New team, new system: John Collins knows it might take time to click with Jazz

SALT LAKE CITY — John Collins is still trying to discover the best route to get to work each day from his new home in Draper. He's still learning about the area's food scene ("I haven't found any restaurants that I really love yet," he said), and he's still working on getting his family to move out west.

"Trying to settle in," the Jazz forward said of his new life in the Salt Lake Valley.

The same can be said about his time on the court: It takes longer than a few weeks to get acclimated to a new place, and it takes longer than just a few practices to adjust to a new team, a new coach and an entirely new system.

So is there any concern over Collins' production level over the first two preseason games? Not from anyone in the Jazz organization.

"The first two games were almost exploratory in some ways, setting up some of our structure and watching him operate in it and trying to learn about John, see kind of where his tendencies are," Jazz coach Will Hardy said.

Following Tuesday's loss to the LA Clippers in Seattle — a game in which Collins scored just 3 points and went 1-for-6 from the field — Hardy and Collins had a long conversation about how things had gone thus far in Utah for the springy forward.

Hardy wanted to see where Collins was feeling comfortable in the offense, and what he was seeing out on the court. Hardy reiterated that it's very early process, so he didn't want Collins to overthink a game or a play or anything else.

Hardy's lasting message to Collins: Adapt to the adjustments and attack.

The Jazz are throwing new things at Collins. In Atlanta, he was used mostly as a pick-and-roll partner or a spacing big. If he wasn't involved in the screening action, he was standing still in a corner. Things are different in Utah.

"Here coach has a lot of cuts, screens and a lot of just different actions in ways I can either pass, hit or come off and score, which is new for me," Collins said. "So it's gonna take a little bit of adjusting."

Collins said it's helpful to have a coach understanding of the situation, and he's hopeful that can expedite things along.

"He has my back and (tells me) it's OK for me to have some struggles early because it's early and that's what it's fo — it's for training camp and preseason is for us to get all the kinks out," Collins said. "So it's amazing for me mentally to have that; just gave me gave me a lot of confidence coming back out here today."

After watching film of the first two games, Hardy said the Jazz have been able to refine some things to better work with Collins' skillset. Still, the Utah coach cautioned focusing too much on one player that it takes away from the team. It's a balancing act Hardy oversaw last season with Lauri Markkanen's leap to stardom, and he sees some similarities with Collins.

"We want to help him but we're also not going to make our team and the game about him," Hardy said. "It's a work in progress. Today was a big step in the right direction."

Collins knows it will take some time to understand the full array of motions and cuts in Hardy's system, and also to build the needed chemistry with his teammates. How long? He doesn't know. He doesn't want to force it, but feels things getting better each practice.

"We spend more time with these guys than we do with our families, right?" Collins said. "So in that sense, the bond and the relationship are gonna develop."

But like learning the roads around his new Utah home, it'll take some time.

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