How John Collins being out “indefinitely” impacts the Atlanta Hawks
The latest update on injured Atlanta Hawks (34-35) forward John Collins is not very encouraging. Collins has missed the last three games as the team has gone 2-1 in his absence. They had won three straight heading into Wednesday’s loss to the Charlotte Hornets which also cost them the nine-seed.
To make matters worse, the Hawks lost Danilo Gallinari to a bicep contusion and had Trae Young briefly sidelined with a knee contusion
Though returned to the game, Young struggled to get anything going from the floor.
With The Athletic’s Shams Charania reporting late Thursday that Collins will be sidelined indefinitely with foot and finger injuries, the Hawks up-and-down season just took another, unfortunate turn.
John Collins’ prolonged absence will have a ripple effect on the Atlanta Hawks
Collins had just returned from a seven-game absence due to what has been revealed to be a “plantar fascia tear” when he first suffered the finger injury versus the Detroit Pistons on Mar 7. He toughed it out over the next two games, having arguably the worst outing of his career the next time out eventually getting sat down to finish the loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Hawks have gone 6-4 in these last two stints without Collins in the lineup.
But the possibility that Collins could be done for the season presents a very real set of challenges down the stretch ahead of the Play-In Tournament.
Things have escalated rather quickly from Nate McMillan saying the forward was “just basically getting checked out.” He did say that they were unsure whether or not Collins was going to miss extended time.
He’s already missed 15 games this season due to myriad reasons.
light. Related Story. The Hawks have minutes up for grabs with Collins out
It’s quite possible playing without Collins finally caught up with Young after the latter went off in back-to-back games scoring 93 total points on 54.9 percent shooting while knocking down 12-of-24 threes.
Young’s net rating is 1.3 points better with Collins on the floor because his defensive rating is 2.7 points better offsetting a 1.4-point dip in their offensive rating. His assist percentage drops 2.8 percent without his running mate. They still put up 120.0 points per 100 possessions but allow 119.3 points per 100 possessions, per Cleaning The Glass.
That’s a razor-thin margin for error.
Despite a three-game win streak, they struggled to put some extremely short-handed teams like the Indiana Pacers and Portland Trail Blazers away.
They’ve seen their offensive rating increase 5.0 points in Collins’ absence. But it’s not hard to connect the dots between that and Young’s outburst. It is their defense, in particular behind their smallish point guard, that has suffered.
Next. Onyeka Okongwu’s foul trouble is holding him back. dark
Collins is also the heart and soul of this team. It has often seemed like they could use more fire at times this season and that could become more pronounced with him possibly out for much longer than anticipated.