Another Lead Guard to Consider: Isaiah Collier Prospect Watch

With the image changing into clearer on what the San Antonio Spurs want by way of this upcoming draft, there’s undoubtedly one level guard to contemplate. USC’s Isaiah Collier can present the form of toughness and playmaking that this group wants exterior of Tre Jones and Jeremy Sochan. He can get downhill, is extremely powerful, and has an NBA-ready physique at 6-foot-5 and 210 kilos.

Collier has been fairly spectacular in his group’s first seven video games of the season. He’s proven that he can’t solely get to the rim with relative ease, however he’s a constant shooter exterior of the paint too. The freshman performs somewhat older than his age, however must reduce down on turnovers because the season goes on if he needs consideration for the highest spot within the draft in 2024. Listed here are his stats from his first eight video games to date.

• 17.3 PPG, 1.1 SPG, 4.5 APG, 3.0 RPG, 4.6 TOPG
• 52.2 FG%, 40.0 3P%, 73.5 FT%
• 18.9 PER, 105.9 ORtg, 105.3 DRtg

Isaiah Collier Breakdown

Isaiah Collier is the form of level guard you possibly can belief to bend a protection and break down his defender. The Spurs are sorely missing a one-on-one creator exterior of Devin Vassell. Collier may give them main assist there and open up the ground for his teammates. It will additionally doubtless spell the top of the Jeremy Sochan-at-point experiment as soon as and for all.

Whereas Collier’s defensive score doesn’t present it, he could be a powerful defender. He’s bodily and doesn’t let smaller guards get by him simply, however he’ll doubtless must work on some lateral motion to maintain the faster guards from blowing by on him. He has good instincts, however must learn to play extra constantly in a group protection setting.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The offense may be very a lot the calling card for Collier as he’s proven he’s a improbable passer and facilitator. Nevertheless, the turnovers are regarding and a part of the rationale his quantity is so excessive is as a result of he has a 30% utilization price for this group. If he can get the turnovers underneath higher management in convention play, that ought to go a good distance in assuaging issues. Nevertheless, there’s one subject he appears to have already fastened and that’s the consistency in his shot. His capturing splits are nice, though he might be higher on the charity stripe. The most important subject for some scouting Collier was how nicely he would shoot away from the rim. It’s protected to say he’s doing that nicely proper now as he’s capturing over 40% from three on virtually three makes an attempt a sport.

Cleansing up turnovers, persevering with to shoot nicely, and exhibiting off his passing abilities shall be key in staying a top-3 choice come draft time. These are all abilities the Spurs may use and choosing a participant like Collier will definitely make this group more durable and he may simply develop into a pacesetter for this squad.

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