Why the Heat should draft Wake Forest’s John Collins

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Collins has two glaring areas for improvement: Mid-range (and potentially long range) shooting and defense. The Heat happen to have a proven track record developing these skills in their young players.

Defense will always be a cornerstone of the Miami Heat and Collins would benefit immensely learning from players like Hassan Whiteside and James Johnson as he looks to find his role on the team as either a power forward or center. Collins will need to develop his defensive fundamentals particularly in pick and roll defense.

In college, Collins got away with using his athleticism to recover and block shots (his average blocks per game went from 0.7 to 1.6) but those types of errors won’t be easily covered up in the NBA.

The Heat not only have the players in place to bring Collins along defensively but also the coaching mindset, as Erik Spoelstra and his staff will use the same approach they did with all of their various defensive reclamation projects.

As for his shooting, there is absolutely no doubt that Collins must expand his shooting range. DraftExpress notes that nearly 50 percent of his total possessions came from post-up opportunities and that number will decrease in Miami as the Heat look to stretch the floor with more shooting.

No NBA prospect comes without flaws and one of the keys when determining fit is just how an organization will deal with those shortcomings and further develop the player. The Heat stress defense and shooting particularly with their big men and as long as Collins displays the type of eagerness about expanding his game that he did in his pre-draft interviews, they should be able to round out his game.