Should John Collins Win February Eastern Conference Player of the Month?

Analyzing John Collins’ fantastic month of February.

John Collins has been on an absolute tear as he’s shed off the rust from sitting out 25 games for suspension. After a good but inconsistent January, JC has been a true star in the month of February, helping lead the Hawks to a 6-7 record in the month.

He averaged 25.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 2.2 assists in 36.7 minutes per game in February, with insane shooting splits to boot. He made 63 percent from the field, 53.5 from three (on 3.3 attempts per game) and 80 percent from the free throw line.

It’s a performance that’s flown under the mainstream NBA radar a bit, as outside of his nightly jams, most of his play has been non-flashy, and he’s pretty quiet off the court. That can all change if the NBA awards him with the Eastern Conference Player of the Month award.

Collins does have steep competition however, with other Eastern Conference studs — including his teammate — also having great months. Let’s compare the top candidates:

Canidates:

Bradley Beal:

Beal is a a one-man show in the Nation’s capitol, and strong play after being snubbed in the All-Star Game has his Wizards team holding onto hope for the 8th seed. He averaged 36.2 points in 37.2 minutes per game, which was tops in the entire NBA. Beal did so on a shooting split of 47/36/82. Washington went 5-6 in the month, now sitting four games behind the Nets for a playoff seed.

John Collins:

We already went over Collins’ resume above. For formatting purposes, here they are again: 25.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 2.2 assists in 36.7 minutes per game, shooting 63 percent from the field, 53.5 from three and 80 percent from the free throw line. The Hawks went 6-7.

Jayson Tatum:

Tatum is probably the front-runner for this award, and perhaps rightfully so. The 21-year-old had a scorching end to the month, but was good throughout. In total he averaged 30.7 points per game, shooing nearly 50 percent from both the field (49%) and from three (48). He also pulled down just under eight rebounds per game, and played great defense on the other end. He led his Celtics team to a 9-3 February record.

Giannis Antetokounmpo:

Antetokounmpo has taken home the honors each month prior to this one, five in a row total if you go back to last year, and is likely on route to his second straight MVP trophy. He was still incredible as ever, but took the slightest of steps down this month, averaging the least amount of points since October. That likely has something to do with his team wining by so much night in and night out, and Giannis only averaged 31.5 minutes per game while his team went 10-1. Incredible.

Trae Young:

The second Hawk on this list put up big numbers, averaging the 2nd most points in the Conference behind Beal. Trae tied LeBron James for the league lead in assist per game in February with 10.1, and nobody took more foul shots. If it were to go to a Hawk however, Trae’s probably running in second behind John Collins.

It’s a pretty stacked month, and that’s not even mentioning fringe contenders like Zach LaVine, Joel Embiid, Khris Middleton or Pascal Siakam.

John Collins is probably running in third place behind Tatum and Antetokounmpo, but I could see the award going to any of the above five players. He probably won’t win, but just being under consideration should be a huge win for Collins.

Perhaps more importantly, Collins should be in line for some Most Improved Player at the year’s end, something he got some attention for during last season as well.

Here’s to a repeat performance in March.

note: all stats and records via nba.com/stats