John Collins, who was dealt to the Jazz this summer, posted a farewell message on Instagram to the city of Atlanta, Hawks fans, teammates, and the organization. His message to the franchise included mixed feelings, thanking it on one hand while also saying his growth was being “stunted.”
“Thank you for sticking with me, even at my lowest,” Collins wrote. “Thank you for allowing me a place to grow. But as I see, it is this hawk’s time to fly away from the nest. As my growth here is being stunted.”
We have more from the Eastern Conference:
- Ausar Thompson, the Pistons’ lottery pick, could be anything from a starter to out of the rotation in his rookie campaign, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. His 3-point shot is the main concern but he has enough attributes to complement the starting backcourt of Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey by employing his defense on the opposition’s top perimeter play-maker. Thompson could also be a force on the second unit with a number of proven perimeter shooters around him, Langlois notes.
- Bucks fans don’t want to think about it, but what if Giannis Antetokounmpo eventually demands a trade? HoopsHype’s Yossi Gozlan looks at potential landing spots for the two-time MVP, with the Knicks, Thunder and Pelicans topping his list due to their surplus of assets.
- Kevin Love could take over the role of sage veteran on the Heat‘s bench, which Udonis Haslem filled in recent seasons, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel opines. Like Haslem, Love is a player with championship pedigree and he’s already served as a mentor inside the Heat locker room. Love could especially be helpful in the development of young forward Nikola Jovic, Winderman adds.
Pistons will move Hayes. That will open PT for Thompson. Someone should take a shot with Hayes. Still very young. Needs coaching imo. Has the size and vision to be good. Needs a mentor ……. Rockets should go for him. Even Sixers should go for him.
Hayes is a punk who punches people in the back of the head. He is a backup at best. Time to move on.
Nah for punching career instigator Mo Wagner, he’s a hero. Highlight of his career
Lol
Bulls should go for him, they need plan B and Jevon Carter ain’t no starter.
Decent idea. What would the trade be?
I agree too. The bulls probably have the worst starting PG in the league right now
Can’t stand all this Giannis talk lately. Isn’t his free agency 2 years away? A little premature to be in depth and articles Etc coming from all these writers. Not hopes rumors of course they are just reporting on the reporters but all those other articles out there. 2 years away.
Giannis has been hinting at this since MKE got ousted by Miami in the 1st round. The latest was him talking about putting off signing (another) extension until next summer. He basically said if they don’t win it all this season, he’ll be looking to move on.
So, it’s the summer of ’24 when it could all come to a head. We’re going to see stories about at least half the teams in the NBA being “potential suitors” by then. It’s all irrelevant because even though he’ll still be under contract, he’ll be the one deciding where he goes. And I suspect from this point on, his possibly being available next summer is a factor in Miami not pushing any harder to get Lillard. Even the Clips may think they have a shot.
Okay makes sense but we went through this a couple years ago and there was Warriors talk back then. He and Steph were buddies and all of that and he was a free agent in a couple of years but what happened.., he just signed a big extension and that was that.
But you could be right his time he’s done in Milwaukee but that’s 2 years away. The Bucks are a small Market team who are not good at trading away their stars early for assets. OK City with Durant etc. But what you say makes sense. Good post.
I don’t know what kind of growth Collins could possibly be referencing. He’s a great play finisher who can’t make plays for others, is an okay defender at beast, and regressed as a shooter in terms of both volume and accuracy, ending up as a negative contract with his recent play. Sure, his counting stats can perk back up but I can’t see him making a leap into a different class of player.
This isn’t the first time he’s made comments essentially complaining about his role, either. And while I have mixed feelings on Trae, it sounds like Collins thinks a little too highly of his standing in the league. Let’s see if he can back it up.
They stunted his growth by removing him as the primary pick and roll player with Trae. As soon as that happened, his scoring went downhill and he isn’t agile enough to get his own shot. (good going straight forward, but ain’t got no wiggle)
I get that. But I see that less as growth and more as them taking away the thing he already excelled at. Stunting implies he wasn’t able to grow in certain areas because of the way he was used or handled. If the Jazz use him to his strengths, it would simply allow him to recoup his lost value, which is fine in and of itself but wouldn’t mean he’d bring anything new to the table.
Interesting quote from Collins. I interpret that as a shot at Trae Young. Admittedly Trae is probably not an easy guy to play with. I’ve always wondered what happened to Collins the past few years, he showed a lot of promise early on. I wonder if being away from Trae will be good for him….or maybe this is all talk and he’s just not that good anymore himself. We’ll see, Utah might have gotten a steal with that trade.
See my statement above. Trae was GREAT for Collins, and made Collins look far better than he really was. They added Capela to rotate in as the high post/pick and roll guy and told Trae to stop dribbling so much because others whined .. and Collins suffered from those changes big time. Funny thing is, rumor had it that Collins was the one who complained. I don’t know for certain as I wasn’t in the room, but if it was him .. doh.
I would think most Jazz fans are cautiously optimistic about Collins. Coach Hardy has shown he’s able to get more out of players than was expected, even in a shorter amount of time. I mean he had Vando shooting 3’s at a good percentage by the time they traded him.
I predict the Jazz will give a serious look at Collins on this roster. He already seems really happy here so far. I wouldn’t expect any trades involving Collins until next Summer at the earliest. And that would only be for a bigger name. Maybe he could be part of a Giannis trade package? Never know what the Jazz are planning these days.
I expect the Jazz will be a very fun team to watch early on. Lots of guys are already in shape from the World Cup. They’ll likely start well again.