Nick Collison was not always Mister Thunder. Not always an honorary member of a proud basketball team. Not always a ceremonial player.
Hard to remember the old days, I know, but there was a time when Collison's value wasn't relegated to the locker room and the practice court and the timeout huddles. There was a time when Collison's value was ballplayer, every bit as much as Serge Ibaka and Thabo Sefolosha and Reggie Jackson.
Before he was Saint Nick, he was Nick Collision, a blue-collar, charge-taking, rugged defender who brought toughness to a team of wide-eyed yearlings.