Decidedly, the physical glitches accumulate for John Collins. Already hampered by a tendon injury in the right foot in February, forcing him to stay in the infirmary, the interior of the Hawks is now touched on the finger.
Since the meeting against the Pistons, his right ring finger is swollen. It even doubled in size. “To put it simply, it’s not ideal. It’s not easy to play basketball like that.”he summarizes at The Athletic.
The figures clearly show it. In two matches with this sprained finger, he posted a very ugly 3/17 in shooting including a terrible 0/8 at 3-pts, with very clear misses. John Collins is not only handicapped to shoot because of his finger, but also when he fights on the rebound or on certain passes. As long as he plays with this injury, which requires rest and immobilization, he cannot hope for improvement.
In addition, his foot is still a concern even if the pain is bearable. “I’ve never had an injury like this where I can’t put pressure on my foot. I’m not 100%, that’s for sure. “
To play or not to play: that is the question
But again, without a rest of several weeks, it will not get better. Except that there is less than a month of regular season left and the Hawks still have to snatch their place for the “play-in”. Now is not the time to stop…
“For the team to show its potential, all the players have to be available. I want to play, it’s obvious”concedes John Collins. “I want to be present and have an impact for my team. I’m trying to cope with these injuries and with the pain. I’m trying to manage the latter in the best possible way for the end of the season. It’s difficult. It was not easy mentally for me to know what I wanted to do. Because every game matters more than ever. “
Against Indiana and Portland (two wins and two big performances from Trae Young with 47 and 46 points), he therefore decided not to play. The facts were obvious to him: a John Collins with 5.5 points on average and 17% of success, unable to score at 3-pts, is not an asset for the Hawks.
“I know that I can feel better, which would help the team, but I also know that with what I can do, I can contribute positive things and help to win. But, at this stage, am I helping the team or am I handicapping it? Am I ready to help my team, or am I too preoccupied mentally, which hurts the group? It is not easy. I want to rest to get better and make sure I don’t handicap my team. But I want to play too and make the right decision. “
| John Collins | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2017-18 | ATL | 74 | 24 | 57.6 | 34.0 | 71.5 | 2.4 | 4.9 | 7.3 | 1.3 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 10.5 |
| 2018-19 | ATL | 61 | 30 | 56.0 | 34.8 | 76.3 | 3.6 | 6.2 | 9.8 | 2.0 | 3.3 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 19.5 |
| 2019-20 | ATL | 41 | 33 | 58.3 | 40.1 | 80.0 | 2.8 | 7.3 | 10.2 | 1.5 | 3.4 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 21.6 |
| 2020-21 | ATL | 63 | 29 | 55.6 | 39.9 | 83.3 | 1.9 | 5.5 | 7.4 | 1.2 | 3.1 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 17.6 |
| 2021-22 | ATL | 54 | 31 | 52.6 | 36.4 | 79.3 | 1.7 | 6.1 | 7.8 | 1.8 | 3.0 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 16.2 |
| Total | 293 | 29 | 55.9 | 37.6 | 77.9 | 2.5 | 5.9 | 8.3 | 1.6 | 3.1 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 16.5 | |
