The controversial jazz trade is becoming more brilliant by the day

The season in which the Utah Jazz were regularly criticized this year is actually starting to look better in retrospect. It’s not that the team reaped any rewards from the moves they made, but it turns out that their moves may have been smarter than we might have realized. One move that is as outdated as wine is the John Collins trade.

Again, the Jazz got very little for Collins, but they weren’t really trying to get the most value out of him, just trying to make room for their younger players. Two months into the season, the trade has completely failed for the Clippers (and more) for reasons other than Collins, but Collins himself hasn’t been good for them.

A revealing statistic confirms just how bad the Collins experience in Hollywood has been.

Utah simply wanted to get rid of an expendable player, but this move seems like genius, but the fact that Collins’ problems aren’t their problem anymore. His struggles were a problem in his first year as a Jazzman, making it seem like he would have been an albatross that they would have had to swallow whole.

Luckily, that wasn’t the case, and now he can be someone else’s problem.

The tragedy of Collins’ demise as a Clipper

None of this is to fire a shot at Collins. He was a good soldier in Utah. He never complained and definitely tried to be a good example for the young kids. The first year was pretty bad for Collins, but the second year was much better. In fact, he was so good that the Jazz had to bench him so he wouldn’t get in the way of the tank.

They even had a deal in place to send him to Sacramento before a twist of fate (named De’Aaron Fox) got in the way. Regardless, the Jazz did Collins right by putting him on a team that everyone believed needed his services more than they did. Unfortunately, it has backfired in a big way, and what makes it worse is that he is in a contract year, which certainly hurts his chances of another payday.

It may not be too late for Collins this year. The Clippers can simply redirect him for retooling or rebuilding. He showed just how good he can be during his days in Utah and Atlanta. He wasn’t able to bring that to Los Angeles, but that doesn’t mean he’s done. As it turns out, the Jazz were absolutely right to give up on him, but that doesn’t mean no one in Utah shouldn’t root for him to succeed wherever he is.