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John Collins was on a tear for the Atlanta Hawks before entering protocols

By Joshua Buckhalter

PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 23: John Collins #20 of the Atlanta Hawks reacts against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center on December 23, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Hawks defeated the 76ers 98-96. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 23: John Collins #20 of the Atlanta Hawks reacts against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center on December 23, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Hawks defeated the 76ers 98-96. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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The Atlanta Hawks (16-19) have taken advantage of having a couple of days off in between games. They are getting a slew of key contributors back from health and safety protocols including Danilo Gallinari and Kevin Huerter. This will go a long way to easing the offensive burden on Trae Young.

They are still missing his running-mate, however, in John Collins who is still a couple of days away from his return.

Atlanta hasn’t been able to take advantage of reduced isolation times under revised protocols.

The Atlanta Hawks need to get John Collins up to speed quickly when he returns

Collins has been one of the bright spots in a flickering season for the Hawks. Averaging 17.6 points and 7.9 rebounds this season, most of Collins’ campaign has been spent showing off a different level of versatility than in previous years. For one thing, he’s averaging a career-high 2.1 assists this season.

It’s a slight bump, sure. But consider that the Hawks have had such disruption to their lineups and rotations this season on top of a worse field goal percentage; albeit higher from three-point range.

Young has tied his career-high with 9.4 assists per game – up to 10.0 over the last 10 games – on career-high usage so it’s not as if Collins has gotten more opportunities that way either.

He somehow found a way to take it up another level before COVID sidelined him.

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In his last five outings, Collins averaged 21.2 points, 9.0 boards, and still managed to dish out 2.0 assists per. He did this with a bunch of 10-day contract guys for teammates and no Young to feed him the ball for three of those games.

It’s a similar situation to Cam Reddish in that Collins went down right as he was coming on and at a critical time for the Hawks too.

Despite their sluggish start, the Hawks remain within striking distance of the fifth-seed with a road trip that will include the Sacramento Kings – where Collins should re-join the team– and both the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers leading into a home-and-home with the Miami Heat. It’s the toughest stretch since their last road trip that left them winless.

The silver lining is that they are getting healthy.

If there is a concern based on what we’ve seen in these situations it is that players take a few games to get their conditioning up to snuff. We saw Clint Capela go through it and Huerter has said he will have to get right himself.

Exploring the Hawks rotations with players coming out of protocols. dark. Next

They’ll need Collins to get back to being the player he was right before he went down as soon as possible upon his return.

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