Atlanta Hawks: 2018-19 player grades for John Collins
Springy Atlanta Hawks forward John Collins expounded on his impressive rookie season and became one of the NBA’s pleasant surprises.
Aside from failing to leap over a model Wright brothers plane in last February’s Dunk Contest, everything went right for Atlanta Hawks forward John Collins in year two.
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The 21-year-old received an uptick in playing time in his sophomore season and he rewarded his coaches faith by upping his per-game scoring, rebounding, and passing stats while also improving his shooting efficiency.
Lest you think that his 19.5 points, 9.8 boards, and 2.0 assists were a byproduct of his on-court time going up, those same numbers took an even more substantial jump when adjusting them to per 36 minutes and per 100 possessions rates.
So while you can correlate some of his success to getting more chances to play, it’s far from the whole story.
So what is the whole story on Collins? Was he a stat padder who filled up the box score columns during blowout losses? Did he merely benefit from a pace and space offense headlined by a similarly promising, albeit erratic, point guard? Was he really as good as his numbers suggest?
As with most things, there’s plenty of room for nuance in the answers to those questions. Hopefully, this piece will offer a tangible response to most of them as well as whether Collins can become a focal point for (hopefully?) future Hawks playoff teams.