Portland Trail Blazers: 5 rookie season goals for Zach Collins

3. Stay healthy

Reason No. 1 why the Portland Trail Blazers drafted another big man instead of eyeing a much-needed perimeter defender: Their big guys constantly keep getting hurt — or, in some cases, end up not playing at all because they were already hurt to begin with.

Jusuf Nurkic, whose arrival in the second-half of the season sparked a run that earned the Blazers a playoff berth, went down with a broken leg shortly before the postseason. Ed Davis required season-ending surgery early in March. Festus Ezeli didn’t even play at all, and now his knees aren’t even his original knees anymore!

Knock on wood, but Zach Collins was an ironman for Gonzaga in his freshman year, playing all 39 games. To be fair, Collins was only playing 17.3 minutes per game off the bench, and there will be 43 more games to be played in the NBA.

Nevertheless, if Collins can stay healthy all season long, Blazers fans can definitely chalk up his rookie year as an encouraging success — even if he doesn’t end up being in the Rookie of the Year conversation.