Scouting Reports

Disagreements with Bob Knight drove this seven footer from Bloomington after his sophomore season. Collier landed in Atlanta, where he had a personally respectable two-year run with the Yellowjackets. Teaming with Alvin Jones in the Tech frontcourt, Collier formed one of the most formidable big man tandems in the ACC.  Unfortunately for Tech, that's about all they had, and the team consistently failed to live up to expectations -- eventually costing Bobby Cremins his job.

But it wasn't for lack of effort on Collier's part. Collier is the best shooter among all big men in this draft. He shot a very respectable 37% 3FG his senior year, and is also fairly adept with midrange jumpers, whichhe used to good advantage from the high post. He has good hands, but his post moves, at this point in his career, are less than spectacular. When he posts, he tends to shoot a lot of fadeaways. He is a streaky offensive player -- and can string together numerous jumpers.

Defensively, Collier is average -- not great. Until his senior year, Collier was never known as even an average rebounder for someone his height. In his final year, he was much more aggressive on the boards -- largely by improving his positioning and by learning how not to get rooted out so easily. He's a decent passer from the high post, but having Alvin "Hands Like Feet" Jones in the low block didn't help him much.

Downsides: Collier will never be mistaken for a cheetah. He's not Todd MacCulloch slow, but he doesn't have many higher gears. Even with his improvement his senior year, he's still not an aggressive player, and is often outworked. He doesn't finish very well, and he's not at all intimidating around the basket.

I see Collier having difficulty finding a niche on an NBA roster as a big forward, although someone with his shooting ability will probably land somewhere. His best bet would probably be to work himself into a Sam Perkins (Paul Mokeski?) role somewhere -- come in, rebound a bit, and hit open jumpers.

Scout: Mike Rosenberg