Atlanta Hawks: The John Collins and Blake Griffin comparison

John Collins and Blake Griffin certainly both passed the eye test when they first came into the league. Their careers started out quite a bit different, but the Atlanta Hawks youngster is looking more similar to Griffin by the game.

The first overall and the 19th overall picks in the NBA Draft rarely have anything in common. The No. 1 pick is supposed to be a generational talent, one that can turn the tide of a franchise with just their presence. The 19th pick is likely to become a role player on a team that is already built to compete, or occasionally a quality starter. The Atlanta Hawks have experienced this a bit differently.

Rarely do you ever find a player with as much potential as John Collins so late in the draft. He is already the best player on Atlanta’s roster and he’s even starting to look a lot like Blake Griffin did in his younger days.

Draft choices at this spot before Collins include:

• 2016: Malik Beasley
• 2015: Jerian Grant
• 2014: Gary Harris
• 2013: Sergey Karasev
• 2012: Andrew Nicholson

Out of this group, Gary Harris has turned himself into a quality starter, Jerian Grant and Malik Beasley are bench players at best, and the other two are out of the league.

Collins is looking like he could be the best pick at the 19th spot in recent memory. That debate becomes much more scrambled when you discuss the initial pick in the NBA Draft. Names like LeBron James, Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, Tim Duncan and Shaquille O’Neal highlight just some of the talent taken at the top. It was far from expected to see Collins lead his team in ways that only top talents have done before.

In their rookie years, Collins and Griffin had similar impacts on their teams, but not to the extent seen now. Griffin’s statistics are much stronger as a rookie, although he did miss his entire first year due to injury. Technically still listed as a rookie, Griffin took the NBA by storm as he lived up to all the hype set on a top pick.

The statistical gap of the two players tightens as they move into their second years:

Rookie

• Blake Griffin: 22.5 PPG, 12.1 RPG, 3.8 APG, 0.5 BPG, 50.6 FG%, 29.2 3P%
• John Collins: 10.5 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 1.3 APG, 1.1 BPG, 57.6 FG%, 34.0 3P%

Sophomore

• Blake Griffin: 20.7 PPG, 10.9 RPG, 3.2 APG, 0.7 BPG, 54.9 FG%, 12.5 3P%
• John Collins: 19.1 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 2.4 APG, 0.4 BPG, 58.2 FG%, 33.3 3P%

Going purely by the raw stats, their impact on the game is nearly identical. Collins is scoring at a much higher clip in his second year along with the double-digit rebounds. His shooting percentages are higher than Blake’s across the board and he came into the league already being able to shoot free throws consistently (71.5 percent as a rookie compared to Griffin’s 64.2 percent).

The most eye-catching numbers here aren’t in any of the top categories, though. Collins is producing at a similar clip in his second season while playing an average of 6.2 fewer minutes than Griffin did.

Aside from the playing time discrepancy, just merely watching clips of the two players side by side will show the similarities in their games. Collins’ game is predicated on his athleticism and his ability to out-hustle and out-jump every other person on the court. Blake Griffin used to be the same way, but has been forced to evolve his game as his athleticism deteriorated.

Although their games are similar, Collins is already showing signs that he could one day be better than Blake. Griffin waited until much later in his career and after multiple injuries before he evolved his game into something that can work without the high-flying antics. He can no longer jump over a car, but he is averaging a career-high in points and assists in his age-29 season for the Detroit Pistons.

Collins came into the league with an unreliable jump shot and shaky 3-pointer. The Hawks have worked with him on his shooting and he is now just below league-average on 3-point percentage. This shows just how quickly he can improve the most important aspect of his game.

One of his early career highlights is when he hit a tough fallaway shot against the Philadelphia 76ers, which went down as the game-winner. This is something neither of the two players could have done at first.

John Collins is someone Hawks fans are going to want to keep an eye on for many years to come.

He can be as good as and maybe even better than Blake Griffin one day, has already shown his knack for improvement and could perhaps be the most important player on a championship team one day in Atlanta.