“Hawks This Year Are A Soap Opera”: John Collins Laments on Recent Drama Surrounding Trae Young And Company

The Atlanta Hawks are quite the mediocre team this 2022-23 season, less than 2 years removed from having made the Eastern Conference Finals. They’re currently the 8th seed in a competitive Eastern Conference with a record of 34-34, having gone 5-5 in their last 10 games. 

The team seems to be so dialed into be a mid-tier squad that they give up 117.2 points on average per night and drop 117.3 points of their own. A lot of what has transpired for the Hawks this season however, can be boiled down to a single term: drama. 

Everything from Trae Young reportedly not being a leader in the locker room to Nate McMillan being replaced by Quinn Snyder mid-season has led to Atlanta being in disarray.

Also read: WATCH: Trae Young Silences Washington Crowd With a Dagger Over Wizards

John Collins on the Hawks and their tumultuous season 

John Collins rarely talks to the media and he hasn’t done so in months. He finally broke his silence and clearly had quite a bit to get off his chest. The star big-man didn’t mince his words when talking about how the Hawks have functioned this season. 

“I’ve been through losing years, up years, down years, having playoffs, coming back, whatever. This one has been one that, in the best way, is just drama. Just like a soap opera, you know what I mean? This, that, what’s going on? Nobody even asks me about basketball. Everybody asks me about the show,” said Collins.

Collins seems to have had enough with Atlanta this season and while he did try to say what he felt in the ‘best way’, it’s obvious that he didn’t expect a team that added Dejounte Murray over the summer to middle like it has. The Hawks unfortunately, are simply not as good as they seem to be on paper. 

The Hawks have no continuity or chemistry 

Nate McMillan was never keen on taking up the head coaching job for the Hawks from the get-go. However, him taking them to the ECF in his first year led to him sticking around. Fast-forward to this season and it was clear from early January onwards that he wasn’t going to be the bench boss for long. 

Couple the HC’s replacement with the fact that the front office seems to be in a bit of turmoil due to mixed feelings about Tony Ressler’s son, Nick Ressler, and the franchise isn’t going in the right direction.

Also read: “Michael Jordan Was One Of 3 Men To Dunk On Me”: Shaquille O’Neal On Flaws In His 19-Year Career