Sacramento Kings: Best Rotations- Small Ball
By Tyler Watts
Shooting Guard- Darren Collison
Traditional Stats
Darren Collison gets the call at the shooting guard position in the small ball lineup. Collison brings efficiency and two-way play. For his two years in Sacramento, he averages 1.2 threes, 2.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.2 steals, 0.2 blocks, 2.0 turnovers, and 14.8 points per game in 31.8 minutes a night. He shoots 48.0% from the field, 82.7% from the line, and 38.9% from three-point range in those two seasons.
Advanced Metrics
Let us now view the advanced metrics to see how Collison rates in those categories. Darren Collison produced an offensive box score plus/minus of positive 2.8 and positive 1.8 the last two seasons. Collison’s defensive box score plus/minus rated poorly at negative 1.3 and negative 2.2 the last two years. His VORP was 1.4 in 2014-2015 and 0.9 in 2015-2016. If you view win shares, he rated at positive 3.0 and positive 4.5 offensive win shares and positive 0.8 and positive 0.9 defensive win shares the last two seasons. His win shares per 48 were 0.116 and 0.113 rating him above league average in both years of his Kings career. Clearly, Collison rates as both an above replacement player and above league average per the advanced metrics. That makes Collison a great fit to be the shooting guard in the Kings’ best small ball lineup.
But Collison is a Point Guard
I know what you are thinking; Darren Collison is a point guard. Yes, he is, but he played next to Rajon Rondo last season and played well. If the Kings decide to go small, I believe Collison can man the two guard position without any hitches and be effective against bigger competition.