Zach Collins

Coming off his best season to date, Collins was finally able to establish himself as a viable NBA center. In 26 games as a starter last season, Collins averaged 14.8 points on 50.3 percent shooting, adding 7.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.7 combined steals and blocks. He also chipped in 1.3 three-pointers per game, proving to be a versatile scorer with an ability to play as a makeshift facilitator. The arrival of Victor Wembanyama does make things a little complicated, especially with the uncertainty around who will start at center. Collins would make sense as the preferred option given his ability to bang bodies down low, thus preserving Wembanyama, who can play a little more on the perimeter. No matter the eventual decision, it's safe to assume that the mere presence of Wembanyama is going to impact Collins negatively. If Collins is slated as the starting center, he should still be able to flirt with standard league value. Managers should consider him a viable target in the late rounds of drafts.

Despite a somewhat intriguing skillset, Collins is yet to establish himself as a consistent producer from both a reality and a fantasy standpoint. Coming into the 2022-23 season, it appears he will come off the bench behind Jakob Poeltl -- a role that could see him nudge 20 minutes per night. Given his projected role and recent injury history, managers should avoid him in all standard league drafts. However, the Spurs' current trajectory has them battling for a high draft pick, which could eventually lead to more playing time for Collins. His ability to space the floor while still providing moderate rim protection does give the Spurs some flexibility. He would need the cards to fall his way, but should he somehow carve out a role where he sees minutes in the mid-20s, he could be worth grabbing later in the season.

Injuries have plagued Collins' career and have stunted his development. Since being drafted 10th overall in 2017, he's appeared in only 154 games (12 starts). He missed all of last season with an ankle injury, and he re-fractured his surgically repaired left foot this June. Despite the issues, the Spurs signed the 23-year-old to a three-year, $22 million contract. It doesn't seem likely Collins will be ready for the start of this season due to his foot, and an official timetable for his return has yet to be established. Once he's ready to play, he could be the first center off the bench and may have opportunities to play power forward. While Collins hasn't been able to live up to expectations, he projects as a modern three-and-D center. He can be safely avoided in redraft leagues this season given his unclear health status and role, but Collins still makes for a decent flier in dynasty leagues since it's clear at least one team has belief in him.

Collins' 2019-20 season was largely derailed by shoulder and ankle injuries, which limited him to 11 games. The 2017 10th overall pick still averaged a career-high 26.4 minutes, putting up career-best averages in points (7.0), rebounds (6.3) and assists (1.5) while shooting 47.1 percent, including 36.8 percent from three-point range. The Trail Blazers will return much of the same first unit as last season in the 2020-21 campaign, with the addition of Robert Covington in place of Trevor Ariza the one exception. For the time being, Collins projects for a return to the starting power-forward role with Carmelo Anthony likely his primary backup. However, given that the big man shares the floor with the high-usage duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, Collins appears to be destined for plenty of single-digit scoring tallies with solid per-minute production in rebounds. Also, Collins could potentially make serviceable contributions in steals and blocks over a usage likely to max out in the mid-20s minutes-wise most nights.

With Jusuf Nurkic expected to miss a significant portion of the 2019-20 season after undergoing surgery to repair compound fractures in his left leg, Collins was in line to operate as the leader of Portland's frontcourt. This offseason, however, the Trail Blazers elected to trade for big man Hassan Whiteside, which leaves Collins' role murky heading into his third NBA season. Collins saw an increase in production across the board in his second season, averaging 6.6 points and 4.2 rebounds across 17.6 minutes. He also found more accuracy in his jump shot, as his three-point percentage jumped from 31.0 percent to 33.1 percent on a similar number of attempts. This helped his true shooting percentage get a huge boost last season, as he went from 47.5 percent as a rookie to an impressive 56.2 percent. Collins' growth is heading in a positive direction, but with Whiteside's presence in the rotation, Collins could end up playing a similar role to that he played alongside Enes Kanter down the final stretch of last year's regular season and playoffs. Conversely, given that Collins showed huge improvement as a floor spacer last season and that Portland lost a lot of its frontcourt depth from last season, it is very possible that the two could, and may have to, co-exist on the floor together. While there's real risk involved in drafting Collins, it's hard to argue against taking a late-round flier on the improving big man on the chance he gets real minutes at power forward.

Collins’ rookie season numbers (4.4 points and 3.3 rebounds) were nothing to write home about for a first-round pick, but given the players ahead of him in the frontcourt, it’s not necessarily surprising he was eased into action to the tune of a modest 15.8 minutes per contest. The seven-footer then had a chance to get some extra development time in the Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 23.7 minutes across six games despite dealing with a broken nose and an ankle sprain. Looking ahead to the coming season, Collins still has an uphill battle for playing time due to the presence of Jusuf Nurkic and Al-Farouq Aminu ahead of him on the depth chart. However, given his potential and first-round pedigree, the Trail Blazers are likely to prioritize Collins’ playing time over that of veteran Meyers Leonard, who presently slots alongside him behind Nurkic.

Selected with the 10th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, Collins joins the Trail Blazers as an athletic big man with great size at 6-foot-11. He's also a capable floor spacer, which is especially important in today's NBA landscape, shooting 65 percent from the field and 47 percent from the three-point line in his lone season at Gonzaga. However, plenty of questions arise when looking at his college production. Collins played in a smaller conference with Gonzaga and also averaged just 17.2 minutes per contest, so he'll likely be a little behind in his transition to playing against some of the best players in the world. That could mean a developmental year is in store for Collins, which should keep him off the radar in the majority of Fantasy formats. The Trail Blazers already have a new and improved Jusuf Nurkic at center, so at best, Collins could settle into a backup role if he demonstrates during training camp and the preseason that he can play against NBA talent. Still, he'll likely be stuck with just a few spot minutes, battling with the likes of Ed Davis and Noah Vonleh for playing time off the bench.