Atlanta Hawks: 5 takeaways from 2017-18 NBA season

5. John Collins looks like a keeper

Selected 19th overall in last summer’s draft, Collins enjoyed a productive rookie season. The former Wake Forest Demon Deacon averaged 10.5 points and 7.3 rebounds this year with a 62.0 true shooting percentage.

Touted for his athleticism coming out of college, Collins flashed his physical skills throughout the season, particularly in the pick and roll. His 1.13 points per possession (per NBA.com) as th roll man were better than the likes of Dwight Howard, Joel Embiid, Marc Gasol, Myles Turner and LaMarcus Aldridge. Now, I’m not saying that Collins is better than those players, but it speaks to coach Budenholzer putting his young center in the best positions to succeed.

If you go by some advanced metrics, Collins was the Hawks’ best players this year, posting the highest Player Efficiency Rating and the most win shares on the team this year. He’s also a boon on defense, as he led all Hawks players in defensive win shares and defensive box plus/minus. Collins was certainly a bright spot on a Hawks team that was bereft of talent.

Of course, there are still holes in Collins’ game. His on/off numbers didn’t correlate with the team’s success; Atlanta’s net rating went from -6.8 to -5.3 when Collins went to the bench.

He’s pretty ineffective shooting anywhere outside of the restricted area, shooting just 34 percent from the paint, 41 percent from mid-range, and taking virtually no 3s (0.6 per game). However, If Atlanta adds more perimeter shooting in the future, it can get away with Collins being a bargain bin DeAndre Jordan.