John Collins pushing for more minutes with the Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks rookie John Collins is providing much more than replay-worthy dunks this season and the team needs to find a larger role for him.
Limiting the number of minutes of rookie John Collins is proving to be a tough challenge for the Atlanta Hawks.
Even with his highly efficient play, coach Mike Budenholzer has allowed Collins to spend over 30 minutes on the court just twice in 27 appearances, even as the team has seen its record slip to the worst in the NBA after two months.
The impact of Collins stretches far beyond the 11.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game he has averaged this season.
Anytime he is on the floor, Collins is capable of igniting the crowd with his incredible athleticism.
John Collins giving us reasons to watch Hawks games pic.twitter.com/daoMZyKKRP
— The Crossover (@TheCrossover) December 15, 2017
Not only has Collins managed to rock the rim 59 times this season, tied with Pistons center Andre Drummond for the the seventh-highest dunk total in the league, he has emerged as one of the most effective scorers in the NBA.
The 6’10” forward out of Wake Forest ranks fourth in the NBA in field goal percentage, converting 60.6 percent of his attempts.
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In Atlanta’s 69 years of existence, only four other players have scored at least 200 points in a season and posted a higher true shooting percentage than the 64.4 percent Collins has managed this year.
Collins has shot at least 50 percent from the field in each of his last 14 appearances, posting 13 points on 73.6 percent shooting from the field.
Budenholzer has opted to not only start Ersan Ilyasova at the power forward position above Collins, but keep him on the floor for an additional 1.6 minutes a night.
Ilyasova, a 10-year veteran, is averaging 10.7 points per game, but his future with the team seems bleak considering he is playing on a one-year deal.
Atlanta selected Collins with the 19th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, removing Dwight Howard and Paul Millsap from the roster over the summer, believing he can become a critical part of the future of the franchise.
The tactic of extending minutes to Ilyasova was especially baffling Saturday against Dallas, considering Collins scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field.
John Collins has 0 personal fouls and will play, at the very most (if he checks in right now), 27 minutes in this game.
— Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) December 24, 2017
Instead, Collins spent a majority of his time on the bench, as he logged 20 minutes against the team with the second worst record in the NBA.
Stunting the development of Collins makes little sense, considering one of the biggest weaknesses of the roster is rebounding. The Atlanta Hawks are being out-rebounded each game by 4.2 rebounds and their average of 39.3 a game ranks 28th in the NBA.
The 20-year-old Collins leads all rookies with 81 offensive rebounds and his total of 7.1 rebounds per game ranks third among first year players. Collins is averaging 2.6 more rebounds a night than Ilyasova and leads the team with 191 total rebounds despite missing six consecutive games with an injured shoulder.
One of the staples of the offense in Atlanta is the pick-and-roll, and Collins is rolling to the basket 3.3 times a game, matching Anthony Davis for the 13th-highest frequency in the league.
Once he gets the ball, points are nearly automatic. Collins is converting 55.6 percent of his attempts as the roll man, the sixth-highest average in the league.
https://twitter.com/DefPenHoops/status/943694938126069760
Atlanta is in the first year of its rebuilding effort, but even with starting center Dewayne Dedmon missing each of the last 11 games with a stress reaction in his left tibia, but the minutes distribution hasn’t increased for Collins.
Instead, he has not played over 30 minutes in any of his last nine games, with only two games with 25 or more minutes in that span.
Next: 2018 NBA Mock Draft: End of 2017 edition
Collins ranks seventh on the Atlanta Hawks roster with 22.9 minutes per game, a figure that needs to change for him to develop into the star they expect him to become.