Justin Poulin of Celtics17 can't understand how it is that Mardy Collins could even have a chance of falling to the second round. He wrote the following report for TrueHoop:

Mardy Collins could be the steal of the draft. Before June Mardy had a solid footing in the first round of most mock drafts. Since then he has gone relatively unnoticed and has even slid to the second round of the highly touted DraftExpress.com mock draft.

When you look at that same site’s scouting report on Collins you have to wonder why he’s fallen so far while players like Rajon Rondo and Jordan Farmar have caught fire and climbed the draft boards.

One Internet draft site, nbadraft.net, still has Collins in the first round of their mock draft and tells us that Collins is a great defender, a great team player, and extremely durable. Collins has been a four-year starter at Temple under Coach John Chaney and hasn’t missed a game while playing the entire 40 minutes on most occasions. It’s safe to say that while Mardy is not the most athletic point guard in the draft he is certainly one of the best in terms of conditioning. This points to Collins’ work ethic, a quality that should be held in the highest regard when evaluating a player’s true potential to perform at the next level. Did I mention that Collins is 6’6” tall? That kind of height could create a mismatch in the post ala Gary Payton.

How did Collins stack up against his fellow draft eligible point guards this past season? In a loss to Villanova on New Year’s Eve, Collins scored 19 points on 8-19 shooting and nabbed 3 steals, but struggled with 6 turnovers and only 2 dimes. Randy Foye however, also struggled, shooting 4-13 from the field and scoring 9 points. Kyle Lowry had a better game than his counterpart scoring 15 points and picking off 7 passes in the Villanova blowout 75-53.

On November 17th of last year Collins scored 15 points and dished out 3 assists while holding Jordan Farmar to 4 points on 2-7 shooting in a 54-47 loss to the Bruins. Keeping in mind the successful performances of the Wildcats and the Bruins in the NCAA tournament while the Owls got bounced in the first round of the NIT tournament Collins deserves notice for his play against his counterparts especially given the disparity between the teams.

DraftExpress.com describes Collins as having outstanding instincts, as fundamentally sound, highly unselfish, a coach’s dream, and possessing excellent court vision, poise, and patience. These are the qualities that are best suited for the point guard position.

What is not to like?

DraftExpress.com makes note that Collins has only an above average first step and is not a spectacular athlete, but those are the only negatives you will find in the scouting report. Does every successful player in the NBA have to be an uber-athletic scoring machine? Ryan Gomes fell to the second round of the 2005 draft for the same reason; he was a four year player considered to be fundamentally sound but lacking in prototypical size and superficial athleticism (more commonly referred to as upside potential). Ryan Gomes made the NBA All-Rookie Second Team, the same fate could be had by Collins if he finds himself in a similar situation with an opportunity for playing time.