DayofMourning wrote:lastb1ckman wrote:IceColdCubano wrote:
A 6'-3" version of Jaquez with an even more egregious jumper is not what I want on this team. At that size you need to be top 3 in the draft in shooting. Collier is a late first rounder on a bad draft, any other year hed be a 2nd rounder.
A 2nd rounder? What is a 1st rounder to you in normal draft?
I get what hes saying though. Collier was not an efficient player at all this year. Hes proven to have one skill. His mock draft position is due to a fictional "ceiling" he has. Thats not a near lottery pick.
He has 2 high level skills. He's arguably the best slasher/paint penetrator in this draft class and he's one of the better playmakers in the class.
His turnover issues were egregious to start the season then were substantively mitigated over the course of the season.
His TS% and eFG% were both better than Derrick Rose (FR), DeAaron Fox (FR) , Russel Westbrook (SO), and Tyrese Maxey (FR) as college players. His A/TO after returning from injury were nearly identical to Derrick Rose's from his freshman season. For clarity's sake, I'm NOT AT ALL claiming he's on the same footing as Derrick Rose et al as prospects. Just aiming for a stark comparison to ground inefficiency talks.
I'm just intrigued by looking at similarly athletic guards with fringe SG size that build their game on slashing and showed questionable outside shooting. Rose was a 71% FT shooter his Freshman year. Westbrook was a 55% FT shooter freshman season, then a 71% ft shooter as a Soph.
I don't like excusing away bad FT shooting. It warrants being a red flag. But, when there's an elite skill on the table that the Heat have desperately needed (paint penetration), I tend to allow a little more benefit of the doubt for development of a 19-year old in weaknesses. For whatever it is worth, apparently Collier was a 77% FT shooter (and 38% 3pt shooter) in his senior year.
https://www.maxpreps.com/news/sBeTMMlLmk-CWvc75btHvQ/isaiah-collier-named-2022-23-maxpreps-georgia-high-school-basketball-player-of-the-year.htm
I'm intrigued in dissecting the warts because if the warts didn't exist, Collier would not be someone the Heat would even be able to consider at pick 15.
My reasonable expectation is that Collier could be a future scoring 6th man type. But, if he can become a reliable spot up shooter and improve as a defender, he may have upside for more.