Portland Trail Blazers: 2017-18 player grades for Zach Collins

Portland Trail Blazers big Zach Collins was a rookie the front office was more than excited to select in the 2017 NBA Draft. How did he grade out in his first season in the league?

Portland Trail Blazers general manager Neil Olshey was very high on big man Zach Collins as a NBA prospect. He wanted him on the team so much that he traded up with the Sacramento Kings just to get him. The Blazers gave up the No. 15 and 20 overall picks in the 2017 NBA Draft to select Collins at No. 10.

At first glance, Collins is a bit of a head-scratching pick. He was only 19 years old, very lanky and never started a game in his college career. He looked more like a long-term project than a top-10 draft pick.

He began the 2017-18 season outside of the Blazers’ rotation, only playing seven of the first 23 games. However, he finally picked up consistent playing time when an injury temporarily sidelined starting center Jusuf Nurkic. From there, Collins would play in the remaining 59 games of the season and all four playoff games.

Collins finished the year averaging 4.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game. He had a rugged shooting slashline of 39.8 percent from the field, 31.0 percent from 3-point range and 64.3 percent from the free throw line.

Now with his first season in the books, how can we assess Zach Collins’ rookie campaign?