Atlanta Hawks: 3 Takeaways From Monday’s Loss to Denver
By Dallin Duffy
3. John Collins should be starting at center… for now
A while back, I floated the idea that John Collins could be the Hawks’ center of the future.
That was admittedly a bit of a exaggeration but still makes sense with Alex Len starting to come into his own as a sixth man.
Collins is the Hawks’ best rebounder by quite a bit, something the Hawks desperately more of, and should be the starting five until they pick up a more tradional center (Drummond perhaps?).
Lloyd Pierce went with a small ball starting five for the Boston game, and JC was having one of his best career games until he went out with a back injury.
The small rotation came back for a bit tonight, starting the 4th quarter with Young, Bembry, Collins and the two rookies, Reddish and Hunter taking the floor.
That was one of the more effective stretches of the game for Atlanta, and we mentioned already how they were able to cut the led down to two in the 4th.
The trio of rostered centers; Alex Len, Bruno Fernando and Damian Jones combined for 5 rebounds in 37 minutes of play. Collins matched that number himself.
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He’s not only the team’s best option on the boards, but putting him at the five gives them a fun wrinkle, and at 8-29, they should be looking for fun wrinkles, why not?
Pierce should look to embrace the small ball, using Alex Len as a high-volume sixth man.