As pretty much everyone expected following the departures of Paul Millsap and Dwight Howard in the summer, the Atlanta Hawks have not been good to start this season. At 4-17, only the Chicago Bulls have a worse record in the entire league.
One of the bright spots for the Hawks, however, has been their rookie forward, John Collins. The Hawks took the extremely athletic Collins with the No. 19 overall pick in the draft back in June, and he has been impressive, averaging 11.5 points on 59 percent shooting, and 7.1 rebounds per game. Among rookies, he's first in field-goal percentage, third in rebounding, third in blocks and seventh in scoring.
Unfortunately, because the Hawks apparently cannot have nice things this season, Collins is set to miss the next 2-3 weeks with a shoulder injury. According to a report from Shams Charania of The Vertical, Collins has an AC joint sprain. Thankfully, however, there was no tear.
Sources: Atlanta rookie John Collins has been diagnosed with a sprained AC joint in left shoulder -- no tear -- and is expected to miss 2-to-3 weeks. He suffered injury Thursday night.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 1, 2017
This is a tough blow for Collins, as it puts a temporary halt to what has been a very solid rookie campaign thus far. When he is able to return to the floor, the Hawks will be quite glad to have him back.