Hawks’ 2017 Summer League Bigs, Part One
The first trio of Hawks’ Summer League bigs include two players drafted in 2017, and a former college star. John Collins will surely be the Hawks’ starting power forward for the 2017-18 season, and the 2017 Summer League will be some Hawks’ fans’ first time seeing him in action. Offensively, Collins is predominantly a low-post scorer, who can score over both shoulders with a number of moves. He has also been working on the range on his shot.
He rebounded as well as any big in college last season, with his 21.1 total rebound percentage placing 4th among Power 5 conference players. Collins’ main flaw currently is defense, where he averaged 4.5 fouls per 40 minutes. In Summer League, the foul limit is 10, which Collins should never come close to.
Alpha Kaba was selected by the Hawks with the 60th pick in the 2017 Draft, and is relatively unknown. In my piece comparing the Hawks’ rookies to current NBA players, I said this of Kaba:
"“Kaba’s strengths coming into his rookie campaign are ones that look to very useful in today’s NBA. His distributing skills are not yet perfect, but there is clear potential that he could become somewhat of a point power forward in the future, running the offense in spurts from the high post. Kaba is not afraid to shoot the ball, as he nailed 24 three-pointers last season over 51 games. In 12 games in the BCL, Kaba averaged 10.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in only 26 minutes per game.”"
His game should translate well, and if he impressed, Kaba may be able to sway the front office into bringing him over for the 2017-18 season.