Zach Collins needs to have a big 2020-21 season for the Portland Trail Blazers

Zach Collins is a key piece for the Portland Trail Blazers moving forward. His 2020-21 season needs to showcase development.

The Portland Trail Blazers took a gamble on draft day 2017 when they sent the 15th pick, Justin Jackson, and the 20th pick, Harry Giles to the Sacramento Kings for Zach Collins. It appeared like a good move, trading up to a top ten pick.

Collins started off very slowly, playing 66 games in his rookie season, averaging 4.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. The next season, Collins played 77 games with his numbers increasing to 6.6 rebounds and 4.2 rebounds per game.

The 2019-20 season was meant to be the breakout season for Collins. He was inserted into the starting lineup and played exceptionally well in the first three games of the season. He was able to help the Trail Blazers to a 2-1 record before the injury curse hit.

How Zach Collins’ injury impacted the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Blazers battled all season to make the playoffs. They had to sign Carmelo Anthony to help them and then traded to get Trevor Ariza, Wenyen Gabriel and Caleb Swanigan. While all this helped, it was not until the return of Collins and Jusuf Nurkic in the bubble did the Blazers start to make noise.

After making the post-season, Collins was diagnosed with a stress fracture and has missed all playoff games so far. This shows that Collins is an integral piece of the Blazers’ future puzzle. However, he needs to step up next season due to the fixed nature of this team’s roster.

The Blazers have huge money locked up in their two starting guards. Damian Lillard is due $227 million over the next five seasons and CJ McCollum is due $129 million over the next four. This is a huge investment in just two players.

What this means is that the complementary pieces around these two need to provide value for money. When Collins contract expires at the end of the 2020-21 season, the Lillard supermax contract kicks in.

This means that the two guards will take up $74.6 million of the salary cap space. This does not leave a huge amount to go around the other 13 players on the roster. If Collins is not able to improve his output, the Blazers may look for cheaper options.

There is a heap of upside to Collins game. He has become a solid 3-point shooter, going at 36.8 percent from deep. At 6’11”  Collins could turn into a tremendous stretch four or five. His ability to space the floor could be crucial for the future success of this team.

However, the downside of Collins is evident at the moment. This is the first season Collins has averaged more than 20 minutes per game. In his first two seasons, he averaged 15.8 and 17.6 minutes per game.

In the 2019-20 season, Collins averaged 25.6 minutes per game and was injured twice, playing just 11 games. This is why next season is so big for the Gonzaga product. If he is able to stay on the floor for 25 – 30 minutes per game, then he becomes a value for money.

With this season over thanks to the stress fracture, Collins needs to spend time healing his body and getting it stronger for next season. His production is going to be crucial for the Blazers’ chances and also for his future with the club at the end of his current deal.