LSU forward Daimion Collins cleared for full basketball activity

LSU forward Daimion Collins has been fully cleared for all basketball related activities, Jon Rosthein reported on Monday morning.

Collins missed all but six games in the 2023-24 season after dislocating his shoulder on Nov. 24 against North Florida. Before the injury, Collins was playing 10 minutes per game and averaging 4.3 points on 62.5 percent shooting from the field and was 5-of-6 from the free throw line. He also averaged 2.2 rebounds and had four blocks in those six games.

Collins projects to be one of the key forwards in the Tigers’ rotation in 2024-25 alongside returners Jalen Reed, Derek Fountain, and Corey Chest as LSU hopes to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Matt McMahon.

Brune’s Transfer Analysis from 2023

Physical tools

When watching Collins, the first thing that stands out is his slim frame. At 6-foot-9 and 210 pounds, he’s 20 pounds lighter than Jalen Reed and Derek Fountain and it makes the game tougher for him on the interior. 

With that being said, Collins is clearly a great athlete, getting vertical in a hurry and getting to the rim quickly for put backs or lobs. It also shows itself on defense, which we’ll get to more below. Obviously, he’ll need to add weight and fill out in order to be a consistent contributor to any team in the SEC, but he was highly touted for a reason and a lot of that is because of his dynamic athleticism.

Offensive potential at LSU

At this moment, Collins is nothing more than a lob-threat and an offensive rebounder. He shot just 46 percent from two last year and had an abysmal turnover rate (30.5%) in his 197 minutes. Despite his jump shot actually having some fluidity from the mid-range, the 3-point shot doesn’t appear to be reliable right now (0-for-6 for his career). 

The challenge last year was that a large portion of his minutes came alongside Oscar Tshiebwe, one of the best offensive rebounders in the country and another non-shooter. The lineups at Kentucky just didn’t have enough spacing or creation, further hindering the production of Collins when he did get into the game. Against Arkansas, he played some minutes at the five and had space to operate as a roll man and he was really solid. Still, they were not guarding him at all when he caught the ball outside of the paint.

Whether he is at the four or the five for LSU, he should have more spacing and more offensive flow in the offense, especially if he’s alongside Will Baker who can really open up the court for Collins to attack the rim. Still, Collins has to start showing more force on the offensive end regardless of who he’s on the court with. 

Defensive upside

Collins is immediately the best shot blocker on the team, and that’s huge.

Collins had 10 blocks in 197 minutes last year and he was away from the rim a lot of the time defending wings and stretch bigs. He’s a really good helpside defender when playing the four with exciting potential to be a deterrent at the basket, especially if he gets stronger.

On the ball, I’m not as excited, but he’s still so athletic he makes it work. Against South Carolina at home, he was posted up, drove at, and put in ball screens and held up well. He recovers well, but also can get baited into bad fouls. He fouled out in five minutes against Arkansas and had four fouls in eight minutes against Georgia. In the Arkansas game I thought he played well at the five on defense.

His overall defensive awareness needs improvement, often getting called for fouls holding or reaching and sometimes just not being in position, but you can’t teach his tools on this end.