Eric Collins Wouldn't Ever Leave The Hornets High and Dry

Eric Collins’ contract is up, and the Charlotte Hornets haven’t finalized anything yet. I can already sense the stress creeping in among the fanbase about it, too.

So here I am to give you, the Hornets fans, some good old-fashioned reassurance.

The rumors -- or jokes, rather -- about Collins leaving have flown around on social media -- more so because of the LaMelo trade and as a verbal jab insinuating the Hornets aren't worth watching without Ball, but I digress from LaMelo.

I wanted to give my opinion on Collins’ potential return to Charlotte as the primary play-by-play voice of the Hornets.

As we start this discussion, keep in mind that these TV deals were announced only recently.

We learned that the Hornets’ non-nationally televised games will be available locally on Channel 9 WSOC for free to anyone in the greater Charlotte area, but that was the first domino.

For Eric Collins, you have to wait a second; the behind-the-scenes details are probably still being ironed out.

If you’re a company about to negotiate with Collins to return -- it’s like buying a horse.

You want the horse; Eric Collins is the fastest horse around, they say. You have the land for him to be happy and free, but you don’t have a stable yet. You don’t have feed or even a fence built to make sure the horse doesn’t run off on you.

Once that part is done, you can confidently buy the horse, knowing he’ll have longevity in the space you’ve spent time cultivating.

It’s the same with the behind-the-scenes stuff for the Hornets game broadcasts. They have to tighten up the logistics of EVERYTHING else first: Cultivate the environment Collins has become accustomed to, and if they do, there’s no doubt Collins will return.

Yes: I said no doubt.

There’s been so much flux in the TV and sports media world, in general, in the past few years that I think people are panicking because of rumors. I wouldn’t be worried about Eric at all.

I said this on Twitter the other day, but there are 30 play-by-play jobs in the entire league.

You have your color analysts -- your Dell Curry and Co.'s of the world -- alongside the play-by-play guys like Eric Collins. So, 60 in total if you want to include both spots. But the main play-by-play guy, the Eric Collinses (that can’t be correct), the Mike Breen's of the world… there are only 30 of them.

And Collins has talked about this before -- about how much of an honor it was to take over from Steve Martin.

Prior to that, Charlotte Collins didn’t have the greatest experience -- from what I’ve read and from what I’ve heard about, at least -- when he did the road games for Vin Scully in one of Scully's last years. Scully was still doing the home games for the Dodgers.

Eric Collins did the road game broadcasts to give Scully some time to transition into retirement, but he didn’t have the best experience and couldn’t bounce ideas off Vin. Collins was hardly ever around Scully with this arrangement. It's not like he was rude to him or anything. Scully just wasn't around to mentor in any way.

When Collins came in under Steve Martin, though, it was a total 180. Steve showed Eric all the ropes, showed him all the people, showed him all of the things about Charlotte: “Hey, this is what I do. This is what I’ve done. These are the things I’ve done that I wish I hadn’t, and I hope all this knowledge helps you transition.”

Steve did the same for Dell Curry when DC initially began as the color analyst a few years before Collins started. Dell was still broadcasting with Steve on TV during Martin’s last few years with the team.

A couple of years later, Steve phased into retirement and moved to radio; that was EC's first year with the Hornets. Martin moved off of TV in 2015-16 when Eric Collins took the reins.

Steve Martin’s a legend, and Eric has spoken so glowingly of him. In the here and now, Collins will tell you, and people around the team will tell you, that Eric and Dell are also best friends for real. Their families really, legitimately love each other.

That’s a hard relationship to find in the sports business, and chemistry is something you can’t buy with broadcasters.

When Steve Martin retired, he talked to Rick Bonnell about Gil McGregor and told him there was an immediate connection between the two.

They were just butter together, bouncing off one another. It’s not something that happens with everybody, and I don’t think that’s understood by the wider populace.

Some people do broadcasting and don’t have great chemistry with their partner, but it almost always reflects in the product. That's why you see the same teams of people stay together for years on end in ALL sports TV.

That’s why Eric and Dell go do the national TV games together as well. It’s because of their chemistry… You can’t put a price tag on it. It is undeniably them, and they make each other the best version of themselves on-air.

I would think you guys would be crazy to expect Dell to leave, right? So if Dell’s not leaving, in my opinion, Eric’s just not going to go anywhere, either.

Of course, it’s not finalized.

I could be wrong in theory, but EC leaving would be the antithesis of everything we’ve seen in Eric Collins’ character so far: a character that encompasses his love for the team and the city... and his friendship with Dell Curry.

It doesn’t feel like there’s an amount of money that would make Eric Collins leave.

To be blunt, I bet you the holdup is exactly that: Those kinds of offers with “holy crap, that’s a lot; I have to consider it” money are probably being tossed in Eric Collins’ face right now. I still don’t think he’ll leave.

If you’re Eric, if you’re his agent, you have to leverage that properly, especially in the midst of TV deal flux; even after this year, this WSOC thing, it’s not fully finalized to continue after this season.

More than most PxP voices, though, Collins is synonymous with the Hornets. I’d argue almost to the level of Mike Breen with the Knicks, seriously.

I don’t think Collins has any plans to change that and leave the city mourning (no pun intended) the departure of another superstar.

It’s not on the court, but a superstar is exactly what Collins is for this team. He gives them national notoriety all on his own.

It’s because he does it here even through the bad nights of past years and seasons. Charlotte makes him special, and I don't believe Collins intends to change anytime soon.

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