The Atlanta Hawks and John Collins could have started the season better. They could have announced that they had a newly minted contract extension which would keep Collins with the Hawks for another four years, at the tidy sum of $90 million.
Alas, it was not to be and so rumors circled around the Hawks and their fourth-year star out of Wake Forest. The rumors reached maximum noise at the trade deadline, particularly when the Hawks said what they would consider as a minimum return for Collins.
Fortunately, both Collins and the Hawks front office were completely professional about the whole affair and they did not let it distract the team from what they wanted to achieve. Collins was, in fact, a huge part of what the Hawks were able to achieve this season, which was a berth in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Atlanta Hawks and John Collins needed each other.
Collins had a Jekyll and Hyde season in 2020-21. There were games where he was simply irrepressible, getting putbacks from offensive rebounds, hitting the long-ball with regularity, and even getting Clint Capela involved on alley-oop plays.
There is, however, the other side to Collins where he appears to lose confidence in his shot, passing to another shooter rather than taking the open shot. These games are becoming less frequent and Collins was putting up really good numbers in a team environment.
The Hawks may now be in the box seat to keep Collins, after all, winning is fun and Collins may not have the teammates to help him get back to another deep playoff run if he leaves. Anyway, let’s take a look at the highlights for Collins’ season.
Atlanta Hawks season highlights for John Collins
Collins had some amazing higlights this season. One of my personal favorites was when Trae Young passed him the ball and Collins hit the 3-ball to officially send the Hawks back to the playoffs. The moment was not lost one either player, as the celebrations were a joy to watch.
Collins also had 19 double-doubles last season, which may not sound like a huge number for a max contract type player. However, he was playing alongside the league’s leading rebounder, Clint Capela, meaning he had to fight harder to get the boards that he did.
Defensively, Collins showed that he was learning a lot from his front court partner. He had five blocks against the LA Clippers in a nine point victory. It was a game where he went a poor 4-of-11 from the field but had a huge impact with 11 rebounds and those five blocks. It was a sign of great maturity from the fourth-year pro.
What was great to see from Collins this year was his scoring prowess, even with the new veterans that came on board over the offseason. He had 21 games where he scored 20 points or more with seven of these being 30 points or more.
However, it was his career-high 38 point game against the Golden State Warriors which is definitely the cream of the crop. A couple of games before Draymond Green had proclaimed himself the best defender to play the game. Collins would have given him more of a basketball lesson except Green barely played defense on the Hawks star in the second half of the game.
Atlanta Hawks contract and season grades for John Collins
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Contract Grade
Collins was in his final season of his rookie scale contract, worth just $4.1 million. This was one of the best contracts in the NBA last season given that he averaged 17.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Yes these numbers were slightly down from the 2019-20 season, but that is to be expected given the additions to the Hawks squad.
Collins was often the barometer for the Hawks, if he was up and about, then his energy had such a positive impact on the squad. However, when he was passing up the open shots and was not the aggressive Collins that the team needed, the Hawks often struggled.
Contract Grade: A+
Season grade.
It can sometimes be quite difficult to judge a season where a player has so many highs and lows. As mentioned earlier, Collins had 21 games where he scored 20 points or more. He also had seven games where he did not get into double figures.
There was a maturing in Collins game under coach Nate McMillan though. He was given and role and he stuck to it. His raw numbers went down marginally, but his efficiency increased from the floor and from deep. He missed nine games in April and took a bit of time to get back into the swing of things. Without this break, his numbers could have even better.
Season grade: A-