I watched one of his games from last season, his junior year on YouTube. It was a December home game vs Texas High of Texasarkana, Texas. Here's my evaluation:
First half he looked listless for the most part. I feel a lot of this is because Atlanta High was in a zone most of the game. He had three turnovers trying to dribble the ball on the perimeter, ran with his head turned away from the ball down court on defense. He didn't put a body on anyone when a shot went up, which lost himself a few rebounds in the process. The offensive end he stood on the perimeter most of the time and rarely posted up in the paint. He missed all 3 of his three point attempts in the first half. He had 8 points on 4 dunks in the half a blocked shot, and his team was down double digits at halftime. Second half he looked more lively as Atlanta switched to man to man. He was running the floor on offense and defense showing a lot more hustle and sense of urgency. He had 15 second half points and was 8 for 8 from the free throw line showing a nice shooting touch. He posted up in the paint and used a nice spin move to his right to score and draw fouls. His team still lost by double digits but Collins ended up with 23 points.
VERDICT: Daimion Collins has a lot of potential to be unlocked. This was only one game out of probably 25 he played his junior season. He's a very good athlete who can jump out of the gym, can switch ends well when he wants to. He has to get stronger of course, needs to have more of a sense of urgency on the court. This particular game he seemed to play hard only in spurts and has to turn his head to see the ball when running back on defense. He has to work on his perimeter shooting, but has potential there with a great shooting touch from the free throw line. He has to work on his ball handling on the perimeter. He has to work on his rebounding on both ends of the court. He stood around too much on the perimeter especially in the first half, which could be blamed on coaching. He needs to work a little more posting up in the paint, or working from 15 feet in. He moves his feet well on defense and can guard the pick and roll with no issues. He could be an NBA player with 2-3 years work at Kentucky, I do not see a one and done player. If he does not learn to bring it all the time on the court, he will have a hard time seeing the court at Kentucky. Perhaps he will pick up the urgency his senior year of high school ball as the floating through games happens a lot with juniors.
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