The Hawks have made a couple of trades and signed a few free agents this offseason as the roster begins to take shape. To kick off the Summer, the team traded for Dejounte Murray before free agency even began. Then, Atlanta went out and signed Aaron Holiday to seemingly replace Delon Wright as the team’s versatile defensive guard. Shortly after, the club traded Kevin Huerter to the Kings in exchange for Mo Harkless, Justin Holiday, and a first-round pick. Then, most recently, the team added depth to the frontcourt by signing Frank Kaminsky.
The roster is just about complete, but many Hawks fans are still worried about the John Collins situation. JC has been the subject of trade rumors for the better part of the last two years as many national pundits fully expected Atlanta to ship the ultra-efficient forward out of town. Well, it turns out those sentiments were wrong.
According to Jake Fischer, the Hawks’ offseason is just about done as Collins trade rumors die down. He’s not expecting much more out of Atlanta’ but also included that teams weren’t willing to meet the Hawks’ asking price for Collins. Fischer concluded that De’Andre Hunter‘s extension talks are about the last thing on the docket for the Hawks.
Once the Dejounte Murray trade was announced, I actually loved the idea of somehow convincing Collins to stay in Atlanta; reports indicated that the versatile big man wanted out. He’s still a valuable piece; as I’ve said on multiple occasions, John Collins can be the third option on a championship-caliber team.
You would be hard-pressed to find a more efficient power forward in the Association than Collins, and his defense is nothing to scoff at either. He’s consistently improved his game every season, but most importantly, he’s a team-first, Belichick-kind-of-guy that will do anything to win games.
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Photographer: Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire
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