John Collins On Embracing Atlanta, His Favorite Dunks And The Perks Of Being In The NBA

The Atlanta Hawks are in a rebuild after letting the vast majority of their core unit that led them to 10 straight postseason appearances walk over the past few years. Al Horford, Jeff Teague and Paul Millsap have all departed Atlanta in recent years, as have role players like DeMarre Carroll, Kyle Korver and others, as the Hawks have hit the reset button.

Rookie big man John Collins, who the Hawks selected with the 19th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft out of Wake Forest, is the Hawks’ prized possession as they look to stock their cupboard with quality young players. Collins has played in 54 games for the Hawks this season, starting five, and has been a bright spot averaging 10.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 22.3 minutes per game. He doesn’t project to star level as an NBA player, but a strong role player for years to come would be great value out of the 19th overall pick.

Collins made waves in the Rising Stars game last Friday during All-Star Weekend with a thunderous dunk off an alley-oop from Donovan Mitchell that served as the highlight of the night even though the exhibition was less than competitive.

On Saturday of All-Star Weekend, Collins sat down with Dime at the Express suite activation in Los Angeles to discuss his favorite dunks (including that one), what he’s learned about playing in the NBA and the business of basketball, the first time he dunked, embracing Atlanta culture and music, getting into fashion and cooking.

DIME MAG: How would you assess the first half-ish of the rookie season? What’s the transition been like into the league? How do you feel about where you’re at?

John Collins: You know, it’s funny everyone always said it’s the halfway point, but it’s really …

Two-thirds.

Yeah, so far it’s been nuts. Seen a lot of ups, a lot of downs, a lot of learning experiences. It’s a lot of positives and negatives, some of these things that you didn’t really expect to happen. A lot of things you did expect to happen. How it actually feels when it happens to you. It’s a lot of emotional. It’s an emotional roller coaster on a mental roller coaster because it’s the first time you’re doing something, you don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know what to expect. But I’ve loved every minute of it. Trying to stay here as long as I possibly can. Just trying to take advantage.

What would you say, is there one thing that you’ve learned about life in the NBA that has surprised you the most? Whether it’s on-court or off-court, what’s been the biggest adjustment?

For me, is trying to understand how much of a business it is. Coming from high school and travel basketball, it’s all been about, regardless of how good the kid is, the development and making sure that they have a great time. Just making sure it’s a good experience.

Now, the biggest aspect of it, how cutthroat it is, getting paid now, how seriously the guys take their job. They have families to feed or whatever, so I think about same thing about in terms of their families to feed, then it always brings me back to the heightened level of sensitivity that I need to attack my job with. Guys have kids and wives, people they need to take care, their job is depending on how we play and how they react to certain situations on the basketball court. That’s probably the biggest thing I’ve learned.

Who are the vets that you’ve learned the most from? The guys that you found in Atlanta that kind of help guide you through this first year so far?

The first one is [Kent Bazemore]. Baze has been the first person I saw in Atlanta, so he kind of took me under his wing when I got there. Showing me some stuff off the court. Giving me help, giving me tips.

And then of course Dewayne Dedmon, you know big guy. I’ve had a chance to play a lot of basketball with. He’s been around and on a couple teams, been in the league for a good couple years now, so he’s always giving me some good hints and tidbits on stuff I can do for the longevity of my body. I mean honestly, the whole team has just taken me under their wing, but those two guys are the most active.

What’s one of the things that you found in your game that you’ve realized, that these are things I really want to work on and improve on to have that long standing career in the league that you found are going to be important?

First, the two things for me are the three-point shooting offensively, because in the league, you have to be able to shoot threes, the way the game is played. And then the other one is defensive versatility. How important it is to have the guy that can run or switch positions.

Be able to shoot threes and defend most of the guys. To really stay on the court the whole time because if you can guard a couple guys can go to the other end and be able to space the floor, you’re a threat. And then, for me, if I can add that on top of my size and athleticism, my instincts around the rim, hopefully I can be in the league for a long time. So trying to build that.

You’re quite the dunker …

Yeah, a little bit, right?

When was the first time you dunked in a game?

In a game? The first time I ever dunked in a game … I think it was my sophomore year in high school. Yeah, I think it was my sophomore year in high school. It was a really, really regular dunk.

Yeah, nobody has a crazy first dunk.

No, I’ve never heard of any who was … Actually, I had a crazy first dunk … but it wasn’t in a game. We were at my practice and I just went up and ‘Boom!’ But it was just really unexpected. And I was pretty tall. I was 6’4-ish, still couldn’t dunk. I just, it was that one moment, I don’t know what got into me. I just went up and did it. And then I couldn’t do it again for like a year. Then one day I just woke up, and I just, dunking was a second thought.

Yeah, I dunk a lot.

What’s your favorite in-game dunk you’ve had in your career?

Probably the one I had last night to be honest. Or the one that Dewayne through me the lob on, I don’t know if you guys had a chance to see that?

But the one last night was … SC Top 10 number one. That was pretty dope. All-Star, my boy Donovan, he’s in the dunk contest tonight. A lot of bounce in his legs too.

There’s some … him, Dennis … there’s some bounce

Yeah, a lot of bounce in this class. Yeah, the one he threw me last night was crazy. It’s crazy because I as missing a bunch of dunks for some reason. Butterfingers. But that one, I went up, caught all the way back, one hand, looking in the rim. Probably that one, because those one-handers are crazy.

When did you start getting into fashion? Was it college? Was it high school? When did you kind of start getting into that and then how has your style evolved over time from high school to now?

It was crazy, because in high school I went to a private Catholic school. So if I could really say it myself, it was trash, because every day I wore a uniform. Whenever I would dress, it would just be whatever. I was wearing the same thing five days out of the week. So for me to dress something else, I wanted to be in sweats because it was comfortable.

And then once I got into college I had the opportunity to wear different stuff, I kind of experimented a little bit. Had a couple days, I was looking crazy, but it was just innovation. Trying different stuff. And then once I got into the NBA, obviously the monetary status helps a little bit. So I’m able to buy different things. But then really once I signed with Express, and then they would be able to give me jeans that literally fit perfectly and shirts that fit perfectly for a guy my size, it kind of changes everything. I can swag out a lot more, style out a lot more because, the stuff is tailored for me. Other guys have to go in a store, so it might not fit them the best, 6’10, big guy trying to find jeans, right down to the ankles [pulls on his pant leg] with extra room is very rare.

What was the worst thing you thought looked cool? Like the thing you look back on and you’re like, ‘Why did I do that?’ For example, I grew up in Atlanta during the Dem Franchize Boyz days, so we had white tall T’s and those sorts of things.

Honestly, the stuff that was like … it wouldn’t be necessarily one thing. Some days I literally would not care and I would go into class and find a green hoodie, purple sweats and throw on some yellow shoes. And be like, it was cool. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was one thing, but my lack of …

Thought.

Yeah. Yeah, at the time I just didn’t care what I wore because, I don’t know, it just wasn’t important to me, until it hit, in college. I was like, oh, I should be in the limelight a little bit and dress-up before games. Got a little bit more popular. You’re able to dress in the league now. The NBA is a big ole’ runway, fashion-wise. More than ever it’s important.

No doubt. Now that you’re in Atlanta, I heard you earlier about wanting to get some music going. What do you listen to regularly and who are your favorite artists in Atlanta?

So um, before I even got to Atlanta, Logic is my favorite. Yeah, and I know its kind of crazy for me to say that. Logic is my favorite rapper, been listening to Logic since high school. A Boogie, I like the West Coast guys, Game, Kendrick, J Cole obviously going to school in North Carolina. Got to be a big Cole fan after that. Got to go back home, [Rick Ross], big Rozay fan, Kodak, and then, now we gonna get to the A because I listened to, I didn’t realize how much Atlanta rappers I listened to until I got to Atlanta. I’m a big fan of TI, Jeezy, Young Thug, obviously Migos is cracking right now. Future. Atlanta is really popular right now, man. But Young Thug is my guy.

If I had to choose one Atlanta rapper, new age, it would be Thug. And I always listen to TI and Jeezy. Those two are legends right there.

We’ve been asking everybody this, can you cook?

Yeah, I’m not, I’m not bragging about it, but I can cook.

Who did you learn from?

Mom. Yeah yeah, my mom can chef. My mom can chef. Cause I didn’t really want to learn. I always let her do it, I didn’t even want to mess it up.

Does your mom do the thing where you ask her how to do something and she says, well you do a little bit of this and she doesn’t have measurements?

Yeah, they wing it. That’s the best cooks. They don’t follow recipes. They know what they’re doing.

I’ve tried to make my mom’s cornbread so many times and it’s not right. She goes, it looks like this, and you go…

Yeah, like they know what it looks like, they know the texture, they’ve been doing it for so long. And my mom’s the same way. Whenever I was in the kitchen, she would always let me do one type of process, but she wouldn’t really let me get some work in. She’s taught me a little bit, before I went to college, I know enough, but if I was in a competition, I’m going to be, hey mom … you can do this. You know what I’m saying? I can cook a little bit.

If you had people coming over, you want to do something nice, what would be your go-to dish you would make?

My mom taught me how to make this pan-fried chicken. And it’s really good. The seasoning she uses, I can’t tell you that.

Obviously.

It’s sort of a Spanish type of thing. My mom’s Puerto Rican. A little Spanish flavor to it. Pan-fried. Some Spanish rice and broccoli. I forgot what the name of it is called, but it’s this Spanish chicken. It has a red sauce. It’s super super super crazy. Whenever I go home, it’s the first thing she makes for me.