John Collins has a message to Atlanta fans

[Sothron]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/other-guys-130318990.html

 

Worth the read. Love this guy and this team. I still believe.

[Dejay]

9 minutes ago, Sothron said:

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/other-guys-130318990.html

 

Worth the read. Love this guy and this team. I still believe.

I do, too. We've gotten this far...

[ATLHawks3]

JC!

[Carmine]

[Spud2nique]

That’s what I love about this team.

We have a group that’s straight-up fearless. You might have more “stars” than us, or more hype than us, or more playoff experience than us, or whatever it may be. But you’re not going to scare us. You’re never going to scare us. And that’s because we just know, no matter what’s been happening in the game up to any point — at some point?? We’re giving you buckets.

Buckets and buckets.

It starts with Ice Trae, of course — you know the numbers. You know the résumé. But really it’s everyone, man. It’s myself, it’s K’Von, it’s CC, it’s Bogie, it’s Lou Will, it’s Gallo, it’s De’Andre when he’s back….. there’s just no one getting minutes for us who isn’t a weapon.

It’s everyone.

[JayBirdHawk]

That was Beautiful! #TheAtlantaWay 

[Dejay]

8 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

That was Beautiful! #TheAtlantaWay 

These darn air filters in here. Mrs. Dejay told me to change them out before the summer.

If there ever was another Bruce Leroy moment left in this team, this is it. Everyone else is fully expecting a coronation in Milwaukee at the end of Game 5 after Sunday night. But so did Philly fans, especially after being up 18 in Game 4. They're on the trade machine, trying to move everyone but Embiid on their roster for Lilliard or Bradley Beal right now...

Edited June 29, 2021 by Dejay

[kg01]

26 minutes ago, Carmine said:

Who choppin the onions in here, carmine?

I think I got some dust in my sinuses.

[Dejay]

Hell, John Collins channeling Coach D'Amato on the net. Wait a minute...

Hey Alexa, cue up the Any Given Sunday speech...

'Okay...'

 

 

[NBASupes]

They play like it too. It's not just words 

[Atlantaholic]

[JayBirdHawk]

Must be Jollins Day! Another article.

 

Quote

MILWAUKEE — The fistfights were so prevalent in John Collins’ childhood at McChord Air Force Base.

Located just outside of Tacoma, Wash., the base is where Collins’ mom, Lyria Rissing-Collins, had to enroll her son in jiu-jitsu, taekwondo and karate to help control his aggression. He ended up earning a green belt in karate and a yellow belt in jiu-jitsu.

“If I’m being honest, I was a badass little kid up until the age of 14 years old,” Collins told The Athletic.

“I used to get into fights every single day. My mom would have to come handle what it was, and I almost got kicked out of school a bunch of times. I got jumped. I got into a bunch of stuff as a kid. I wouldn’t say I was a bad kid, but I was an angry, troubled kid. I was mad at the world. As I got older, I just started to change. I feel like happiness has always been inside me, but I wasn’t necessarily as happy as I am now, and it took me some time to realize that.”

A lot of Collins’ anger centered on his dad not being there for him after his parents divorced when he was 3. He feels like he lost out on perspective of how to grow up as a man without him around. He’s an only child, too, so there was no guidance he could glean from an older brother. It was just him trying to figure out his place in life.

When school would end, he’d have to go to the youth center on the military base to wait for his mom to pick him up. That’s where a lot of the trouble centered. Collins remembers how unhappy of an environment it was — kids like him who had to frequently uproot their lives with no true friend group to lean on. Collins was born in Utah and has lived in Guam, Turkey, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Washington and Florida, which is where he calls home when someone asks.

Today, Collins is known throughout the Hawks organization as this vibrant, happy person to be around. He’s the player the franchise goes to when it needs a representative at a community event or someone to shake the hand of some important figure.

Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk called Collins “the heart and soul of the team” on “The Jim Rome Show” last week. While Trae Young is viewed as the team’s best player, Collins is the emotional leader inside the locker room for Atlanta. He’s the one in the middle of the huddle prior to the game, breaking it down, the guy who’s unafraid to speak his mind, both good and bad.

Getting there required personal growth from Collins to realize there were better ways to channel his intense passion. His shīfù — Mandarin for a master of martial arts — became one of the most important people who helped shape Collins’ future into being a leader for the Hawks, both on and off the court.

“Listening to a sensei and your instructor the entire time and him making you do tough moves the entire time over and over again in situations you have to hold and memorize, that just gave me an outlet to use my hands in a more practical manner than what I was doing when I was outside fighting,” Collins said. “I was able to relieve a lot of emotions.”

The happiness was buried deep within himself over the past three seasons playing for the Hawks. Collins and Kevin Huerter had enough of the losing. Late last season, Huerter and Collins, who sit next to each other on every flight on the Hawks’ charter, sat back in their seats and vented about playing for a team that was built to lose. They wondered how it could get better. What they were working toward seemed so distant and unimaginable.

“I can’t tell you which game it was — we were both sitting on the plane feeling defeated, like, ‘This sucks,'” Huerter recalled. “We’re sitting on the plane like, ‘This sucks. NBA life sucks. We don’t know what winning is like.’ Here we are a year later doing media in Milwaukee in June. It’s been a long ride.”

Quote

That intrinsic motivation to people-please is part of the reason he’s been content sacrificing his individual numbers in a contract year. In Young’s first two seasons, Collins was the No. 2 scoring option. The scoring has gone down this season because his role is different. Collins’ pick-and-roll opportunities aren’t what they have been, and he’s played more on the perimeter than he ever has in his life.

The Hawks have credited him all season long with being someone willing to do whatever it takes to win. If it’s getting offensive rebounds, helping on the weak side defensively, camping out in the corners for 3s, posting up, it doesn’t matter. Collins wants to do it. Huerter calls him the Hawks’ Swiss Army knife because of his ability to do just about everything on the floor.

“I would say that John, Trae and Dre’ [De’Andre Hunter], those guys are part of the core that I think the organization is going to build around for the future,” interim coach Nate McMillan said. “He’s a cornerstone to the future of this organization, and it’s a good group as far as young talent with potential to go into the future with.”

 

Quote

Collins knew he needed to change his game this season because of Capela and Danilo Gallinari being inserted into the rotation. There was never any dismay on Collins’ part. In fact, he’s been one of the welcoming voices all season for both them and Bogdan Bogdanovic. Collins and Capela work out together after games and talk about their love of soccer. Collins calls Bogdanovic “brate,” the Serbian word for brother, every time he sees him.

Gallinari has talked about how he’s enjoyed taking Collins under his wing this season. Collins has made it a point on every team he’s played for to befriend the international players to make them feel as comfortable as possible.

“I’ve had to talk to so many different people in my life with how I grew up,” Collins said. “Whenever I have any foreign guys on the team, they always tell me how I get it and understand them. I just connect with them. I understand they have differences with closeness of space; I understand they talk differently and understand things differently than us. That’s what I love, though, because I feel like in America, we’re always stuck on us. We don’t take time to respect and acknowledge other cultures. Being that I have traveled and done so much, it’s natural for me to gravitate towards them.”

 

[ATLIEN404]

Gotdammit I BELIEVE!!!! 

[Spud2nique]

This thread got me bustin early am with people looking at me like ..

 

 WHAT UPPPPPPPPP HAWKS FAMMMMMMMM????? IT’S GAME DAY PEOPLE WHOSE READY? #getguap

[Spud2nique]

Just now, ATLIEN404 said:

Gotdammit I BELIEVE!!!! 

You remind me of those errors I used to get back in the day on my desktop 🖥 computer after it took 15 minutes to long on with all the clanking noises then back to square one. 

1 minute ago, ATLIEN404 said:

Gotdammit I BELIEVE!!!! 

Get guap! 

[Spud2nique]

2 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Must be Jollins Day! Another article.

 

 

This is awesome the all karate Hawks team.

 

Pg-

Sg-

Sf- Nique

pf- Jollins

C-

[AtLaS]

Love it.  I'm so happy that this team doesn't have that classic "Atlanta" feel where players are scared of the moment, forget how to play and just totally fold in the big games and big moments.  

It all starts with your star player, if your star shows up the rest of the team gets more confident as well.  

Even if we don't win another game in this series, I love the future of this team.  But screw that, we need this one tonight!

[Atlantaholic]

3 minutes ago, AtLaS said:

Love it.  I'm so happy that this team doesn't have that classic "Atlanta" feel where players are scared of the moment, forget how to play and just totally fold in the big games and big moments.  

It all starts with your star player, if your star shows up the rest of the team gets more confident as well.  

Even if we don't win another game in this series, I love the future of this team.  But screw that, we need this one tonight!

We're gonna get it done tonight my dude. I'm getting the feeling.

[Hawkmoor]

Did the message include 20 points and 5 assists by Bogi?   If not, there is no message.

[Diesel]

 

You gotta believe.