Houston Chronicle article about Collier's emergence

A good read for a few of the doubters still left on this board.

Criticism no bother for rookie

Rockets' Collier played for Knight

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle

Jason Collier knows what you've been saying. He knows about the Internet experts and radio talk show coaches. The insults. The doubts. He hasn't listened, but he's heard.

He also doesn't care. But his is not the usual athlete's bravado worn to provide skin thick enough to take the pounding. Collier has been trained for this as few have. No hang up and listen reviewer can match the master.

"It really doesn't matter to me what people think," Collier said. "It matters what the Rockets think. The people that have been criticizing probably never stepped on a college floor. I'm pretty sure they didn't play at this level. Besides, I played for the biggest critic in the world."

So it turns out that Collier's two seasons under Bobby Knight were not a waste after all.

But just as Collier left Knight's tyranny at Indiana to excel at Georgia Tech, he has begun to leave the draft-day doubts behind.
He has not matched the pace of last season's co-rookies of the year, the Rockets' Steve Francis and Bulls' Elton Brand, who will meet tonight at Compaq Center. But Collier -- acquired with another first round selection in a draft day trade of ninth pick Joel Pryzbilla to the Bucks -- has played his role precisely as cast.

In the Rockets past four games, including two against the Lakers and Shaquille O'Neal, Collier has averaged 10 points and four rebounds as Hakeem Olajuwon's backup. He has made 15 of 27 shots, most by making the outside shots the Rockets sought to bring opposing centers out of the lane and in the path of Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley.

With statistics limited by the early games in which he had only cameos as a third-teamer, he averages 6.1 points and 2.7 rebounds, to rank in the top 10 for rookies. His shooting percentage of 53.3 percentage is second (to Dallas' Eduardo Najera) among NBA rookies.

"You can put anybody out there," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "If he can't shoot it, it wouldn't make a difference.

"He's doing very well. He looks confident. He's doing things with a purpose and is playing hard."

None of this comes as much of a surprise to Collier. He could have been caught in a rookie trap, needing minutes to gain confidence, but needing to play with confidence to earn the minutes. But when Cato went out for four to six weeks with a high ankle sprain, Collier got the playing time just in time to offer his outside shot as a threat to draw O'Neal and Portland's Rasheed Wallace out of the lane.

"I knew if I got some time, I had a chance to do some things," Collier said. "I knew, with a little times, I'd get some confidence. I got some time and the more you play, the more confident you get."

This was the Rockets plan all along. Collier was not advertised as a draft choice brought in to become another Olajuwon. The prospects thought to have the star potential were gone when the Rockets ninth pick came up. With the Rockets considering Collier in next level of big men, they chose the player whose talents they believed fit best with their current needs, knowing that many might not understand.

"Every one of our picks has gone through negative things it seems," Tomjanovich said. "Sam Cassell. Robert Horry. Kenny (Thomas) a little bit. That's the nature of the business. Jason was a chemistry pick for us. We picked him because he fit with our other players. People asked why we picked him. But the things other guys did didn't fit as well with what we're trying to do."

But as much as Collier fit because the threat of his shot would clear the lane of opposing centers, he has been effective because the threat of penetrating guards has helped him get open shots.

"He's finally getting a feel for what we're doing," Rockets assistant coach Larry Smith said. "He's been working hard at it, putting in extra time after practice. I think it's confidence more than anything else. He does have skills and has made plays for us. He's given us everything we've asked for."
That has included more than just a soft jump shot. But much of Collier's ability to contribute are not as apparent as the talents of the latest NBA prodigies that the Rockets slide into the lottery seemed capable of bringing them. Collier's abilities to set screens, to get a hand on a loose ball or run the floor have been more subtle. But they have also come more frequently.

"I feel like I can do a lot of different things that don't always show up (in statistics)," Collier said. "I'm not some flashy guy that rips the rims off. I'm a more fundamental player. I do the little things, sometimes things that don't show up in the stats. I do the little things that people watching might miss.

"It's like in Portland. Matt (Bullard) missed a shot and I went hard for the board. I didn't get it, but I went so hard, the guy (Portland's Dale Davis) had to try to tip it to himself. He ended up tipping it in. There's so many things that don't show up in statistics."

This would seem just the sort of thing that would have appealed to the "World's biggest critic." He was always a different sort of Knight defector. A blue-chip, high profile recruit that Knight had signed only rarely in recent years, when Collier left for Georgia Tech it was the coach that drew the most public rebuke.

But Collier will share little about his experience under Knight or decision to leave other than he was not surprised by the revelations that became Knight's ruin.

"Once it happened, it was out of my mind," Collier said. "I haven't said (publicly) anything to do this day. I could if I wanted to. But that's not my style, not my personality. I have nothing against Coach Knight. He should have nothing against me. We were just two people that didn't fit. That's the reason I left."

But having gone through two seasons in Knight's reign of terror, a little local fan criticism is barely worth notice. "I love Houston," Collier said. "The people of Houston have been great to me."

So he proposed to his fiancee before leaving for training camp, bought a home and planned to settle year-round in Houston. He might even check out the talk shows. The commentary is sure to be kinder these days. But if not, Collier already know he has heard worse.

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President of the Jason Collier fan club!

Looking for next year's Jason Collier or Dan Langhi? Draftsource.net
ClutchTown.com

 

Smeg,

Collier has the flu and is at home tonight.

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President of the Jason Collier fan club!

Looking for next year's Jason Collier or Dan Langhi? Draftsource.net
ClutchTown.com