Blazers: 5 goals for Zach Collins to achieve in the 2018-2019 season
By Nate Mann
Three-point shooting
Collins played 39 games at Gonzaga before a strong tournament run encouraged him to declare for the 2017 NBA Draft. In those 39 appearances, he shot 21 total three-pointers and made 10 of them.
To close out one of his first practices as a Portland Trail Blazer, Collins sunk 20 of 25 threes. Fans were given a glimpse of how Terry Stotts planned to use the forward, but he didn’t entirely live up to the potential his coach saw.
As a rookie, he converted on 31% of his 113 three-point attempts – this ranked him No. 27 among centers and No. 62 among power forwards, marks not up to snuff for a forward attempting 1.7 per game.
Next season, Collins needs to improve his shooting a few percentage points and force defenders to play him tightly on the perimeter. Not only will a better three-point shooting space the floor even more for Portland (an offseason focus of Neil Olshey’s), but it will also allow him to run a pick-and-pop with more success than he did last year.
And if there’s one thing Stotts loves to do with Damian Lillard and the team’s power forward, it’s a pick-and-pop (*longingly watches film of Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge*).