Remember that in the interrupted 2019-20 season, Collins averaged 21.6 points, 10.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.6 blocks per game, shooting 58.3 percent from the field and 40.1 percent from beyond the arc. In that 2019-20 season, when Collins was at his most productive, it was as a versatile offensive threat but primarily as a pick-and-roll partner for Young. Their chemistry was fantastic and
Collins’ leaping ability made him an anytime-anywhere lob threat that Young leveraged in a variety of ways.
That season about 28 percent of his offensive possessions were finished as the screener in the pick-and-roll. This season, that percentage has fallen to 16.3 and instead of catching lobs from Young, we’re seeing
a lot more of this.
The problem is not just Young missing John Collins in favor of taking contested jumpers. But overall, Collins is spending a lot more time
stationed in the corner and watching passively as the offensive unfolds in front of him.
Nearly 30 percent of Collins’ possessions this season have come from spot-ups, up from about 16 percent in 2019-20, basically reversing the pattern with regard to his pick-and-roll opportunities. Collins has some stretch to his game, but the most valuable part of his game is his movement, energy and explosiveness in the paint. Leaving him to languish in the corner is asking him to lean into the weakest parts of his game at the expense of his strengths.
A big factor here is roster construction. Collins has been setting an average of
13.3 screens per game for Murray/Young this season,
far less than Capela (26.4) or Okongwu (16.7). The pick-and-roll pairing with Murray or Young and Collins has been a far more efficient scoring option for the Hawks, but in total it’s they’re probably better off with the centers screening and Collins floating around the perimeter instead of the reverse.
If you put Collins on a roster with a center who could protect the rim and space the floor — say Myles Turner and the Pacers, Kristaps Porzingis and the Wizards, the Grizzlies and Jaren Jackson Jr. — he’d be freer to get back into the role that made him so effective earlier in his career, wreaking havoc inside the arc with quickness and explosiveness.
