The Atlanta Hawks returned home to State Farm Arena for a revenge matchup against the Washington Wizards. They were able to turn the result around, taking the victory on the back of some well-balanced scoring and also really good ball movement.
The Hawks showed that when they are rolling they are going to be a tough team to beat. What they also showed was that John Collins is more than just an athletic finisher and rim protector. He was actually one of three players who had six assists and the offense was popping.
Collins’ stat line was nothing spectacular, he ended up with 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists. and one block in just over 31 minutes per game. He finished with a plus-seven impact on the box score which is better than his 28 points, 12 rebound effort last game against the Wizards and he had a minus-nine impact on the box score.
The Atlanta Hawks need John Collins to use this as a career template
While everyone wants to be the player with the max-type scoring, this is no longer the role for Collins on this team. Trae Young has taken on the mantle of leader of the offense since his first season but the veterans that the Hawks have added have really taken the scoring pressure off Collins.
It is the same with his rebounding. for his first few seasons, Collins was required to collect double-figure rebounds if the Hawks were to stay in games. With the addition of Clint Capela, Collins has become the second rebounding option on the team, moving to the primary role when Capela sits.
What Collins needs to focus on now is doing a bit of everything for the team. He is going to struggle as a one-on-one defender due to his lateral movement, so he needs to focus on the aspects of the game that he can control.
Collins needs to be the player who sacrifices his own role for the good of the team. He has shown that he can give some great alley-oop passes to Capela, and he is also able to set up players on the perimeter. While he does not need to be the primary ball-handler, making plays for others is crucial.
Collins needs to get to near triple-doubles regularly, as he did against the Wizards. You do not need to be the guy every night that you play to justify a salary the size of Collins’. You have to do what the team needs every night in order to win at an extremely high level. He did this in the second game against the Wizards, now he needs to replicate this sort of game for the rest of the season.