The Trojans' top-rated prospect this year had an underwhelming one-and-done NCAA season.
Now-former USC Trojans guard Isaiah Collier was the top prospect coming out of his high school class in 2023. Seen as a strong, athletic downhill guard, he was considered an early contender to be an easy top-10 lottery pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
Following USC's 15-18 2023 season run, and some questionable three point and foul shooting from Collier, he's seen his draft prospects take a dip., Collier topples out of the lottery entirely. Patton projects that Collier will be drafted by the New Orleans Pelicans at No. 17, a pick obtained from their 2019 trade that sent Anthon Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers. In this scenario, New Orleans would add this pick and thus opt out of L.A.'s 2025 first rounder.
"C.J. McCollum has historically been a shooting guard, but he’s playing point for New Orleans right now," Patton writes. "Collier fell well out of the picture as the potential top pick in this class, but the upside is still very high for the uber-athletic guard. A PG needy team such as the Pelicans might find the risk worth it especially outside the lottery."
The Pac-12 All-Freshman averaged 16.3 points on a .490/.338/.673 slash line, 4.3 dimes and 2.9 boards across 27 contests, in an injury-abbreviated one-and-done NCAA season.Tell Alex, were you in the joint the night Wilt scored 100 points? Or when the Celtics won titles back-to-back and didn't give nobody no kind of slack?
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