John Collins looks like his old self in Utah Jazz win over the Trail Blazers

The Utah Jazz saw John Collins look as good as ever in their preseason home opener.

The Utah Jazz have seen their fair share of struggles so far this preseason. A number of players who many fans thought would excel, seemingly right out of the gate, have stumbled a bit. John Collins is one of those names. He looked a bit lost over his first two games against the Los Angeles Clippers, causing some fans to be a bit worried.

But as is true with all preseasons, you need to take unexpected outcomes with a grain of salt. Sometimes good players look bad, and other times bad players look good. For Collins, he didn’t look great and looked far worse than many expected. Clearly, this was a misnomer for fans, as Collins returned to form once he got to Salt Lake City.

Going up against the Trail Blazers, who the Jazz beat 138 to 133, Collins looked every bit of himself against the now Damian Lillard-less Blazers. He went 5-7 from the floor, and 4-4 from the free-throw line to finish with 15 points; his best shooting night so far in his very young Jazz career.

He only went 1-3 from three-point land but that’s not bad considering how well he shot from in and around the paint. Considering how bad the Jazz’s offense looked in the two games against the Los Angeles Clippers, it was exciting to see Collins contribute in a big way.

Collins has to fill a big role for the Jazz, and if he’s able to put together more games like this, then the Jazz faithful will be very happy with what they’re seeing. That said, you want him to shoot better than 33% from three, and pulling in just three rebounds isn’t ideal.

But again, this is preseason. Things are going to change and performances will differ from night to night, so there’s no reason to get too blown up one way or another about a single-game performance.

Collins looked much better here than in his last two games and far more comfortable and that’s something fans should be looking to build on going forward.