We're not sure what ESPN is talking about but John Collins is not having a good season

We're not sure what ESPN is watching when it comes to the Utah Jazz and John Collins' play on the court specifically but we can assure you it's not what we're seeing. In the most recent write-up for their weekly power rankings, the Jazz came in 23rd in the league. A pretty high standing considering how bad the Jazz have been.

In the write-up, the author, Tim MacMahon, boldly states that Jazz power forward Collins is having a good season, saying, "...an established veteran who is playing well..." and we're left flummoxed with that statement, because in what world is Collins playing "good"? He's one of the most disappointing players on the team and while he's outplaying what Rudy Gay gave the Jazz last season, that doesn't mean he's playing as well.

At least not by his own metrics. If we're looking at random power forward number six, sure, Collins may be more productive than him, but Collins is not more productive than past versions of himself. To date, the only statistic where Collins has improved in any way is his three-point shooting. He's got a 35.9% average from behind the arc and is hitting 40.9% on the season. Massively up from his 29.2% from last season.

Outside of that, everything else is down. His shooting percentage is under 50% for the first time in his career, his free-throw shooting is the second worst of his career. His assists and blocks are down as well, as is his overall points per game. Sure, his rebounding is fine compared to past years, slightly up from recent seasons, but that's more to do with the injury to Walker Kessler, not so much an improvement from the previous seasons.

But the biggest sign that Collins is struggling is his defensive box plus-minus. He has a -1.9 DBPM, tied for the worst of his career, all to go with a defensive rating of 118, the worst of his career. Collins is right there with Collin Sexton in defensive metrics, just for an idea of how bad he's been.

So when ESPN worries about moving him to the bench because he's been "playing well", we genuinely don't know what they're talking about.