Here's a transcript of first-round pick John Collins' interview with media at the NBA Draft:
Q: John, could you start out with an opening statement, what you'll bring to the Hawks, please?
JOHN COLLINS: First off, I want to say I'm blessed. Happy to be a Hawk. Shows a lot of promise that the organization is willing to take the time to pick me. Like I said, happy to be a Hawk, and ready to give my all for the organization, so go Hawks!
Q: John, the Atlanta Hawks just traded away Dwight Howard, made some changes in the front office, clearly a team that's trying to do some things differently. How do you feel like you fit and what do you feel like you're going to bring to the team?
JOHN COLLINS: Obviously the organization has a winning culture of being able to make the playoffs consistently for a number of years now, with the front office changes, something is going in the right direction. They're a team that constantly wants to improve and going forward, so as a young guy I want to come in there and learn that winning culture and just bring that to the team.
Q: I assume you enjoyed your time in Winston- Salem and now you get to stay in the Southeast. Now that this is done, were you kind of hoping to stay in the Southeast because you chose to go to college there?
JOHN COLLINS: Wherever I went is wherever I went but obviously now that this happened, it's always cool to stay in sort of the same area as Wake, and obviously mom down the road in South Florida. So definitely cool staying in town.
Q: I assume Delta Airlines will be getting a lot of business. JOHN COLLINS: Yeah, definitely. Mom is a big Delta fan anyway, so she'll be in and out of Atlanta a lot.