He was given one or two chances at the beginning of the year and totally messed up on a few plays. This is unacceptable to Doc rivers standards.
Umm...has Doc not watched Lee and Collins when they have been out there?
Collins is SO much worse than Darko that I cannot even justify the effort of making a comparison.
Metaphorically if you take a barrel and scrapte the mouldy scum off the bottom, that mouldy scum would play better for us then Collins has when he's been on the court.
It's very difficult to legitimately call a professional NBA player useless, but Collins is exactly that. He does NOTHING well. He used to do a good job of frustrating opposing bigs on defense, but even his defense has been BY FAR the worst of any player on the team this year.
I'd take a one armed, one legged Darko over a healthy Collins.
Lee is not as bad as Collins overall, but on a per-dollar basis he's not far off. $6M for a guy who's playing about well enough to be a 12th man on a lottery team?
As for Bass, everything that I said would happen has. Last year he was a mediocre one dimensional player who just happened to have a great skill - the midrange jumper. I said to everybody that he is only useful until one of the following happens:
1. Opposing defenses adjust and defend his jumper
2. His jump shot ability takes a nose dive
Either one of those two has come true because he's been far less efficient with his midrange shot this year, and the only other positive things he gave us (energy and effort) have both vanished. He's playing like he has no care out there.
Lee and Bass should be traded if there is even the slightest hint of getting a player worthy of starters minutes. If necessary I have no problem including Barbosa in that. I do like him for his occasional energy and scoring (plus he's handled the point better than expected so far) bursts but if it's the extra piece that needs to go to get us someone of geuine competence then I don't have a problem with that. What he's given us certainly hasn't been irreplacable.
Collins should be cut and allowed to retire. You cannot trade him because I would feel legitimately guilty sending him to any other team - unless it's Miami.
Alas, knowing Ainge we will trade Lee and Bass for Beasley. Beasley will then have a major depression and quit from the game, while Lee and Bass will have breakout seasons in Phoenix.
IMHO these are the only guys who should still be on our roster after the All-Star break:
* Garnett
* Sullinger
* Pierce
* Bradley
* Rondo
* Terry
* Green
* Wilcox
I'd like to keep Joseph and Melo around as long term prospects - I like both of those kids even if they aren't quite NBA ready just yet.
I'd still play Melo over Collins in a heartbeat.