Isaiah Collier Could be the Utah Jazz Franchise Point Guard

Utah Jazz point guard Isaiah Collier, who was a unanimous five-star out of high school before enrolling at USC, had an impressive freshman season despite being on a team that didn't ever mesh together. A teammate of Bronny James under head coach Andy Enfield, Collier averaged 16.3 points per game as well as 4.3 assists while shooting 49% from the floor.

Still, he was penalized for a high turnover rate, and fell to the end of the first round, where the Utah Jazz selected him at 29 overall. He struggled in the early months playing behind Collin Sexton and Keyonte George, but has found his groove as of late, dishing 123 dimes in the month of February – his season average is up to 6.1 assists per game, and he has played like someone unhappy with how he was overlooked.

Though the Jazz are currently a basement dweller in an absolutely loaded Western Conference, Collier is still managing to earn legitimate minutes, even on a team that already had decent guard play. Against Washington earlier this month, he had a 19-point, six-assist game where he shot 50% from the floor on 14 attempts. He's proving over time that he can be an NBA point guard, and the strides he's taken in the last couple of months lend credence to the theory that he is one of the best lead initiators in the entire 2024 class.

The flaws with Collier are the same that plagued him at USC as far as scoring goes – he simply is not a three-point shooter at this point in his career, and is a brutal 22.8% from deep in his first NBA campaign. Though it's not required to be a long-range shooter at his position, it is certainly a benefit to be able to convert from long distance, as it opens up driving lanes and allows the guard to attack opponents' closeouts and get easier looks at the rim.

Collier is in a good position where the pressure is low – Utah is not expected to do much of anything in the next couple of seasons at least, and he can develop under the radar as he learns to become a lead guard playing alongside talented backcourt mates in the aforementioned Sexton and George. By the end of things, Collier could end up being one of the top point guards in this class despite being a borderline first-round pick instead of one taken in the lottery.

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