Atlanta Hawks: Has John Collins played his way to a max extension?

Has John Collins played his way to a max extension with the Atlanta Hawks?

My knee-jerk reaction when the question of John Collins being a max player is brought up is to say, “No. Nice player, not worth the max.”

Collins’ points and rebounds are down from the season before, he had a few injuries these last two regular seasons, and not to mention a reported feud he had with franchise point guard Trae Young at the beginning of the season.

Another thing that didn’t help Collin’s case was that the Atlanta Hawks got off to a slow start to their season. This led to a poor 14-20 record that would lead to the firing of former head coach Lloyd Pierce.

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Collins’s hopes for big money were looking rather slim after all of these events took place. Then, Nate McMillan happened. After the Hawks parted ways with Pierce, McMillan was named the interim head coach, after being Pierce’s assistant.

McMillan has been a head coach in this league for many years, most recently for the Indiana Pacers, and the Portland Trail Blazers before that. McMillan may be a household name to Seattle Sonic fans from back in the 90s playing alongside the “The Glove,” Gary Payton. He’s known for his tenacious defense as a player and carried that same defensive mindset to his coaching career.

Initially, that seemed like a strange fit to this Atlanta squad being that they are not a lock you down defensive team. Whenever he was named the interim head coach, I didn’t expect it to be a league-altering move. Boy, was I wrong.

McMillan put the “coaches aren’t that important” argument to bed after leading the Hawks to a 27-11 record, to finish the season out at 41-31. This landed the Hawks at the 5th seed and their first playoff appearance since the 2016-17 season. Coach McMillan raised the play of the Hawks’ entire roster, not just Collins.

In the regular season, Young was left off the All-NBA list and didn’t make the All-Star team after being an All-Star starter the previous season. Now, look at Trae and the rest of this Hawks squad in the playoffs. Once Nate took over, they have been a different team.

The fact that the Hawks made the playoffs would be an accomplishment enough, but to be in the Eastern Conference finals with a series against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, not only solidifies coach McMillan’s job as the new head coach of the Atlanta Hawks for the foreseeable future but the justification to give Collins that max deal he’s been looking for.

Here’s the case for Collins as a max player. There a lot of max guys in the league, of course, only six currently max players who also play the power forward position (same as Collins). You have Anthony Davis, Kevin Love, Karl-Anthony Towns, Draymond Green, and Al Horford. Obviously, there will be some more as time goes on but currently, those are the six power forwards.

Other than Davis and Towns, I’d argue Collins is more valuable than Love, Green, and Horford at this time. Based on the talent of the power forwards that are signed to the max, yes, Collins is worth the max.

Not convinced? What if the Hawks edge out the Bucks in this Eastern Conference finals and go on to NBA Finals and win? Wouldn’t want to bring that championship team back to defend their title the next season? Especially if it is a core piece to your team. It reminds me of when Draymond got his big deal from Golden State during their epic championship run. Was he a max player? No, but he was very important to their success, so you have to overpay sometimes to keep a good thing going.

I think that’s what we’re going to see here in Atlanta. Especially if they win the championship, but quite honestly I think they’ve achieved enough this season to justify the money and try to run it back next season with this same core.

The Hawks are oddly deep with Young, Bogdan Bogdanovic, DeAndre Hunter, Clint Capela, Collins, Danilo Gallinari, and Kevin Huerter all being extremely important to their success. Now obviously the Hawks won’t be able to pay all these guys in the future but they do have Capela, Gallinari, Bogdanovic, and Hunter locked up contract-wise for the next few years until they really have some difficult decisions to make. The Collins decision is an easy one for me, pay him what he wants, keep this team together and try to extend your window with a young core.

The franchise has been spoiled this season by having so much success after the way their season could have gone. Don’t get cheap now, now is the time to overspend and make it up on the back end and possibly hang a banner in Atlanta. The Hawks haven’t been to the finals since 1958 when they were located in St. Louis. I’d say Atlanta is due, I hope for the sake of Hawks fans that they don’t mess this up.