2023-24 Spurs Player Reviews: Zach Collins

Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

After a shaky season and an untimely injury, Collins’ future in San Antonio is unclear.

Welcome to Pounding the Rock’s 2023-24 player reviews! The series will look at the 15 players who finished the season with the San Antonio Spurs on guaranteed contracts (so no two-way players because we saw so little of them this year, and no Doug McDermott). Enjoy!

Zach Collins

2023-24 stats: 69 games, 11.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists

Contract Status: 2 years, $17.4 million a year on average, fully guaranteed.

Age: 26

After a solid 2022/23 season, it looked like Zach Collins was ready to get his career back on track following some serious injuries. He was entrenched as the Spurs’ starting center and seemed like a good complement to rookie Victor Wembanyama, who had made it clear before joining the franchise that he was more comfortable at power forward. On paper, Collins has the tools to guard the bigger players so that Wemby didn’t have to and facilitate from the perimeter, spread the floor and offer a proven post option. The Spurs were so convinced he was a good fit that they signed him to a two-year extension before the season.

Things didn’t work out as seamlessly as the player and the franchise hoped. With Jeremy Sochan being tasked with playing point guard and not being suited for the position and Wembanyama floating around the perimeter aimlessly as a power forward, a lot of the offense had to run through Collins. The big man did his best to facilitate and was a reliable option on the post but his outside shot abandoned him and an offense that featured him that heavily had a low ceiling. The expectations for his impact on defense were lower, but he largely seemed outmatched against the best centers and his lack of rim protection was felt on a team with bad perimeter defenders.

Collins looked more at home as a backup once Wembanyama was moved to center. The shot was still off, but since he didn’t have to play the role of Sochan’s escape valve, he didn’t have to force as many. He continued to do work on the post and with his passing. There was no miracle fix for his average-at-best defense, but he always played with an edge, and in the final stretch of the season he showed that in certain matchups he could play alongside Wembanyama in big lineups. Collins didn’t have the season everyone was hoping he’d have, but he did enough to avoid being a failure.

Looking forward

Is Zach Collins a stretch five who had a down season or a paint-bound center who should only shoot from outside as a last resort? The answer to that question will determine how big of an impact he has for the Spurs going forward. There’s nothing wrong with being a more traditional big with some range who mostly facilitates from the perimeter but does most of his damage inside. A poor man’s version of Domantas Sabonis is still a good piece, especially off the bench. San Antonio has been running an offense that features a center as a screener and ball mover while others cut and Collins can play that role. He’s useful.

If the shot returns, however, Collins could be a major contributor. Spacing and outside shooting have been huge issues in San Antonio and even assuming the front office will look to address the weakness this offseason, having a center who can be enough of a threat to draw a rim protector out of the paint would be valuable. It would also make lineups featuring both Collins and Wembanyama more viable, which would give the coaching staff more options. A three-pointer would make Collins so versatile on offense that his problems on defense as an anchor would not be a huge concern. Being able to stretch the floor would legitimately change Collins’ career.

It was easier to be optimistic about Collins’ ability to develop a reliable shot before he suffered yet another injury that will prevent him from working on his game. The big man had to go under the knife to repair a torn labrum and will spend his summer rehabbing. The pressure will be there for him to perform because he’s on the type of short, mid-sized deal that San Antonio could use as salary ballast in a mid-season trade next year, but he should be safe this offseason. Things will hopefully work out for Collins and he’ll be an important piece of the short-term future for the Spurs, but there is too much uncertainty to be confident about it.