Can John Collins elevate himself and in turn, the Utah Jazz?

The Utah Jazz landed John Collins from the Atlanta Hawks but can he lift up the team?

The Utah Jazz essentially landed John Collins, a near All-Star caliber player from the Atlanta Hawks for Rudy Gay. The Jazz saw that Collins needed a fresh start after a ho-hum season with the Hawks where he played through a hand injury that affected his shooting. The Hawks opted to trade Collins to save salary, and in doing so may have given the Jazz a player who can help them get to the playoffs.

The only problem, many think the Jazz are either going to take a step back from their performance last season or are outside of the top teams in the  Western Conference currently and have to figure out some aspects of the team. Notably the point guard situation.

But, if Collins is healthy, then it stands to reason that the team may be better off than previously thought to be.

Collins is an efficient scorer inside and out, and while he’s not Nikola Jokic from three, he’s good enough to warrant strong minutes. That is if his hand is healthy. Collins and Lauri Markkanen could end up making a dangerous duo that teams will have to combat, especially if Collins and Markkanen are hitting their shots from three.

That said, even if Collins is healthy, is he good enough to raise the team’s record just by his arrival?

It’d be foolish to say he won’t help if he’s healthy because he will, yet he’s not such a strong offensive force that he can single-handily take this team to the playoffs. Tracy McGrady, he’s not.

The Jazz will benefit from his play, but the Jazz’s playoff future will rest in the log-jam at point guard, where Collin Sexton, Keyonte George, Talen Horton-Tucker, and probably Jordan Clarkson will all compete to be the team’s new primary play-maker.

That position and not Collins, will be the one most needed for a deep playoff run.