I have to admit I argued for many of the players on your list before the draft. In particular, Markkanen, Bam, and J. Collins. But was shot down by the "they play no defense" crowd. (re: Lauri and J. Collins) Having said that, I have seen nothing not to like about Zach. As long as we find a SF who can flat out score, I will be happy with Zach at PF. (Maybe C as well down the line) He plays great "team" basketball on both ends of the court. I think he can play in almost any style of game and with any type of teammates.
I agree with this. But where do we get him? It isn’t gonna be via trade/FA likely. So that means gotta find someone in the draft. If only we had the assets(other than our big 3+Collins) to land a Porter, Doncic, or hell even one of the Bridges.
Kevin McHale came to pros after 4 years of college. Go out and look at his body then and his first few years in the league. Zack has his heart and chip. The kid has almost a 10' reach and like McHale doesnt shy away from contact down low. He also has McHales squared shoulders and shot blocking ability. He can shoot the ball too. Just needs to get more comfortable and mature physically some, his mind and maturity are good now. If Collins were 22 and just out of school and played in McHales league, he wouldnt get so many fouls as it was more physical back then and his game is really built for banging down low. In two years this kid will be a hand full for teams to counter....
Lol as a die hard Jet fan I can tell you that Collins is far from the equivalent to Christian Hackenberg. Really.
I've been a Jets fan for over 23 years. Trust me. I knew what I was saying when I made the reference. It wasn't meant to be a joke about potential but perceived suckiness. And Collins is anything but that.
Ah...the awkward stages of shaving. I remember it well...Couldn't grow a mustache to save my life until I was like 22. I had that awesome chin goatee beard thing for a while. Holy crap that looked something ugly. But at least Zach's stubble shows up, Meyers Leonard is 26 and still looks like he is a 13 year old boy trying his best to grow out peach fuzz and claim it's a mustache. Oh, but he can beat me 1 on 1, so it's all good.
More I watch Collins the more I see a reverse Draymond Green. What I mean by that is Golden State is able to play small ball and create mismatches because of Draymonds ability to guard much bigger players. Well, Collins presents a similar mismatch with his ability to guard much smaller players. I’ve seen him mirror guards. So instead of small ball, we can play big boy ball with Nurk and Collins. We saw a glimpse last night. Collins’ passing and vision has also impressed me to the point where I think eventually we’ll be running plays though him at the top of the key, similar to what GS does with Green. Collins has legit DPOY potential, with a more versatile offensive game. It’s going to be fun to watch.
What's funny is that I've seen some players eyes light up because they have a tall white guy guarding them.
Lol that happens every game with Collins. They’ll learn. My favorite moment is still when Cousins tried to punk him and Collins was having none of it.
Davis should be re-signed. Long term Swanigans best case scenario (in Portland at least) is Collins’ backup.
Maybe we got the second best rookie of that class? Last year's draft was so hyped. There seem to be lots of "busts" ...kindof. I mean ... All those guys that were the next Jordan ... their teams still stinks. Mavs, Suns, Kings, Knicks, Hornets, ... etc are still poor. We got Gold.
Zach has a jumper. Can play back to the basket. Nail dow 3s and 2s ... come on. Joel would miss the basket from 5 feet
Nice article about Zach: https://www.google.com/amp/s/articl...18/03/portland_trail_blazers_zach_collins.amp
No. He can't. Caleb can't finish around the basket against NBA players. Ed Davis is AMAZING finishing anywhere near the basket. I get that Caleb is just a rookie, but he is a relatively short for a big man earth bound rookie. Unless he spends a summer with Zach Randolph, I don't ever see Caleb being as good a finisher as Ed. But I hope he proves me wrong.
