Two Atlanta Hawks players are significant historically
When Travis Schlenk took over the Atlanta Hawks front office, he started the ball rolling with some pretty impressive drafting. In the first draft that he oversaw, in 2017, Schlenk took John Collins with the 19th pick.
Then the next season, Schlenk pulled off the trade which saw him give up the third pick, which became Luka Doncic. They received the fifth pick in the 2018 NBA draft which became the franchise cornerstone Trae Young. There were other pieces to this trade but they are not relevant to this discussion
These two moves have secured the future of the Hawks franchise for years to come. Collins extended his tenure with the Hawks for five seasons in the offseason which, when added to Young signing his rookie max deal, the future of the Hawks is bright long term.
The Atlanta Hawks have two generational superstars in John Collins and Trae Young
Collins is one of the more athletically gifted players to become a Hawks player for a long time. His ability to get off the floor for a rebound, or a dunk is becoming the stuff of legends. We all still talk about the throw down he put on Joel Embiid’s head in the playoffs last season.
However, Collins offensive ability goes well beyond that. He is one of only ten players in NBA history whose true shooting is greater than 63 percent through 200 games. Most of the other players on the list whose true shooting percentage is at the similar level are post players like Rudy Gobert, Jarrett Allen, and DeAndre Jordan. Collins takes just under 2,5 attempts from deep per game, the only player on the list to do so.
Add to this the fact that Trae Young is now only the fourth player to have 6,000 career points and 2,000 career assists prior to turning 24. The other four players are Isiah Thomas, Stephon Marbury, and LeBron James. This is an incredible list to belong to.
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He is improving in his decision making, which is going to be incredibly beneficial to the Hawks when they get their full team back. The combination of Young and Collins is going to be significant in the NBA for a long time to come.