Tag: Isaiah Collier

Isaiah Collier avoided Lakers, Knicks, Sixers, and it’s probably for the best

New York media would have devoured Isaiah Collier. Philadelphia brings to mind Markelle Fultz. Collier was fortunate.

Isaiah Collier did not join an NBA organization which is fiercely and vigorously pursuing a championship. On one hand, that could be seen as a negative. Why not be part of a team which can instantly do something special? Why not be exposed to a championship culture where the appetite for success is enormous? It’s a fair question. Collier will start his NBA career with the Utah Jazz after getting picked at No. 29 in the NBA draft. To be sure, the No. 29 pick is a lot lower than Collier wanted. However, Utah is a good spot for a rookie whose game needs time to develop.

Collier avoided the New York Knicks, who easily could have picked him at No. 25 or 26. The New York media would have wanted Collier to become an instant success, the kind of player he’s probably not ready to become. Collier likely needs two if not three years to get his game in order and fix his jump shot. Imagine being in the New York fishbowl, answering constant questions about a broken jumper.

Also consider the example of Markelle Fultz, the promising lottery pick who never did fix his jump shot and was smothered in Philadelphia as a member of the 76ers. Collier should be glad he didn’t land in Philly, where the natives are restless after yet another failed season, and where Joel Embiid’s career is not reaching a championship standard due to a lack of help from his teammates. That would not have been the place to patiently develop a career and improve as a player.

In Los Angeles, LeBron James is hungry to win one more NBA title before he ends his career. As LeBron Wire notes, “an article in The Athletic revealed that both James and Anthony Davis want badly for the Lakers to get them a third star or major difference-maker.” The Lakers are in win-now mode, as are the Knicks and Sixers. Those are not environments suited to a player such as Isaiah Collier who needs to work on his game and go through NBA growing pains.

Collier on the Lakers might have seemed like a fairy tale in one sense, but if you pull back and evaluate what’s best for Collier, it’s probably a good thing he avoided Los Angeles, as well as New York and Philly. Utah should give Collier one thing the USC Trojan needs: time to develop.

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Utah Jazz give Isaiah Collier low-pressure location for his NBA career

Isaiah Collier can quietly work on his game and career in Salt Lake City.

Isaiah Collier definitely hoped to be a top-20 pick in the 2024 NBA draft. Among all the prospects on the draft board Wednesday night, only one — Dalton Knecht of Tennessee — fell as far as Collier did, relative to in-season projections which carried through the middle of May and into the NBA draft lottery. Knecht was widely seen as a top-10 pick, but he fell to No. 17 on draft night. Collier was a top-20 pick for most of the pre-draft process, but he slid all the way to No. 29 and the Utah Jazz. It’s not the outcome he wanted. Yet, there is a point of consolation to be found. Collier won’t step into a suffocating media environment or an immediate win-now situation. He will have time and space to grow in Salt Lake City.

The New York Knicks had a chance to pick Collier at 25 and 26 in the first round. They passed. We have to ask: Would that have been a good spot for Collier? On one hand, it might have seemed like a great situation. Collier could have become the backup to Jalen Brunson, sat on the bench for most of his rookie season, and slowly learned how to play. However, New York’s NBA championship ambitions and media feeding frenzy likely would have turned up the heat on Collier to perform. It really wouldn’t have been the ideal spot to launch a pro career.

Collier needs time to develop his jump shot and refine his game. He will get time with the Jazz, and he won’t have a local press corps which will breathe down his neck. No one wants to slide 10 or more spots on draft night, but the landing spot isn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. Collier goes to one of the NBA’s less intimidating markets and can build back his basketball career without a lot of distractions.

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Isaiah Collier reveals advice LeBron James gave him in NBA draft preparations

LeBron James wants Isaiah Collier to trust himself and not allow his mind to be flooded with negative thoughts.

No, this 2024 NBA draft did not unfold the way USC’s Isaiah Collier hoped it would. Collier wasn’t a top-five pick. He wasn’t a top-10 pick. He wasn’t a lottery (top-14) selection. He didn’t even stick in the top 20. He fell to No. 29 and went to the Utah Jazz. However, Collier is intent on dusting himself off, picking himself off the canvas, and fighting for his pro career. He has one notable figure in his corner, giving him measured but sensible advice about the mental side of handling a draft-night tumble: LeBron James.

“It’s vibes just talking to him,” Collier said. “He told me to enjoy the process. It’s hard to make it even this far in your career.

“I’ve talked to LeBron a couple of times. He has definitely been a great resource for me. He is one of the greats — in my opinion, the greatest of all-time. It was crazy surreal to have met him. I’m blessed to be in this situation and I’m taking advantage of every moment.”

LeBron James instantly met and actually exceeded the hype attached to him as an NBA prospect. Isaiah Collier is not in that position. Yet, LeBron has seen players come and go over the past 20 years. He knows what the process is like and is trying to give Collier a blend of realism and confidence. Collier can’t get down on himself now, and that’s part of what LeBron James was trying to emphasize in his words of inspiration. Collier’s draft night didn’t go the way he wanted, but he’s still a first-round pick and still has a chance to repair his career.

Collier has only just begun to fight for his NBA existence. LeBron James hopes he will make it, just like another USC teammate named Bronny James.

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NBA scout evaluates Isaiah Collier, knows he will work hard to improve

An NBA scout was brutally honest in identifying Collier’s weak points, but thinks the guard will try mightily to address them.

The NBA draft did not turn out as Isaiah Collier or anyone at USC hoped it would. Collier, who began the past college basketball season as a projected top-10 pick with top-five potential, was still seen as a top-20 pick in the middle of May right after the NBA draft lottery. As recently as two weeks ago, he was still receiving NBA draft projections in the back end of the top 20. Toronto at No. 19 was a mock draft projection. The Lakers at 17 were mentioned as a projection. The Sixers had a look at him and owned the No. 16 pick. Collier still had reason to believe he would be a top-20 pick. In the end, Collier plummeted all the way to 29 and the Utah Jazz. He barely avoided falling all the way out of the first round. It’s not what he wanted.

One NBA scout explained why Collier fell. He didn’t pull punches:

“If he could shoot, he’d be a top-5 pick. You’re betting on him on being a worker, which he is going to be,” the NBA scout told Andscape. “Everybody talks about his [great] work ethic. If he continues to come in and works and works on his shooting, he is going to be a really good pro. He can get into the paint with the best of them. He passes the ball all over the floor. He’s unselfish. He can get into the paint and throw floaters and finish. But it’s the shooting thing. In the league, people are going to back off of him. And he won’t be able to drive and get to the rim easily. Plus, his size, he’s not as big as everyone thought.

This scout followed up with one important point, though: He thinks Collier will be persistent in working hard to address this and other flaws in his game.

“But I like him. If you look at history, he won three straight championships in high school and started all four years. He’s used to being the guy. He’s used to having the target on his back. He will be fine in this league with all of the space they play with, [where you] can’t hand check. He’ll be fine and be able to be a good player. He just has to develop his shot. And it’s not like his shot is broken. He’s a willing shooter. He will take the shots he’s supposed to take.”

We will soon see — probably in the NBA summer league — what Isaiah Collier is made of.

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Isaiah Collier’s NBA draft tumble recalls Andy Enfield’s rough USC finale

Andy Enfield’s last USC season comes back to the forefront after Isaiah Collier’s draft stock plummets.

Isaiah Collier was picked No. 29 in the 2024 NBA draft. That is not where he expected to end up. Collier began the 2023-2024 college basketball season at USC as a projected top-10 NBA draft pick. For some analysts, Collier was top-five material with a chance to rise to the top three. When Collier dominated Kansas State in the season opener on November 6, everything seemed possible for him and USC. It’s true that Collier’s January injury limited his development and hurt the Trojans last season, but even before that injury, USC had already torched its chances of being an at-large team in the NCAA Tournament. The season had already gone horribly wrong before Collier got hurt. Andy Enfield, who did a good job as USC head coach over the full length of his decade-long tenure, simply could not put the pieces together for more than a few games (Kansas State, the Arizona home game, and a few select others) in his last USC season. Collier did not hide from that truth when talking to Marc Spears of Andscape:

“The most challenging part of this was definitely losing,” Collier said. “Nobody wants to lose. But we learned a lot from it, especially when I got hurt. I sat down and improved as a player later on in the season. It definitely helped me a lot, too.

“College was definitely hard. I learned a lot. I had to learn a different kind of game. I’m just trying to move up on to the next level. I know it’s going to be even harder.

“There have been a couple challenges that I’ve faced. It’s always a learning process for me. Maybe it was a good thing that I went through with it. I can improve on it later on. I’m just taking it day by day in my career.”

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Isaiah Collier’s self-belief is intact despite NBA draft fall

Isaiah Collier isn’t going to stop believing in himself now. No way.

Isaiah Collier is determined to pick himself up and show that he is an elite basketball player after his noticeable fall down the board in the 2024 NBA draft. Collier had plenty to say to veteran NBA writer Marc Spears of Andscape:

“I’m going into every workout with a chip on my shoulder. A lot of things didn’t go the way I wanted them to go. There is a purpose to it. I feel like I’m still going to showcase that I’m that guy,” Collier told Spears.

“I want to show everyone that I’m the best guard in this draft class,” he said. “I’m taking it day by day. Keep working. Going in there in high-level shape and showcasing what I do.”

Collier goes to the Utah Jazz, a young team in rebuilding mode in a place, Salt Lake City, where the media environment isn’t nearly as suffocating as it would have been in New York with the Knicks or in Philadelphia with the 76ers. It’s a place where Collier will have time and space to grow. The team fit is, on balance, relatively good.

Now Collier can go prove a point about his quality as a professional basketball player.

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USA TODAY Sports offers instant reaction to Isaiah Collier Jazz pick in NBA draft

USA TODAY Sports evaluates Isaiah Collier after his selection at No. 29 to the Jazz.

Isaiah Collier was picked late in the first round of the 2024 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz. He fell out of the top five, then the top 10, then the lottery (the top 14), then the top 15, then the top 20. He stayed in the first round, but only by the slightest of margins. USA TODAY Sports is covering the NBA draft. Here’s instant analysis of Collier and the Jazz’s pick:

At times during the 2023-24 season Collier was a projected lottery pick. The Trojans didn’t have a great season, and Collier, who averaged 16.3 points and 4.3 assists and shot 49% from the field, dropped in the draft. However, the 6-3, 205-pounder has an NBA-ready frame, is strong and gets to the rim and finishes. He needs to work on an inconsistent jump shot and can be a shut-down defender if he puts his mind to it. He could end up being a valuable pick at this point in the draft. — Jeff Zillgitt

If there’s a positive aspect of going to the Jazz, it is that Utah has had a lot of young players go through the organization in recent years. The Jazz are a player development franchise without win-now pressure. It’s also not a media fishbowl the way New York is. The Knicks had a chance to pick Collier at both No. 25 and 26, but passed. It’s probably for the best that Collier is going to Salt Lake City instead of the Big Apple. Still, No. 29 is not what Collier or USC wanted.

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Isaiah Collier barely avoids falling out of first round in NBA draft stock crash

A player formerly projected as a top-five pick fell to 29. Now Isaiah Collier must try to prove his doubters wrong.

The NBA draft projections for USC’s Isaiah Collier were in the 10-14 range right after the NBA draft lottery in the middle of May. Then they started moving toward No. 17, then to No. 19, then to No. 21 in a recent College Sports Wire projection.

As it turned out, even those final few projections before the 2024 NBA draft which had Collier in the 19 to 21 pick range overestimated how much NBA teams would value him. The USC product fell all the way to No. 29 on Wednesday night. He did get a first-round selection, and he did avoid the ultimate disaster of being invited to the draft and then not hearing his name called at any point in the first round, forced to spend a night thinking about being snubbed by 30 NBA teams. Yet, the fall to 29 is still jarring for a prospect who was viewed as a potential top-five pick when the 2023-2024 college basketball season began in early November of last year.

Collier dominated Kansas State in his USC season opener. The Trojans looked, on that night, like a potential top-three seed in the NCAA Tournament. Collier did look like a top-five-caliber pick. He scored three and-one baskets in the first half of that KSU game. That’s hard to do. He was the best player on the floor by a large margin, playing his first college game as a freshman.

It never got better from there. Collier’s season was marred by injuries — that much has to be said — but he also never felt comfortable in Andy Enfield’s system. Now Collier gets a fresh start with the rebuilding Jazz. He is likely to go through a rough first season, but if he learns what he needs to learn, he could be a really good NBA player by 2027.

We’re definitely pulling for him here at Trojans Wire.

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Isaiah Collier to Utah Jazz with No. 29 pick in 2024 NBA draft

Isaiah Collier is heading to Salt Lake City.

USC’s Isaiah Collier now has his landing spot for the start of his NBA career. Collier was picked No. 29 by the Utah Jazz in the 2024 NBA draft on Wednesday night.

Collier fell quite a lot on draft night. He was projected in the 17-21 range by a lot of forecasters and mock NBA draft creators. He was generally expected to be a top-20 pick in the last two weeks before the draft.

Collier’s fall on draft night mirrored the long-term fall he suffered over the course of the past college basketball season and into the start of the offseason. Right after the NBA draft lottery several weeks ago (in mid-May), Collier was projected as a No. 11 pick to the Chicago Bulls. At the start of the college basketball season, Collier was widely seen as a potential top-five pick with a top-three ceiling. It was a steady decline for Collier from November to late June. His stock was never higher than after his dominant season-opening game against Kansas State on Nov. 6. That was the high point of his USC career and his NBA stock value. Everything went downhill from there, and Andy Enfield couldn’t develop him during the season. The injury he suffered in the middle of January didn’t help, but even if you account for the injury, Collier very rarely played at the level of a No. 1 recruit in his (2023) class, or at the level of an NBA lottery pick. He gets to start over in Utah on a young Jazz team which is unlikely to make the playoffs next season. Collier can learn on the job in a low-expectation setting.

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Isaiah Collier falls outside top 20 in one last NBA draft projection

Falling outside the top 20, if it happens, isn’t a bad thing if it leads to a better team fit for Isaiah Collier.

The NBA draft is Wednesday, June 26. We’re getting close. Where does USC’s Isaiah Collier stand just before the main event gets underway? If anything, he’s falling and not rising. College Sports Wire projects Collier to fall to No. 21 and land with the New Orleans Pelicans:

“Collier is a big faller after an up-and-down season at USC that saw him look at times like an elite passing point guard, one capable of starting in the NBA unquestionably, while other times his erratic passing, lack of outside shooting, and disinterest in playing defense caused a lot of concern.

“The Pelicans would be wise to gamble on the upside if he falls to them at No. 21, as the passing could really help the core of CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram, and Zion Williamson.”

While a fall outside the top 20 wouldn’t feel great for Collier, landing on the Pelicans would be a better-than-expected roster situation for him. With proven shooters and scorers around him, Collier could focus on playmaking, dribble penetration and defense, which would enhance his strengths and not overload him with responsibilities. Team fit? Yes.

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