Atlanta Hawks: Grading John Collins season to the All-Star break
When the Atlanta Hawks and John Collins failed to reach an agreement for his contract extension in the offseason, the big man was taking a bet on himself. He averaged more than 20 points and 10 rebounds last season, so he would have been hoping to improve on that this season.
Well, history tells us that Clint Capela has come into the Hawks starting lineup, transformed their defense, and is leading the league in rebounding. While Collins is still the favored target of point guard Trae Young, Capela is not far behind.
So what does this mean for Collins in the first half of the season? Well for one thing his averages are down, not alarmingly, but down nonetheless. He is averaging 18.0 points and 7.6 rebounds with greater efficiency.
John Collins’ highlights and lowlights for the first half of the season.
More from Soaring Down South
- Start, Bench, Cut: Sorting through the Hawks’ power forward options
- Hawks’ Bogdan Bogdanovic reacts to earning FIBA World Cup championship bid
- When does training camp start for the Atlanta Hawks?
- Grade the trade: Hawks deal Trae Young to Clippers in shocking proposal
- Dejounte Murray rips NBA 2K after Atlanta Hawks ratings reveal
Collins has had very few lowlights this season. One of them is the disagreement he had with Young at the film session being made public. He has also had a few games where he has disappeared after a strong first half which is not great for a player looking for the max.
On the other side of the ledger though, Collins is putting together a really solid season as the team’s second or third option. His best game was the 35 point effort he put up against the Dallas Mavericks but was not able to lead the Hawks to a victory. In fact, when Collins scores 30 points or more, the Hawks have a 1-5 record.
Collins has also had ten games where he has collected double-digit rebounds and has a better 5-5 record in those games. He is managing to pull in rebounds at this level despite playing next to the NBA’s leading rebounder.
There have been several times this season where the Hawks have been struggling through and Collins has been the one to kick start their recovery. In the first game against the Charlotte Hornets, no Hawks player could get it going. Collins carried the team on his back and almost led them to victory but the comeback fell short.
Next. The Atlanta Hawks need to fix their clutch time game. dark
The grade for John Collins’ first half of the season for the Atlanta Hawks
It is hard to grade Collins’ season. He has regressed in some numbers but also improved as a team defender thanks to Capela’s impact. Collins’ big games do not result in a Hawks win all that often but is that his fault or the team not performing.
Grade: A-