Jason Collins

Depth up front is important to a team’s success, and the Hawks get just that from Collins. Beyond that, he won’t play significant minutes and struggles offensively, so he’s not much of a fantasy option.

Collins re-upped with the Hawks this offseason to add depth to the team’s frontcourt. Like last season, most of his time will be spent in warmups or street clothes.

Collins averaged just 1.8 points last season and offers next to nothing offensively. He will see time against some of the bigger frontcourts, however, because he has the size and experience to match up with the likes of Dwight Howard and Shaquille O'Neal.

Collins was a throw-in as part of the Kevin Lowe/Mike Miller for O.J. Mayo deal. He'll be paid $6.2 million in the final year of his contract, which could make him a trade target at the deadline. Otherwise, he has little value to Minnesota as he won't be around when/if the team becomes a playoff contender. He's likely to miss the start of the season after surgery to repair a rupture in his right triceps tendon, and it's not hard to see him being inactive most of the season.

Collins has made a career out of being a space-eater inside, and has never held any fantasy value. His shooting is poor (36%), he doesn't block many shots (.48) and his free-throw shooting is terrible (46%). We also expect him to play less minutes with the arrival of Jamaal Magloire and emergence of Josh Boone, so Collins' already minimal fantasy value should take an even greater hit this year.

Despite his lack of offensive skills (3.6 ppg; 40 percent field goal percentage), Collins remains the Nets starting center, as he is one of the elite defensive big men in the league. One would be hard pressed to gather this from his shot-blocking (40 total) or rebounding (4.8 rpg) numbers, but Collins brings a toughness that few players in the league exhibit. The Nets went 5-6 last season in the 11 games that Collins missed due to injury.

Collins has improved his minutes, scoring, rebounding averages in each successive season of his career, but he figures to lose playing time this season with the addition of Marc Jackson, Cliff Robinson and potentially Robert Traylor. The Nets bench is so deep this season that players like Collins may not provide much fantasy value. We'll see how the minutes get distributed.

Alonzo Mourning is still talking about coming back, so Collins may eventually lose the starting job in New Jersey. Until you actually see Mourning on the court and playing, assume Collins starts. The team will have to make up for a lot of scoring after losing Kenyon Martin, Kerry Kittles Rodney Rogers and the injured Jason Kidd (knee) for a month, but that hasn’t been Collins’ trademark. He’s a Stanford graduate, which makes him smart, but not necessarily a scorer. He’s below average in most categories, save free throw percentage (73.9 percent), but gets to the line (2.7 FTA/g) less than average.

Collins filled in admirably when starting center Dikembe Mutombo got injured, and even continued to start when Mutombo returned. Coach Byron Scott consistently praised his effort and intelligent play, but that still didn't translate into fantasy success. Collins will struggle to find big minutes in a crowded front court. With the acquisition of Alonzo Mourning and the return of Aaron Williams, Collins won't be able to duplicate last year's minutes or minimal stats.