Michigan Basketball: 3 Takeaways from commitment of Frankie Collins

How Collins fits with the Wolverines

What made Michigan basketball successful last season, at least in part, was that Juwan Howard had Zavier Simpson, an elite point guard he could rely on.

Now, Simpson isn’t elite in the sense that he’s going to the NBA. But he could control the game and while he had issues with his shot, he made a number of game-winning plays during his career.

The point is that you need a solid point guard to be good and in Collins, the Wolverines are getting a solid player, who is an absolutely perfect fit in Howard’s ball-screen heavy system.

The thing that stands out about Collins more than anything is his ability to attack the basket and create shots, for himself and others. He’s only 6-foot-1, but Collins is explosive and he knows how to get to the rim.

Collins also excels playing out of ball screens and that’s going to be a key element of his career going forward. His jump shot will need some work and last summer, on the Adidas Circuit, he shot just 28 percent from 3-point range, while averaging 8.9 points and 4.4 assists per game.

His ability to be top-level guard will likely depend on his jumper and how efficient he gets with it. We saw how the lack of shooting ability hurt Simpson, however, Collins seems to be a more natural shooter and even shows some ability to knock down shots playing off the ball.

Heading into the 2021-22 season, Zeb Jackson is the only scholarship point guard on the roster, so Collins will have a legitimate shot to earn a starting job and even if he loses out to Jackson, he will be expected to play significant minutes right away.