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Darren Collison upset over losing Mavericks' starting PG role

The signing of Derek Fisher by the Dallas Mavericks means the demotion of Darren Collison as the team's starting point guard. Collison is understandably frustrated with the situation.

By T.J. Doyle
Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

For the second time in eight months, point guard Darren Collison is losing his starting role. Unlike last season, when an injury cost Collison the Pacers' starting PG job to George Hill, the former UCLA star is being demoted by the Dallas Mavericks to allow newly-acquired veteran Derek Fisher to assume the starting point guard job.

As might be expected, Collison is not happy with the demotion, and would prefer to play rather than learn from Fisher while on the pine. Via Jeff Kaplan at Hang Time Blog:

"I feel like at this point in my career, if there's anything I need to learn it's just go out there on the court and just learn from my mistakes," Collison said. "That's what a lot of young guards do, you go out there, you learn from your mistakes. As far as Derek Fisher, I think I can learn from him. He's a great leader on and off the court. I'm looking forward to playing with him."

Fisher has not played since Game 5 of last year's NBA Finals. The 17-year veteran was unsigned until Friday when the Mavericks picked him up. In his first game of the year on Saturday night, the 38-year-old point scored two points on 1-of-8 shooting, dished out three assists, and turned the ball over three times in 24 minutes as the Dallas starting point guard.

For the season, Collison is averaging 12.9 points, 6.3 assists and 2.5 turnovers.

Photographs by jamesbrandon, jdtornow, phlezk, flygraphix, mcdlttx, tomasland, and literalbarrage used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.