NBA Draft 2017 Prospect Watch: John Collins

Weaknesses

Offensively, Collins’ biggest problem adapting to the NBA is his lack of an outside shot. You can’t find many power forwards left that can’t stretch the floor out at least to the midrange, much less the three-point line.

He has shown a little touch from the mid-post area on turnaround jumpers, but hitting catch-and-shoot jumpers remains an unrealistic or at least untapped ability.

The other offensive issue Collins faced at Wake was his own shot selection. He tended to put his head down at times and force up shots over two or even three defenders, as evidenced by his dishing out only 17 assists the entire season.

One would hope that this was more a result of his teammates not being as skilled scorers, forcing Collins to take on a larger role. Perhaps in the NBA, he could downsize his usage into an even more efficient diet of shots.

Defensively is where most of the criticisms come into play. Collins isn’t thick enough to defend against legit size in the low post, which leads to him fouling frequently, at 4.5 fouls per 40 minutes.

This lack of bulk has also led to him struggling to score against longer opponents, especially considering his limited repertoire of moves.

A lack of defensive IQ is also a concerning occurrence on film, as Collins’ finds himself lost a lot in help situations. He also struggles in the pick-and-roll, particularly in terms of hedging.

His defensive issues aren’t so much inability as they are rawness, although he has a long way to go to even become competent on the point-preventing end.