Darren Collison is 6’1, 170 pounds and will be a junior at UCLA. He is a very smart player and a good decision maker on the floor.
He has good ball handling skills, nice passing abilities, and excellent court vision. He has a very quick first step, and is very fast on the open floor, and unless you have top notch speed, you’ll have a hard time catching him. Darren has a pretty good mid-range game, along with an improved three point shot. He likes to drive to the basket and can handle some contact with his good body control. He is a very good on the ball defender with very good reflexes, he has quick hands and feet, along with long arms that help create a lot of steal opportunities for him. He sets up his teammates real well, and good at creating easy shots for them. He is a scoring threat, and is very good in transition.
Darren will need to bulk up some more, in the NBA he probably won’t handle the contact as well when he goes to the basket. He needs to improve in a half court set. In previous seasons he could be too passive and defer more to his teammates, he should step up more during crunch time, he is capable of being the go to guy. Darren’s jump shot can be inconsistent for him on the perimeter and from the three point line. He can be posted up by taller and stronger guards and all he can do is use his quickness and smarts to defend them as best as he can, until he bulks up this could be an advantage for opponents.
Each season Darren has made adjustments and keeps improving on his overall game. His upside looks great, he could be a future all-star PG. He is on track to graduate after his junior year, so this will be a real important season for him. I think he could be a lottery pick in the 2008 draft. I see similarities between him and Andre Miller.
