When John Collins was a young kid, his mother, Lyria Rissing-Collins, was serving her country as a member of the United States Air Force. So the 6-foot-10 Collins, whom the Hawks drafted Thursday with the 19th overall pick of the NBA Draft, did a lot of two things in his early years: traveling the globe and growing.
Collins was born in Utah, but soon moved to Guam when the Air Force stationed her there. In Guam, Collins got his hands on a basketball for the first time -- in an Easter basket that he received at age 2.