John Collins

Collins spent the first six years of his career in Atlanta. He peaked in 2019-20 while averaging 21.6 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks, but he went on a downward trajectory after that. He became the topic of trade rumors for years and was finally dealt to the Jazz last summer in what essentially amounted to a salary dump. There was some hope for a bounceback season, and the results were mixed. His numbers were especially underwhelming to start the year, going most of the way through January. However, he stepped up his game at the end of the month, and for his final 27 appearances, he averaged 17.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 blocks while shooting 58/40/79. The Jazz have become a difficult team to analyze for fantasy. They've pulled the plug toward the end of each of the past two seasons, creating well-timed absences for key players. It doesn't project to be any different this year. Lauri Markkanen signed a massive extension that prevents him from being traded at the deadline, but the rumors were still out there that the front office was looking to send him to a more competitive team. As it stands, Utah could easily be considered a bottom-two team in the conference, along with Portland. Will all of that be good or bad for Collins? He just happened to miss the final eight games of last season with back spasms, at the exact same time that Jordan Clarkson had a back injury and Markkanen had a shoulder injury. But Collins also played well when available in the second half of the year. And this is before considering the potential for Walker Kessler and Taylor Hendricks to develop and take minutes away from Collins. With all that in mind, it's probably not worth the risk to select Collins significantly inside the top 100. After that, the risk/reward balance becomes more favorable.