One of the qualities about the team that Collins liked as the season began, even as it waited for Bynum to play, was that he had some depth and interchangeable pieces on the roster. As injuries pile up, that's not necessarily the case.
"It's a house of cards," Collins said. "I wanted the bench to be such a strength, but then you have to lose part of that to get a starter. We miss [Richardson]. That's a big loss. . . . He goes down and all of a sudden guys you're counting on to play 26 or 27 minutes are playing 35 minutes and you start getting the law of diminishing returns. With a shooter, that means his percentage goes down."
Hornets miss Davis
The Hornets were without No. 1 overall pick Anthony Davis, and head coach Monte Williams was without $25,000 as an indirect result.
Davis suffered a slight concussion last week when he was elbowed in the head by teammate Austin Rivers during a game. He sat out Saturday in Chicago as the Hornets waited for Davis to pass the NBA protocol for returning to action after a concussion. Williams was not patient regarding his budding star's absence.
"When you're dealing with the brain, I guess what's happening in football, it's impacted everybody," Williams said. "So, he got touched up a little bit . . . and I'm sure it happens in basketball. It's just that now you treat everybody like they have on white gloves and pink drawers. It's just getting old, but it's just the way the league is now."
Having its procedures questioned gets old for the league very quickly, particularly when accompanied by vaguely homophobic language, so Williams was hit with the $25,000 fine Tuesday. He said he got the message.
"I work in a business where you just can't say anything you want to say," Williams said. "What I said was inappropriate, and you have to deal with the consequences."
