Zach Collins Scouting Report

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Zach Collins

Date of Birth: November 19th, 1997

Position: Center/ Power Forward

College: Gonzaga

Measurements: 7’0, 230 lbs

Strengths:

Zach Collins is very young and raw. He showed a little during this season of what he is capable of, but we know that we haven’t seen nearly anything up to his potential. Collins shot above 65% from the field and 47.6% from deep. Yes, he only attempted a total of 21 three-pointers this year, but he still showed us that he can spread the floor for a team.

Collins also can get up and down the floor quite well for a 7 footer and then finish at the rim as you can see in the video below:

Collins isn’t just an offensive threat. Zach averaged 4.1 BLK per 40 minutes played, a very impressive mark. It’s hard to tell whether his rim-protecting ability will translate given that he played in a very poor conference where there weren’t that many 6’10, 6’11, and 7 footers that he was going up against on a regular basis. He did happen to record 6 blocks against South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament which showed us a bit of his potential defensively.

Weaknesses:

We were only able to witness Collins on the court for an average of 17.3 MIN/G. In that time, we saw a lot of good from Collins, but there were some obvious glaring weaknesses. The first one is his foul trouble. Collins fouled out of 7 games which is especially impressive given how little he played as I mentioned. He averaged 6.2 personal fouls per 40 minutes played. That number will need to fall by a good amount.

Collins won’t ever be a go to scorer. He has a solid shot, can rebound, and defend quite well, but it doesn’t seem like he’ll ever be the guy to take over the game. Collins isn’t skilled enough yet at all to be able to get a team a bucket in the NBA after receiving it on the low block. If he gets drafted by a team like the Dallas Mavericks who have Dirk Nowitzki, maybe he could learn a little.

Risks:

The biggest risk with selecting Zach Collins is that he is not an NBA caliber player right now, skills wise. He has the length and potential, but I truly don’t believe the rim-protecting ability will translate. Like I’ve said, he doesn’t have a go to move yet. He will need a couple of years to be ready to slot into any starting lineup. The team that selects him will need to know that.

Gonzaga was a team that didn’t play too many tough opponents. Within the WCC, the toughest big man that Collins had to go up against was Jock Landale. We just haven’t seen Collins go up against too many dominant big men with size. Collins has a lot of potential, but there are still a lot of risks with selecting him.

Interesting Stat:

Zach Collins is the 1st player since Joel Embiid to accumulate 300 PTS, 65 BLK, and 90 FTM having played in less than 700 MIN in 1 season.

Comparison:

Jon Leuer

It is unfair to Zach Collins to supply this comparison, but there just isn’t a perfect comparison with him right now. Collins has the potential to be much better than Leuer given his height and length, but right now, Collins can make a similar impact. Leuer is a knock-down shooter who Van Gundy had trusted last year to slot in as the starting power forward at times for the Pistons. Jon Leuer isn’t able to do much on the defensive end and that is where Collins can out shine him. If Collins’s defense does translate and he matures into a solid offensive player, he should have a great career.

Draft Prediction:

Between Picks 8 and 12

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