Heading into the NBA draft, Wake Forest's John Collins had an unpredictable stock. An athletic, 6'10 forward, J. Collins landed in ATL w/ the 19th overall pick, despite dominating (at times) in the ACC.
Collins is more of a throwback big - trends more towards board battling, scrapping & doing damage inside, rather than stepping out for jumpers. Thru 4 games, J. Collins has already tallied 2 double-doubles.
Checking Out Collins
10/23 @ MIA
• 14 pts, 11 boards, 2 dimes (18 min.)
J. Collins's special trait? The ability to put together a string of plays that (potentially) alter a game's momentum -- one reason he's able to post double-doubles in under 20 min.
• Output, output, output.
--J. Collins takes advantage of his minutes on the floor - very high volume in terms of production v. PT. When Collins is in the game, he makes his presence felt thru energy. The game mucks up a bit when Collins is fighting for boards/tapping out misses to create extra possessions.
• Physicality combined w/ timing & athleticism.
--A quick jumping athlete, J. Collins is able to get easy looks off dump off feeds in the lane. When posting up, he's comfortable w/ short righty hooks - and if a shot is off the mark (either his own or a teammate's), Collins crashes the glass hard for tip slams, tip-ins, or catch-gather-putbacks. His second-jump ability gives him an edge over less mobile bigs.
• Runs the floor, post-lane sprints; catch & finishing.
--Since J. Collins is still developing a true low & high post game (as well as a 3-pt. shot), he must be creative to score in the flow of ATL's offense. Coach Mike Budenholzer's offense is predicated on spacing, ball movement, and transition points. Collins is the beneficiary of many lookaheads due to his rim running alone.
Consistently beating fellow bigs down the court leads way to easy points - post-lane sprinting (after misses) could set up ATL for easy dunks & threes moving forward.
Collins still needs to improve his footwork & discipline defensively. His timing & anticipation (on D) is very encouraging but learning how to play without fouling (just 2 last night) will lead to more action.