Collins retraces basketball steps
Las Vegas native Zach Collins spent countless hours honing his craft and preparing for a professional basketball career at Bill and Lillie Heinrich YMCA. What’s a few more.
Collins, a 7-foot center who recently finished his rookie season with the Portland Trail Blazers, returned home Tuesday to join his former AAU program, Vegas Elite, in hosting his first basketball camp at the YMCA, where he flourished as a teenager while starring at Bishop Gorman.
Dozens of awestruck kids ranging from 6 to 14 participated in a series of drills under the instruction of several coaches and Collins, who averaged almost 16 minutes this past season and earned crunch-time minutes during Portland’s first-round playoff series.
“This is where I started to get that competitive drive,” Collins said. “I guess you can say this is where I started wanting to be an NBA player. To see these kids and have my name on their shirts, it’s unreal.”
Collins, 20, promised Vegas Elite program director
Brian Sitter that he would return and use whatever platform he had to give back to the community.
It took all of one year to make that happen.
Collins, drafted No. 10 overall, spent his season navigating the ups and downs of the NBA and acclimating to life as a professional.
“If it’s one thing I want to work on next year, it’s being more consistent with my habits,” he said. “That was probably the hardest part for me, adjusting to so many games and having to get up for every game. But at the same time, it’s good, because if you have a bad game, you know you’ve got 50 left … It’s definitely a grind.”
Collins took a break from that grind Tuesday to enjoy teaching. He contested shots and playfully blocked a few as campers giggled in approval.
He had fun, seemingly like everyone else in attendance.
“It’s almost surreal,” Sitter said. “For him to reach out and to want to give back from the place that he started from is just awesome.”
Former pro basketball player Dwayne Price brought his nephew, Jackson, and his grandson, Domarious, to the camp and watched in approval from the sidelines.
Representing Las Vegas is fantastic. Giving back is even better.
“That’s the best thing they can do as a pro player,” Price said. “He started right here like everybody else does. Worked up his way. I hope that they take this as a learning experience and hopefully they’ll give back one day just like he’s doing.”
Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @Bysamgordon on Twitter.