It feels like an eternity ago that John Collins was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in 2017 in what turned out to be the beginning of their rebuild as Paul Millsap — the Hawks’ All-Star power forward at the time — left Atlanta in Travis Schlenk’s first summer at the helm of operations in Atlanta, leaving Collins free to step into the role in his rookie season.
Collins was brought along the journey and, as other players joined him in the Hawks’ rebuild, established himself as one of the teams’ most important players as the Hawks advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021.