Brooklyn Nets

Jason Collins (right) on the bench with Paul Pierce. (AP)

A couple minutes into Jason Collins’ first appearance for the Nets on Sunday, my wife said what has become a common chorus, “Why is this such a big deal? It shouldn't be.”
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One of the biggest criticisms from real human beings about the Brooklyn Nets signing Jason Collins is that the team wouldn't know how to handle a gay athlete, that players would just flat-out be uncomfortable with an openly gay teammate. That's fully on display right here, when Collins hits the ground hard after trying to get a rebound and his teammates scatter away in fear that they might...

Oh, wait. No, correction: Alan Anderson, Deron Williams, and Andrei Kirilenko, three of Collins's Nets teammates, immediately rush over to help him up off the floor. It's almost like whether or not he's gay doesn't affect the fact that he's a professional basketball player and teammate.

What's also worth noting: the three teammates that helped Collins up all come from widely different backgrounds; Anderson was born in Minneapolis and attended school in Michigan, Williams went to high school in The Colony, Texas, before going to school in Illinois, and Andrei Kirilenko was born and raised in Izhevsk, Russia.

Collins played 11 minutes in a mundane debut.