Atlanta Hawks call up rookie Jalen Johnson in light of John Collins’ injury

The Atlanta Hawks (34-35) have called up rookie Jalen Johnson in a move that corresponds to the news that John Collins would be sidelined “indefinitely” as he works through finger and foot injuries that threaten to wipe out several weeks at the least. They also have Danilo Gallinari and Trae Young dealing with arm and thigh contusions, respectively.

They face a strong Memphis Grizzlies squad on Friday that has won four in a row and will be looking for revenge for the first meeting, a 132-100 Hawks victory.

Losing Collins has sapped the effectiveness from what was the Hawks most effective grouping and has left them all feeling the effects from Trae Young – who is missing a lob threat which helps his floater – to the defense as a whole.

Hoping for more minutes for Johnson has been a fruitless endeavor to this point, though.

Jalen Johnson should be getting more looks with Collins sidelined “indefinitely”

If it feels like we’ve done this dance all season, that is because we have. The Hawks have dealt with players in and out of the lineup all year from COVID to injuries both of which have been constant nuisances for the last two seasons. Who could forget the run of 10-day guys ranging from Chaundee Brown to Lance Stephenson?

So far, the Hawks and Nate McMillan in particular have gone in a host of different directions rather than give Johnson extended minutes.

The most common, and logical, explanation is that McMillan is an old-school coach who isn’t in the business of giving out developmental minutes in the midst of a playoff chase. None of that seems off the wall in any way.

Neither is the decision to try as many different options as are available before turning to the 20th-overall pick in last June’s NBA draft. Not when you are trying to ensure the confidence of a player that has shown extremely enticing potential not just as a scorer or defender, but as a playmaker too.

And yet, it is that potential, combined with the disappointing inconsistency of the Hawks that makes the entire situation frustrating for fans.

That being said, don’t expect it to change. McMillan has said Johnson will see more time is with even “more injuries”. But that came at a time when the Hawks were only without De’Andre Hunter and coming off of a seven-game winning streak. The positional matchup wasn’t there either based on how Johnson has been used.

The Hawks are still mostly healthy.

But they are fighting for their playoff lives and just lost a big piece to the puzzle at Johnson’s position in Collins. We also have enough data on the likes of Gorgui Dieng, Kevin Knox, and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot who have all gotten minutes at power forward.

At this point, the Hawks are running out of reasons not to play Johnson. We saw how long it took second-overall pick Jalen Green to adjust to the NBA level even after an entire season in the G-League. To be fair, Green had no college experience. But Johnson’s lack of time at Duke has been used as justification for his situation as well.

His best game this season came with his longest exposure; a 15-plus-minute outing against the New York Knicks where he logged four points with seven boards and finished as a plus-seven. The next most floor time he’s received was 10-plus minutes versus the Orlando Magic.

He’s finished with a positive plus-minus in just two of his 16 appearances with the Hawks. The rookie is averaging 21.0 points and 11.0 boards on 47.0 percent shooting in the G-League.

Johnson has handled it all as well as one could have hoped, checking a major pre-draft concern off of the list. Hopefully, whenever his time comes, his approach pays off.