Very few players in the NBA receive less credit for their contributions than Indiana Pacers point guard Darren Collison.
Pick any advanced stat, your favorite one, your least favorite one, just pick. I guarantee you that the statistic you chose painted 2017-18 Darren Collison in a favorable light.
That’s because 2017-18 DC made a ton of positive plays and not a lot of negative ones. His 3-point percentage led the league. His assist-to-turnover ratio was tops in the association. His defense was fine. Collectively. he made a lot of high-impact positive plays while avoiding the largely negative ones.
This season has been a little worse, but not as much as you’re probably thinking…
For example, did you know that Darren Collison is back up to 41.7 percent from 3-point range this season? He’s shooting his second best ever career percentage from deep, and that includes his struggles from the outside to start off the season.
His assist-to-turnover ratio was gaudy last season, with 368 assists to just 86 turnovers. This year, he’s had the ball more due to Victor Oladipo’s injury, and he already has more assists than last year with 387 (and in fewer games). He also has more turnovers, though, with 104. Either way, his ratio of good plays to bad is very good and very beneficial to a winning team.
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Let’s blend the past two seasons of both of those stats to show how good Darren Collison has been at some very important skills. Since the start of the 2017-18 season, only 3 players (Seth Curry, Meyers Leonard, and Tomas Satoransky) with 100+ 3-point attempts have better accuracy on long-range shots than Collison. DC has a success rate of 44.6 percent in that time span, better than Joe Harris, Stephen Curry, and Buddy Hield. He’s been killing it for the better part of 18 months now from downtown.
In assist-to-turnover land, Collison once again is a well-painted picture across the last two seasons. Of guys with 100+ assists in the last year and a half, only 3 have done better at passing carefully than Collison, who has racked up a 3.97 assist/turnover ratio in that span. Monte Morris, Tyus Jones, and Ryan Arcidiacono are the trio of guys who have done better than him in this department.
The interesting addendum with both stats is volume. In the three-point percentage group, DC is 4th, but he has more makes than any of the 3 guys in front of him. In fact, none of the 3 in front of him have even made 100 threes over the past two seasons. Collison has hit 164.
The same story exists in the assist-to-turnover category. The trio of dudes in front of him with a better ratio are all great at taking care of the ball, but Tyus Jones leads the group with 436 assists across the past two seasons.
Collison has 755.
DC seizes more opportunities than those ahead of him, asserting his positive plays with a much higher frequency. Not to belittle the accomplishments of the guys in front of DC in either category, but the higher volume guy should be recognized in these instances.
DC isn’t just good at two things. He’s mastered the pick-and-pop with Myles Turner this year. His defense is good enough. He finishes well at the rim for someone of his height. He’s shooting a great percentage in the clutch. He is a skilled, effective point guard.
But in these two areas (accuracy from deep and precision when diming up teammates) he is elite. He isn’t perfect, but he is just what the Indiana Pacers need, an efficient passer and shooter.
Collison is a large part of the Indiana Pacers “never turn it over” culture that they have instilled on offense. Darren Collison isn’t flashy or discussed on sports TV shows, but he is a damn good basketball player who needs to be treated as such.