to check Howard better than anyone the Hawks had last year, and it isn't that close. Sure, Collins was on the roster last year, but he was horribly out of shape and overweight, rendering the one redeeming quality he ever had in the league (defending really big centers) obsolete. Collins trimmed down this summer and can once again move laterally, as well as up and down the court faster than Eddy Curry (well, he hasn't played in like 3 years, but I'm drawing this conclusion based on the fact I KNOW Curry hasn't missed a meal in at least 3 years).

Thus the Hawks have a chance in the playoffs against a team they have never had a chance against. The parts around the should-be league MVP Howard (he won't win, but he is the most deserving candidate) are much weaker than last year too, meaning the Hawks could (gasp!) win a couple of games in the series. I could be overreacting to the fact that Hawks might have 9.5 roster spots filled by competent NBA players instead of the 9 I originally thought (Collins is still useless against at least 80% of the NBA teams), but there might be reason for Atlanta fans to at least keep an eye on the Hawks in the 1st round of the playoffs. It is a shame that this is what it has come to, but we all enjoy grasping at any hope that can be conjured up.