If things proceed apace for Darren Collison, he will finish the season averaging under 10 PPG. When that happens, it will be the first time in his ten-year career that his scoring average is in the single digits.
I would use this video description to ponder on why Collison is so passive this season, but I don’t think that question needs an answer. The Pacers are doing fine (actually, more than fine) with Collison playing the way he’s playing, so there’s no reason to think that his reduced scoring isn’t part of some genius masterplan from Nate McMillan that’s getting the maximum out of wins from a team that seems slightly talent-starved on the surface.
Collison’s not an elite distributor or an elite scorer. Instead, he’s the epitome of “solid”, and I guess that’s what the Pacers need out of the point guard position? Cory Joseph fits the same mold, except he’s even less of a distributor and less of a scorer than Collison is.
If you couldn’t tell, the thing that’s puzzling me right now is how the Pacers are so good despite the fact that the guy I had pegged as their second-best player coming into the season (Collison) is doing the same or worse than last year in all statistical measures.