As we have noted recently, Nick Collison has been on a 3-point tear this season. He has already made as many 3-pointers in this season alone as he had in the previous 10. Yes, that total is a whopping five makes, but still. Collison is clearly working to contribute in new ways as his inside effectiveness has waned.
Grantland's Zach Lowe has noticed too, and he cut the video above to show how Collison's new skill is being incorporated into the Thunder offense. Lowe writes:
The Nick Collison Fake Pin-down
The sage of Oklahoma City has already nailed five 3s, as many as he made combined in his prior 10 seasons. Look away from Doc Rivers's head and watch Collison, at the left elbow, position himself as if he's going to set a typical pin-down screen for Lance Thomas jetting up from the left corner:
Boom! Collison fakes the screen and then pops out behind a surprise Thomas pick - a reversal of roles. Fun times.
This play set reminds me an awful lot of what the Timberwolves used to do frequently with Kevin Love, which you can see at about 1:10 in this video.
This type of evolution for Collison is good and useful, because one of the main obstacles the Thunder offense has faced over the years is not simplistic offense but poor floor spacing. The bad spacing was in part by poor execution and part because often the Thunder had 2 weak offensive players on the court at the same time. With Collison simply becoming a threat to score from the corners and elbows, the result is going to be that the defenses will get pulled away from the ball more than in the past, which will create the driving lanes that Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and Reggie Jackson love.
Keep your chin up, Nick! Only 2,968 more 3-point makes to go before you catch Ray Allen!
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