Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Isaiah Collier breaks John Stockton's rookie assist record in Jazz's loss.
- Collier's 419 assists surpass Stockton's 415 from 1984-85, showcasing his potential.
- Collier's playmaking draws praise from coaches, highlighting his vision and passing skills.
SALT LAKE CITY — It's not often someone gets to break an assist record held by John Stockton. But Isaiah Collier did just that on Monday in the Utah Jazz's 110-106 loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
With his seven assists in the loss, Collier moved ahead of Stockton's 40-year-old rookie assist mark. Collier now has 419 (and counting) in his debut season; Stockton had 415 in his first year in 1984-85.
While it should be noted that Stockton's gaudy passing numbers didn't really start until his fourth year in the league, the new record highlights the biggest reason to believe in Collier's future.
In most cases, a player shooting 41% from the field and 25% from 3-point range doesn't scream NBA player, and definitely doesn't scream an effective offensive one. Yet, Collier's vision and feel for the game have caught the league's attention.
"That young kid has a gift," Portland head coach Chauncey Billups said. "He has a gift pushing that ball and making plays and passing. You don't see that in our game as much anymore."
It's a gift that made Collier the February Western Conference rookie of the month and has made him one of Utah's brightest spots in a tanking season. Collier is averaging 7.7 assists as a starter this season and has 11 double-digit assist games. And like most gifts, Collier thinks his passing is pretty inherent.
He grew up watching Steve Nash and Jason Kidd and tried to mimic their playmaking. He noticed the search dribbles and the no-look dimes of Nash. He liked the bounce passes through traffic that Kidd would deliver. Naturally, he started imitating those in his games.
"I always think I threw crazy passes since I was young," Collier said. "So, I mean, I don't even know where it came from, to be honest, just started happening."
That, in some ways, mirrors his season with Utah.
Collier wasn't expected to be a play-making savant when the Jazz took him late in the first round. Yes, he had flashed signs of the pinpoint passes and elite vision in college, but that wasn't what he was often asked to do.
In his lone season at Southern California, he averaged just 4.3 assists per game. Collier had a simple explanation for that, though.
"USC — we didn't have a good season," he said. "We didn't have the best season."
That's putting it lightly. Those team struggles seemed to hide a bonafide NBA skill; or, if nothing else, the NBA spacing has unlocked it.
"There's no way the level that he's at from a decision-making standpoint that he showed up here with nothing," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "That would be impossible. I would imagine some of it may have been hidden."
That's part of Utah's development plan. Hardy doesn't just look what they've done in the past and assume that's all they can do. Collier was expected to score in high school and was expected to score in college — the Jazz, though, wanted him to lead an offense.
"We want to see what they're all capable of," Hardy said. "Not every guy in the league right now that's an All-Star came into the NBA with this super high reputation, like, 'Oh, he's for sure going to be the best player' — you don't know. So we need to give them opportunity to do that, and that's what we're doing every night."
One of those players was Billups. The former NBA champion with the Detroit Pistons went to five All-Star games but didn't reach his first until his ninth season in the league. The lesson? Sometimes, patience is needed.
The Jazz have seen hope in Collier's shooting coming around. He's shooting 30% from 3-point range since the All-Star break after a horrid start to the season from deep. Regardless, Billups believes there is a spot in the NBA for players like Collier, an old-school type of point guard that is more focused on setting teammates up than looking for their own shot.
"I know there is," he said. "You just have got to think about it. Look at how fast teams want to play with the spacing and with the shooting — those shooters have to get the ball somehow. If you have a guy that can kind of see it two or three steps ahead and read defenses, you've got a guy that's going to get people shots. So, there will always be a space for that."
