John Collins traded to Boston Celtics in Hoops Habit’s latest mock

With every minute that has passed since the Boston Celtics fell to the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals, the league’s news circuits have only gone on to churn faster and faster, with Woj Bombs seemingly erupting sooner than perhaps some had expected them to.

The latest major transaction, of course, was the Wednesday-night deal that saw All-Star guard Dejounte Murray being sent from the San Antonio Spurs to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Danilo Gallinari and future draft capital.

Now, though C’s fans may have been upset to see a dream target such as Murray be sent to a conference rival, this transaction could wind up having a butterfly-type of effect on the franchise in due time.

According to reports from B/R’s Jake Fischer, the Hawks may not be done with their trade endeavors just yet, as the front office is rumored to be interested in pursuing deals involving a few other players heading outbound, most notably their stud big man, John Collins.

To those of you who have been following us at HH for some time now (we really love you guys!), you’re likely already aware of our feelings about the power forward–he’s someone we’ve been saying the ball club should try and acquire for literally years.

Over time, it appears that our belief that he’d be a phenomenal grab for the Boston Celtics has spread to a vast majority of both fans and media pundits alike, and, now, since these rumblings of Atlanta’s willingness to part with the big have surfaced, we’ve been seeing outlets constantly brainstorming and thinking up ways in which Brad Stevens and co. can potentially land the budding star via trade this summer.

Just recently, in fact, our sister site, Hoops Habit, joined in on the action by concocting a deal that, in their mind, would wind up helping the Hawks. Little did they discuss, however, is the fact that this could actually wind up helping the C’s even more.

The exact proposal concocted reads as follows:

Now, yes, the proposed package could wind up helping Atlanta in numerous areas, such as floor spacing (Grant Williams shot 41 percent from deep this past season), secondary playmaking (Derrick White averages 7.2 assists per 100 possessions for his career), and replacing some of the draft capital they offloaded in the Dejounte Murray deal but, in all honesty, we at the Houdini believe that this trade could prove to be an absolute steal for the Boston Celtics.

As we stated earlier, we’ve been pleading with the front office to strike a deal for John Collins on numerous occasions throughout the years, as we were, and still are, under the impression that he could wind up being an ideal third building block alongside the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Just finishing up his fifth year in the association, the power forward found himself once again having a phenomenal season despite seeing his usage drop to the second-lowest mark since his rookie campaign (a major reason for his reported displeasures with the Hawks throughout the campaign).

Logging 30.8 minutes a night, Collins finished the year off boasting impressive per-game averages of 16.2 points, 7.8 boards, 1.8 assists, and a block on 53 percent shooting from the floor and 36 percent shooting from deep.

At just 26 years old and attached to a contract that runs through 2026, not only would he be able to help out this championship-aspiring squad in the immediate future but for the many years to whilst formulating one of the youngest, most menacing Big-3’s in the entire league with Tatum and Brown by his side.

Throughout the years, the forward has established himself as being a jaw-dropping athlete with the ability to flush it home at the rim just as easily as he can stroke it from distance.

A talent like Collins has not been seen in the frontcourt for the Boston Celtics since the Kevin Garnett-era and, with him in the mix, Ime Udoka would be attaining a guy with a career 3-point shooting percentage of 37.6 percent which, by all accounts, would allow him to continue running his desired big-ball lineup on offense while also not relenting much on the defensive end.

Adding all this to the mix without having to part ways with Marcus Smart, Al Horford, or Robert Williams? Yes please!