Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
There has been a lot of talk this week about Jason Collins after he announced that he was gay. Collins didn’t play that much this past season for the Washington Wizards while scoring less than one point a game in six appearances. He had started the season with the Boston Celtics and finished with an average of just over one point a game in 38 appearances. I think the wisest move would be for the Wizards to bring Collins back next season.
I understand that he isn’t playing much and not scoring a lot, but he is already familiar with the players in Washington and how they treated him this past season. I know that they didn’t know about him being gay, but that should make no difference anyway in the end. Washington isn’t a very strong team and didn’t have a great record this past season.
The Wizards should see this as an opportunity to attract new fans in all honesty. You are going to get a certain segment of people who just want to see Collins now after having the bravery to come out. Washington shouldn’t make it a point to start a marketing campaign around him if they were to re-sign Collins, but this is an opportunity to do the right thing. The Wizards are going to be an improved team next season in my opinion, and if you can bring more people into the seats while having Collins on the bench, it’s a good thing. Collins did something that 99% of people wouldn’t do, and he doesn’t deserve to be thrown to the curb for that.
Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports, like his Facebook page or add him to your network on Google.
