Zach Collins Fractures His Foot

[Norm2953]

It’s not about saving money, it’s about not wasting a roster spot. Who cares about his team option?

Portland spent a roster spot last season on Dame's cousin. Teams can carry 17 players if they want to and can
carry Zach just in case he makes it back in 2022.

They aren’t going to put Collins on a 2-way deal. 2 way players are glorified g-league guys.

He'd be on his second contract. Likely a minimal deal for a veteran is more than any 2 way deal or more than a
veterans minimal deal. A few bucks more than Harry Giles made this season or close to the $2 Million that was
thrown out earlier

[Matt800]

I am with the crowd saying he shouldn't be resigned. I like Collins and hope he recovers, but this doesn't look like something he's going to come back from any time soon. His initial revision was supposed to be thorough with an overly cautious recovery to make sure he healed. Maybe there's something positive to the story that we don't know but it sounds like they did what they could to get him to heal and he hasn't.

[Wickzki]

This was a dud draft pick before he was drafted.

I maintain to this day that they thought they were drafting John and got the name wrong.

I called it at the time. He was soft as butter in high school and college. Not deemed good enough to start on his high school team, even as a senior. Was mediocre at Gonzaga.

It's horrific how wrong Olshey was if he intended to draft Zach instead of John. One's a key piece of a conference final team and the other will be out of the league.

[Roy The Natural]

Lots of weird revisionist nonsense here. Yes Collins didn't immediate impact.like some guys, but we really have no idea what he would've been if he remained healthy. I still maintain that he was going to be an Ibaka like player at the 4.

Sudden curtailing of development that many here insinuate is simply not reality.

It's time to move on, but this isn't a Meyers Leonard situation where we watched the guy for like 5 years and he just wasn't good. He showed clear improvement all the way up until his shoulder injury. It's just a bummer he was never able to get healthy after that.

Let's just be real though, Collins was very likely to be a solid and versatile defensive big with at least league average outside shooting. That was basically a floor he was nearly at already. He was never going to be John Collins or Bam Adebayo. Blazers missed on those guys, but he certainly looked like he was on a superior trajectory to guys like Dwayne Bacon.

[Case2012]

He was healthy for a few years and all he showed was that he could pass for a roll player off the bench in stretches, which isn’t what you aim for in a top 10 pick. Time for him to move on, he’s not even worth a roster spot since he will never play, but knowing Olshey he’ll at least offer him the QO because Olshey, which is way higher than anyone would ever pay. Wish him the best, but hopefully it’s somewhere else.

[Moonbeam]

Very sad for Zach. As frustrated as we may feel as fans, can you imagine how frustrating this would be for him? I wish him well.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I still refuse to concede that injuries make for a bad draft pick (as in the wrong selection at the time, of course it is a bad outcome) unless there were known red flags.


Of course there are other arguments why it was a bad pick, namely John Collins and Bam looking much better than him at the same position even while healthy (not to mention Mitchell blowing up), but there is a chance for anyone to get hurt at any time in this game.

[Roy The Natural]

He was healthy for a few years and all he showed was that he could pass for a roll player off the bench in stretches, which isn’t what you aim for in a top 10 pick. Time for him to move on, he’s not even worth a roster spot since he will never play, but knowing Olshey he’ll at least offer him the QO because Olshey, which is way higher than anyone would ever pay. Wish him the best, but hopefully it’s somewhere else.

He was healthy for 2-1/10 years... that's not "a few."

[JasonStern]

I can't get over that 2017 draft. Portland could have had Donovan Mitchell and Dillon Brooks; or Bam Adebayo and Dillon Brooks; or John Collins, OG Anunoby, and Thomas Bryant/Dillon Brooks. Instead they got Zach and Swanigan.....yeeeeeesh

Three botched first round picks a year after the horrific 2016 off-season, and everyone is wondering why Dame is concerned that Portland can't build a contender around him.

This was a dud draft pick before he was drafted.

I maintain to this day that they thought they were drafting John and got the name wrong.

I called it at the time. He was soft as butter in high school and college. Not deemed good enough to start on his high school team, even as a senior. Was mediocre at Gonzaga.

It's horrific how wrong Olshey was if he intended to draft Zach instead of John. One's a key piece of a conference final team and the other will be out of the league.

To be fair, at the time I didn't like the 15+20 for 10 trade. Draft is a crapshoot and the team was better off taking more shots, especially given the benefits of cheap rookie contracts after the 2016 spending spree. Once that trade was made, I wanted Malik Monk to continue Portland's tradition of drafting undersized shooting guards.

But I made the same mistake when the pick was made. "It's JOHN Collins". Had to look up who Zach Collins was. And soon as I saw he was a 17 minute per game bench player from Gonzaga, I had a strong feeling it wouldn't end well.

I was also pretty high on Jordan Bell, which would have been a wash drafting over Swanigan.

Lots of weird revisionist nonsense here. Yes Collins didn't immediate impact.like some guys, but we really have no idea what he would've been if he remained healthy. I still maintain that he was going to be an Ibaka like player at the 4.

Nobody said he was injury prone pre-draft. Saying that now would be revisionist.

But Zach Collins was a very high risk/high reward pick. Super raw and unproven with a style projected to be an old-school center in an era where big man play was evolving. People being down on the idea of using the last lottery pick in the Dame era on a big that, best case, is three years away from developing into his potential if he remains healthy, puts in the work, and can adapt to a modern big-man game isn't revisionist.

And it goes beyond picking Collins. It's picking Collins at 10. Had the Blazers picked him at 20 or 26, you can make the argument that the risk/reward is worth it much more than at 10.

[HoopsFanAZ]

1. A one-year guaranteed contract with a team option 2nd year is an asset in a trade package to make numbers work without giving up another player. The size of contract depends upon the trade deal. Wait to give him a contract until a deal is ready AND after POWELL has re-upped with the Blazers.

Would Collins agree to that idea? And make minimum money (versus none) or what it takes to get a deal done (more $)? Likely. Not having enough or large enough filler contracts stops deals from even potentially happening.

2. Loyalty and belief would be shown and if — wonder of wonders — he gets healthy, a future contract based on his actual contribution is possible. It will not be a Meyers Leonard deal. Or a Darius Miles. Or anything remotely like that. If he gets healthy, everyone wins. If not, he helps a trade deal.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

But Zach Collins was a very high risk/high reward pick. Super raw and unproven with a style projected to be an old-school center in an era where big man play was evolving. People being down on the idea of using the last lottery pick in the Dame era on a big that, best case, is three years away from developing into his potential if he remains healthy, puts in the work, and can adapt to a modern big-man game isn't revisionist.

And it goes beyond picking Collins. It's picking Collins at 10. Had the Blazers picked him at 20 or 26, you can make the argument that the risk/reward is worth it much more than at 10.

The allure of Zach Collins is that he wasn't and old school, bang down low, score in the post type of old-school center. That is the exact opposite of the type of player he was. The reason we targeted him was that he was big and mobile with a stretch game while having fantastic defensive instincts - the prototype of the modern big man, closer to Myles Turner than someone like Okafor.

[JasonStern]

But Zach Collins was a very high risk/high reward pick. Super raw and unproven with a style projected to be an old-school center in an era where big man play was evolving. People being down on the idea of using the last lottery pick in the Dame era on a big that, best case, is three years away from developing into his potential if he remains healthy, puts in the work, and can adapt to a modern big-man game isn't revisionist.

And it goes beyond picking Collins. It's picking Collins at 10. Had the Blazers picked him at 20 or 26, you can make the argument that the risk/reward is worth it much more than at 10.

The allure of Zach Collins is that he wasn't and old school, bang down low, score in the post type of old-school center. That is the exact opposite of the type of player he was. The reason we targeted him was that he was big and mobile with a stretch game while having fantastic defensive instincts - the prototype of the modern big man, closer to Myles Turner than someone like Okafor.

I seem to remember a lot of "the next Bill Laimbeer" comparisons that would totally mask a Dame/CJ back court. But then, I was touting Jordan Bell as the shot blocking defensive backup center we need given Nurkić's injury history - so I'm not judging.

[Wizenheimer]

I can't remember who it was but somebody here was pushing for Bam Adebayo

that person should have been in charge of the draft instead of Olshey. Been great if the Blazers came out of that draft with Adebayo and Dillon Brooks

[Case2012]

I wanted Bolden, Bell and Pacenics, so my draft choices weren’t great either. Why didn’t bell work out? He looked really good his rookie season.

[JasonStern]

I wanted Bolden, Bell and Pacenics, so my draft choices weren’t great either. Why didn’t bell work out? He looked really good his rookie season.

IIRC the Warriors were effectively done with him after he billed a bunch of hotel expenses to Mike Brown's account without permission.

As for why he never caught on with other teams, I'd guess it's because his shot is suspect and he's not good enough defensively to overcome his offensive shortcomings.

[Norm2953]

Let's not focus on the 2017 draft for the Blazer coaches who worked out Zach, also worked out Bam, John
Collins and Donovan Mitchell and they signed off on Zach.

I'm in the decided minority for I'd still sign him to a one year deal with a team option for roughly $2 million
for if Blazers bring back Dame's cousin for a second year, he'd be getting $1.5 Million. CJ Elleby is going to
be paid $1.5 Million. Portland obviously would not keep their $16 Million cap hold on Zach but they lose
little if they offer him a contract for its likely a cap rich team like the Knicks or the Thunder might just
offer him a $2 Million deal anyway for even Greg Oden came back to play a few games after he left
Portland. He might not take the deal and choose to sign a similar deal elsewhere. The thing to do first
is to see the X rays of the new fracture before its decided what to do.

[DusterBuster]

Portland spent a roster spot last season on Dame's cousin. Teams can carry 17 players if they want to and can
carry Zach just in case he makes it back in 2022.

They aren’t going to put Collins on a 2-way deal. 2 way players are glorified g-league guys.

He'd be on his second contract. Likely a minimal deal for a veteran is more than any 2 way deal or more than a
veterans minimal deal. A few bucks more than Harry Giles made this season or close to the $2 Million that was
thrown out earlier

Giles was eligible to play most the year…. Collins was on the IR almost all of last season and he looks projected to do the same next year. Stop spending money and roster spot on players who are likely to miss the majority of the season. This isn’t hard math.

Let’s sign Festuz Ezili again while we are at it.

[JasonStern]

Let's not focus on the 2017 draft for the Blazer coaches who worked out Zach, also worked out Bam, John
Collins and Donovan Mitchell and they signed off on Zach.

Pretty sure the Blazers never worked out Zach Collins. Psych test and footage of 10mpg in a backup role was all Olshey needed.

[Norm2953]

Let's not focus on the 2017 draft for the Blazer coaches who worked out Zach, also worked out Bam, John
Collins and Donovan Mitchell and they signed off on Zach.

Pretty sure the Blazers never worked out Zach Collins. Psych test and footage of 10mpg in a backup role was all Olshey needed.

He came in for an individual workout as did Bam and Donovan Mitchell

[JasonStern]

Let's not focus on the 2017 draft for the Blazer coaches who worked out Zach, also worked out Bam, John
Collins and Donovan Mitchell and they signed off on Zach.

Pretty sure the Blazers never worked out Zach Collins. Psych test and footage of 10mpg in a backup role was all Olshey needed.

He came in for an individual workout as did Bam and Donovan Mitchell

Not going to argue with you, but are you sure you don't mean John Collins?

https://ripcityproject.com/2017/06/22/nba-draft-portland-trail-blazers-workout/