Atlanta Hawks: John Collins to Miss Early Part of the Season

The Atlanta Hawks will continue to be without big man John Collins for the coming weeks. Collins is expected to miss at least two more weeks with his ankle injury.

John Collins is one of the better players on a weak Atlanta Hawks roster. Collins has missed the first three games this season and is expected to continue to miss time. With at least two weeks before their star is back, the Hawks must get creative at power forward.

Veteran Vince Carter is likely to continue to earn starts and shoulder the load with Omari Spellman and Taurean Prince filling in as well.

The Hawks are off to a 1-2 start with their only win coming against a lowly Cleveland team. Both losses against Memphis and the Knicks were blowouts, where the Hawks were never close.

In the third game, the biggest difference for Atlanta was Trae Young’s ability to spread the floor. Without John Collins driving inside or battling at the board Atlanta must find other ways to create space.

Collins will be missed but if Trae Young can continue to shoot from distance Atlanta’s offense can get by. Young’s ability to shoot from deep or drive to the hole creates mismatches opening up shots for Taurean Prince or Kent Bazemore.

Collin’s injury was suffered on his ankle and he is yet to put in any on-court work. With that in mind, Collins is likely closer to a month away from being back to normal.

A month Trae Young must be the only source of offense for Atlanta, orchestrating from the point guard position and creating shots for an underwhelming Atlanta lineup.

For a team with few expectations this season they should ease Collins back not risking worsening an injury to a potential franchise player. More to come as the Hawks continue to wait on their big man to make his 2018 season debut.