With Tobias Harris officially off the board after deciding to sign with San Antonio, the Pistons have turned to John Collins as their new starting power forward. Collins is joining Detroit on a three-year, $51 million deal, and while his game looks different from Harris’s, his particular strengths actually line up more naturally with what Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, and ideally Jalen Duren need around them.
Looking at shooting first, Collins has shown clear upward momentum from deep over the last three seasons. He started that stretch at 37.1 percent from three during the 2023–2024 campaign and pushed past the 40 percent mark this past year. His overall averages last season came in at 13.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.0 assist per game, and he carries a career three-point mark of 37 percent.
The bulk of his outside attempts come from the corners, and the numbers there are strong he connected on 45 percent from the left corner and 41 percent from the right last season. For comparison, Harris shot 43 percent from the left corner and 35 percent from the right. With Cunningham drawing defensive attention, Collins should see plenty of clean looks on the perimeter.
Harris brought a different dynamic with his ability to operate in the post and create offense for himself, which isn’t really Collins’s approach. Collins doesn’t lean on mid-range looks the way Harris did, and that shift feels like a positive trade-off replacing those mid-range attempts with more shots at the rim or from beyond the arc fits the roster better.
| Harris FGA | Harris FG% | Collins FGA | Collins FG% | |
| At the rim | 144 | 59.0% | 240 | 75.4% |
| Midrange | 292 | 48.6% | 196 | 46.4% |
| Three | 224 | 36.6% | 218 | 40.8% |
While Harris logged roughly 100 more attempts from mid-range, Collins took about 100 more at the rim. I’d really like to see Collins let it fly from three more often he’s never averaged more than four attempts per game from deep but given how efficiently he shoots from outside, it’s about time he ups that volume, because this team stands to gain a lot from it.
Finishing
Based on the numbers above, Collins is outstanding when finishing around the basket. Harris’s struggles to consistently drive to the rim despite his athletic tools explain why nearly half (44.3%) of his shots came from mid-range. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Collins’s looks are at the rim, where he converts at a rate 8.4% above the league-average mark of 67.0%. So not only is John a more effective scorer than Tobias in close quarters, but he also ranks among the league’s best in that department.
Small-ball Five
It’s been a while since the Pistons had a legitimate stretch four who can also handle minutes as a small-ball five. I’m really intrigued by the possibility of a lineup where Ausar shares the floor with a big who can pull the opposing center away from the paint. And if you need Collins to slide over to the five in short bursts, he’s capable of doing that.
We already know he’s a danger from the dunker’s spot.
He’s also a viable lob threat in pick-and-roll actions I can’t wait to see him catch those from Cade.
And he can even offer some weak-side rim protection from time to time.
This isn’t meant to be a piece tearing down Tobias, but rather an explanation of why I think John Collins fits this current roster better. In fact, go read Sean Corp’s farewell to Tobias for some excellent perspective on Tobi’s second stint in Detroit.
This team thrives playing fast, and they should keep doing so. Trajan Langdon has given Cade Cunningham a third lob threat in the starting five, so good luck slowing this group down in transition. They’re all outstanding rim finishers and high-level athletes who operate best with pace and space. Collins is most effective in an offense that prioritizes getting to the paint or finding open threes, and he excels at both. I’m hopeful he can sustain his efficiency while ramping up his three-point volume, but I have zero doubt he’ll outperform Harris’s 13.5 PPG from the past two seasons.
Still waiting on that big offseason move, Trajan. (please get TMIII)
Go Stones.
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