John Collins Responds on Whether He'd Stay for Jazz's Rebuild

While the Utah Jazz still sit in the middle of their long-spanning rebuild process, allowing their budding young talent to grow and develop through the ups and downs of some not-so-pretty seasons, there still remains a few veterans on the roster who likely aren't as eager to embark on such a process around the primes of their careers.

One of those guys could be John Collins, who comes off of a productive individual season in Utah during his age-27 season, yet it didn't lead to much team success as the Jazz nose-dived to their 17 total wins on the year.

Of course, losses can be frustrating for any player, but for someone like Collins, could the team state be a driving force in his desire to go play winning basketball elsewhere?

When asking Collins himself, as long as he remains a vital piece of what the team is building, he's more than happy to go through the trials and tribulations alongside his guys.

"As long as I feel like I'm an important part, or a building block... I'm here for it," Collins said of the Jazz's rebuild. "I'm a ride or die type of guy. I'm loyal, and as I said, if we're going to crash and burn, I'm with it. Not to say I want to crash and burn at all in any way. But if that's what's going to happen, I'm staying on the ship. I'm just open to whatever, and trying to stay optimistic."

Collins comes off one of his best individual performances through a season since entering the league. In 40 games, he put together 19.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 52.7% shooting from the field. While it came off a limited sample size in playing less than half of the Jazz's total games, he proved he could be a high-level starter when given the opportunity.

And in his eyes, he seems more than motivated to get things rolling for another year, if the Jazz brass is willing to keep him around. As for this offseason, Collins will have his player option decision to enact for the coming year, and signs are starting to point towards the veteran accepting the deal if all goes according to plan.

If so, expect Collins to enter next season bought in, motivated, and ready to help the arrow start trending up in Utah.

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