The Atlanta Hawks and John Collins failed to come to an agreement over the offseason in 2020 on what his new contract would look like. Fortunately, after the 2020-21 season, the two parties agree to a deal that seems fair to both sides.
Collins put up max player numbers in the 2019-20 season and thought that he deserved to be paid at a max level. Last season he was effective when he was aggressive but went missing too often from games to justify this money.
The problem for the Hawks is that Collins is crucial for what they are trying to accomplish so they had to give up a fair portion of the salary cap for the next five years. Collins’ problem appears to be that he priced himself out of the market for a lot of teams.
The Atlanta Hawks and John Collins are a tremendous fit for each other.
Collins has made incredible strides during his time within the league. The Hawks have spent a great deal of time developing the 19th pick in the 2017 NBA draft and both parties have reaped the reward. Collins’ game has blossomed into a true stretch-four meaning the rest of the Hawks squad have greater freedom on the court.
Collins’ game has improved so much that he would not be available for the Hawks if his draft class was re-selected today. He would be a top-five pick based on his play over the past four seasons. Now that we have looked at how he stacked up against his draft class, we take a look at how he stacks up against the rest of the power forwards in the league.