The latest John Collins update gives Atlanta Hawks extra incentive

There is still a chance we get to see Atlanta Hawks (43-39) forward John Collins take the court again before all is said and done this season. The Hawks are busy preparing for their one-game Play-In Tournament matchup against the Charlotte Hornets. Their up-and-down season is in the rearview and they cannot afford to look back.

Atlanta went 15-9 after returning from the All-Star break. That was the seventh-best record in the Eastern Conference and the 11th best in the NBA in that span.

That might not seem like much in the way of the standings for the ninth-seeded Hawks. But they were two games below .500 with the 10th-best record in the conference leading up to All-Star weekend and the 18th best in the league at 28-30.

Collins has missed all but five games since the trade deadline.

Atlanta Hawks taking a “we’ll see” approach with John Collins’ potential return

The last update we got on Collins was no update at all as Nate McMillan told The Atheltic’s Chris Kirschner that there was “no timetable” for the high-flying forwards return. Our biggest takeaway at the time, with just four games remaining in the regular season, was that Collins would have to resume on-court activities in the following days to have a shot at returning.

Well, that’s just what happened with Kirschner sharing a video of Collins going through a pre-game warm-up routine.

Kirschner made note of the uncharacteristic number misses in the clip while also pointing out that Collins’ finger was still bandaged,

More video came via Sarah K. Spencer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ahead of Tuesday’s Play-In Tournament opener between the Brooklyn Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Spencer also reported that McMillan said Collins has “been moving a lot more” and that he came out of the 4-on-4 practice no worse for the wear. McMillan added they’ll have to prepare as if he won’t play until they know for sure that he will, per Hawks.com writer, Kevin Chouinard.

That isn’t just lip service either as Kirschner let it be known Collins was not expected to play in Wednesday’s matchup. He cannot grip the ball and is still experiencing pain. All of this could be perceived as more of the same or much ado about nothing.

The added movement from Collins is a terrific first step, no pun intended.

If no news was good news at the last update, then the progress is that much more significant to the outlook.

We have gone over Collins’ impact at length as he was averaging 18.7 points on 60.7% true shooting with 9.1 boards, 1.4 assists, and 1.1 blocks in seven games before getting injured late versus the San Antonio Spurs on February 11.

The visual of seeing his progress could spur his teammates – who certainly don’t need any added motivation to want to beat Charlotte – to another inspired run just like they enjoyed last year on the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. There, they welcomed Cam Reddish, now of the New York Knicks, back from just 23 games the season before.

He went on to have a rather impressive series, averaging 12.8 points on 66.8 percent true shooting while knocking down 64.3% of his triples

Collins was struggling with his shot prior to going down shooting just 43.2% overall and hitting just four of his last 25 threes over his final seven games. That won’t improve if he is still experiencing pain in the hand. But, he is moving around.

The original plan for his finger was immobilization until it healed so the splint might not be as telling as it seems.

The pain is.

As we said, the Hawks will likely need to have an extended run in the postseason to get Collins back in the mix. But seeing him make the progress he has in recent days has to be added motivation in an already intense environment.