Boom wrote:The league is shifting. Defensively it may be harder to play Nurk & Collins together rather than Dame & CJ. I don't think drafting Monk or Mitchel would suggest that the Blazers would need to make a trade. Multiple teams are playing 3-4 guards now.oregontrack wrote:as for collins, i firmly believe the pick was made with the idea to keep the current roster intact. because dame and mccollum's defensive/height issues on the perimeter, i believe the plan was/is to make collins a stretch 4 on offense and pair him with nurk for a twin tower thing on defense. but as you said previously he was a back-up at gonzaga, nowhere near ready for the grind of the nba, so the pick was never a solution for 2017-18.
Olshey already made the mistake of giving Meyers Leonard 4/40 million contract. Drafting Collins magnifies that mistake. There's so many solid bigs in the league that aren't able to play meaningful minutes. That's how we got Nurk... So easy to find cheap options in FA.
i'm not going to get into it too far, because most of the people participating in this thread don't seem to be collins fans and there's no real use in attempting to change anyone's mind on the internet, but if collins is the player the blazers drafted based on the scouting reports, he can absolutely defend the four. he projects as a stout p&r defender with plus athleticism and a high basketball iq.
i would sell it like this: collins is a move that, if he pans out, makes portland much better on both ends of the floor and fits in seamlessly with the current group. with the way money is going to be forever tied up with this team, the only way to significantly improve is with guys with huge upsides like collins at positions where the current output is meh at best. i like donovan mitchell and malik monk just fine, they're both going to be fine players, but if you add either to this team and your three best players are all 6'3 and under that's a rough spot to be in. that's not going to get you out of the high lottery/bad playoff seed purgatory we are stuck in. i'm not saying collins WILL get us out of there, but if he pans out we have a much better shot at doing so with him rather than another guard.