NBA teams
Tom Haberstroh, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

With a little help from his friends

NBA, Oklahoma City Thunder

If you Google "Nick Collison block," the first image that comes up is Photoshopped.

To be specific, it is a real photo of Collison hanging on the rim with one hand as he flails for the ball with the other, but a giant afro is added to Collison's head. As far as I can tell, he is not blocking a shot, but rather he is the one who got blocked. The third image depicts Collison at the free throw line, cradling the ball in his hands. That, too, was not a Collison block.

From this rigorous study, one could conclude that Collison blocks are the most poorly documented phenomena in NBA history. There might be a good reason for that. Despite an 11-year career as a 6-foot-9 defensive specialist, Collison has never averaged a block per game in a season. For perspective, Anthony Davis is about to pass Collison in career blocks.

This is what makes Collison such a fascinating story. As far back as 2011, Collison has been known as a "No-Stats All-Star" in the same ilk as Shane Battier for his lofty plus-minus that placed him among superstars. Collison does a ton of positive things -- sets screen, takes charges, boxes out -- that aren't picked up in the box score. And he takes great pride in that.

As the player who has been in the league the longest while compiling the fewest box-score stats possible, Collison became a perfect candidate to be my next Insider Quiz subject.

The question for Collison: Whom have you blocked the most in your career? (See chart at bottom for answer.)

I saw this going one of two ways: 1) Collison would instantly recall every single block like a slap hitter who remembers the pitcher that fed him every one of his home runs, or 2) Collison would remember none of them.

So what happened? I caught up with him at his locker after a recent Oklahoma City win. This is what transpired.

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