 Collins coaching thePhiladelphia 76ers in 2010 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1951-07-28)July 28, 1951 (age 74) Christopher, Illinois, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 180 lb (82 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Benton (Benton, Illinois) | ||||||||||||||
| College | Illinois State (1970–1973) | ||||||||||||||
| NBA draft | 1973: 1st round,1st overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Drafted by | Philadelphia 76ers | ||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1973–1981 | ||||||||||||||
| Position | Shooting guard | ||||||||||||||
| Number | 20 | ||||||||||||||
| Coaching career | 1981–1989, 1995–2003, 2010–2013 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
Playing | |||||||||||||||
| 1973–1981 | Philadelphia 76ers | ||||||||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||||||||
| 1981–1982 | Penn (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
| 1982–1984 | Arizona State (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
| 1986–1989 | Chicago Bulls | ||||||||||||||
| 1995–1998 | Detroit Pistons | ||||||||||||||
| 2001–2003 | Washington Wizards | ||||||||||||||
| 2010–2013 | Philadelphia 76ers | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights | |||||||||||||||
As player:
As coach: | |||||||||||||||
| Career playing statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Points | 7,427 (17.9 ppg) | ||||||||||||||
| Rebounds | 1,339 (3.2 rpg) | ||||||||||||||
| Assists | 1,368 (3.3 apg) | ||||||||||||||
Stats at NBA.com  | |||||||||||||||
| Stats atBasketball Reference | |||||||||||||||
| Career coaching record | |||||||||||||||
| NBA | 442–407 (.521) | ||||||||||||||
| Record atBasketball Reference | |||||||||||||||
| Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame | |||||||||||||||
Medals
| |||||||||||||||
Paul Douglas Collins (born July 28, 1951) is an Americanbasketball executive, former player, coach and television analyst in theNational Basketball Association (NBA). He played in the NBA from 1973 to 1981 for thePhiladelphia 76ers, earning fourNBA All-Star selections. He then became an NBA coach in 1986, and had stints coaching theChicago Bulls,Detroit Pistons,Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers. Collins also served as an analyst for various NBA-related broadcast shows.[1] He is a recipient of theCurt Gowdy Media Award.In April 2024, Collins was elected to theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2024 by the Contributors Committee.[2]
Collins was born inChristopher, Illinois.[3] He grew up inBenton, Illinois, where his next-door neighbor was future film starJohn Malkovich. Collins enjoyed a successful high school basketball career atBenton Consolidated High School under coachRich Herrin.
Collins went on to play forIllinois State University inNormal, Illinois, coached from 1970 byWill Robinson, the first black head coach inNCAA Division I.[4]
Collins was drafted first overall in the1973 NBA draft by thePhiladelphia 76ers. He played eight seasons for Philadelphia, and was anNBA All-Star four times. In the 1976–77 season, he joinedJulius Erving leading the Sixers to the NBA Finals, where they lost to thePortland Trail Blazers.[citation needed]
A series of injuries[5] to his feet and left knee beginning in 1979 would end Collins' career in 1981. In all, he played 415 NBA games, scoring 7,427 points (17.9 per game).
After his retirement, Collins turned to coaching. He joinedBob Weinhauer's staff atPenn as an assistant coach and later followed Weinhauer toArizona State for the same job.[6] He resigned from Arizona State on July 7, 1984, to become aCBS television commentator.[7]
In May 1986, Collins was named head coach of theChicago Bulls;[8] the team featured a youngMichael Jordan who was entering his third season. Despite having Jordan, the Bulls were coming off a 30–52 season and had fired their past two coaches after one season each.[9]
Collins immediately helped the Bulls turn their fortunes around, showing an improvement of 10 games in each of his first two seasons, coaching Chicago to a 50–32 record in his second year. In his third year as coach, he brought Chicago to their first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 15 years;[10] however, they were unable to get past theirCentral Division rival, the "Bad Boys"Detroit Pistons. Despite the Bulls' success and his popularity in Chicago, Collins was fired in the summer of 1989.[11]
Collins was named the head coach of theDetroit Pistons in 1995. His results on arrival in Detroit were similar to those in Chicago, as the Pistons had a second-year star who drew comparisons to Michael Jordan,Grant Hill. In his first season, he was able to improve the team's previous season's record by 18 games and lead them back to the playoffs, though they would be swept by theOrlando Magic.[12]
A fast start in his second season pushed Hill to the top of MVP consideration and Collins was named the Eastern Conference All-Star team's coach.[13] The highlight of the year for Collins came on April 13, when the Pistons defeated the defending champion Bulls to end Detroit's 19-game losing streak against Chicago.[14] (Incidentally Collins ended a Chicago losing streak against the Pistons in the 80's.)[15] The Pistons finished 54–28 and lost in the first round ofplayoffs to theAtlanta Hawks, 3–2 in the best-of-five series.
Collins served as Pistons' head coach until February 2, 1998, when he was fired and replaced byAlvin Gentry. Collins then became a television broadcaster, working for many years at various networks, such asNBC on theNBA on NBC andTNT on theNBA on TNT.
Collins worked as a broadcaster for about three years before being hired to coach theWashington Wizards for the start of the2001–02 NBA season. In Washington, Collins was reunited with Michael Jordan andCharles Oakley. Once again, in his first season with his new team, Collins improved the team's previous season's record by 18 games.[16] Though his .451 winning percentage through two seasons was better than the Wizards' .308 record the previous two seasons (and subsequent .305 record the following season),[16] Collins was fired at the conclusion of the2002–03 season.
On May 21, 2010, Collins was hired as head coach of thePhiladelphia 76ers.[17] While the 76ers initially started out poorly with a record of 3–13, the team showed great improvement as the season went on, and clinched the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference for theplayoffs. Under Collins, the team increased its win total by 14 games over theprevious season. They lost to the eventual Eastern Conference championMiami Heat in the first round, but were able to avoid a sweep that had been predicted. Collins finished second inCoach of the Year voting that season.[18]
In thelockout-shortened 2011–2012 season, Collins led the Sixers to an improved record, but Philadelphia was only able to take the eighth seed in the playoffs. Against the top seeded Chicago Bulls, Collins led the Sixers to their first playoff series victory since 2003. It was the fifth time in NBA history that an eighth seed defeated a first seed in a playoff series. They took the next series against the Boston Celtics to seven games, but lost.
Collins resigned as 76ers coach on April 18, 2013, citing a need to spend more time with his five grandchildren.[19][20] It was announced that he would stay with the team as an adviser.[21]
Collins represented the United States at the1972 Summer Olympics inMunich, West Germany. Those basketball games are remembered mainly for thecontroversial gold medal basketball game between the United States and theSoviet Union, in which Collins played a key part. He made the two go-ahead free throws that should had won the game. But the final three seconds of the game after the free throws were replayed twice for unclear reasons, which let USSR to make the decisive shot. The game-altering event let to the US team boycotting the medal ceremony altogether and mutually deciding to never accept their medals.[22][23][24]
In 2008, he was part ofNBC Sports' TV coverage ofbasketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, which notably saw his son, Chris serve as the court coach and scout for the 2008 "Redeem Team". When the American team won, he was invited to join the team on the Gold Medal ceremony.[24] He was part of the cast for Netflix'sThe Redeem Team in 2022.
Collins started doing work forCBS in the mid-1980s, calling mostly playoff games. He also was the lead color analyst for the local broadcasts of the 76ers' games during the 1985–86 season. In-between his various coaching stints he has done broadcasting work for CBS,NBC,TNT,TBS, andABC/ESPN. He also called games for theNew York Knicks during the 2003–04 season onMSG Network on a part-time basis, paired withMarv Albert.[25]
After being fired by the Wizards, Collins returned to announcing games for TNT. In addition, he served as an analyst forNBC Sports' TV coverage ofbasketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[26] He also was a basketball analyst for NBC during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.[27]
During this time, Collins's name surfaced several times regarding head coaching vacancies. In 2005, he was a candidate for theMilwaukee Bucks job but was passed over forTerry Stotts.[28] Collins was approached by the team again in 2008 to serve as their GM and coach but turned them down again.[28] In May 2008, Collins was in negotiations to coach the Chicago Bulls, nearly 20 years after he was fired from the team.[29] However, Collins withdrew his name when he and ownerJerry Reinsdorf "agreed it wasn't the best to keep going this way," in light of their close personal friendship.[30]
On September 19, 2017, theChicago Bulls announced that Collins had joined the team as senior advisor of basketball operations.[31]
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Collins and his wife Kathy have two children. They reside in theDelaware Valley. Their sonChris, a formerDuke University basketball player, is the head basketball coach atNorthwestern University and their daughter Kelly, who played basketball atLehigh University, is a school teacher in Pennsylvania.
| This section of abiography of a living persondoes notinclude anyreferences or sources. Please help by addingreliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourcedmust be removed immediately. Find sources: "Doug Collins" basketball – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Illinois State University's basketball court is named after Collins (Doug Collins Court atRedbird Arena). A statue depicting Collins and his ISU coach,Will Robinson, was unveiled on September 19, 2009, outside the north entrance of Redbird Arena.
Collins was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded theOrder of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois on June 19, 2021.[32]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971–72 | Illinois State | 26 | — | — | .500 | — | .808 | 5.1 | — | — | — | 32.6 |
| 1972–73 | Illinois State | 25 | — | — | .476 | — | .818 | 5.0 | — | — | — | 26.0 |
| Career | 51 | — | — | .489 | — | .812 | 5.1 | — | — | — | 29.4 | |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973–74 | Philadelphia | 25 | — | 17.4 | .371 | — | .764 | 1.8 | 1.6 | .5 | .1 | 8.0 |
| 1974–75 | Philadelphia | 81 | — | 34.8 | .488 | — | .844 | 3.9 | 2.6 | 1.3 | .2 | 17.9 |
| 1975–76 | Philadelphia | 77 | — | 38.9 | .513 | — | .836 | 4.0 | 2.5 | 1.4 | .3 | 20.8 |
| 1976–77 | Philadelphia | 58 | — | 35.1 | .518 | — | .840 | 3.4 | 4.7 | 1.2 | .3 | 18.3 |
| 1977–78 | Philadelphia | 79 | — | 35.1 | .526 | — | .812 | 2.9 | 4.1 | 1.6 | .3 | 19.7 |
| 1978–79 | Philadelphia | 47 | — | 33.9 | .499 | — | .814 | 2.6 | 4.1 | 1.1 | .4 | 19.5 |
| 1979–80 | Philadelphia | 36 | — | 26.8 | .466 | .000 | .911 | 2.6 | 2.8 | .8 | .2 | 13.8 |
| 1980–81 | Philadelphia | 12 | — | 27.4 | .492 | — | .828 | 2.4 | 3.5 | .6 | .3 | 12.3 |
| Career | 415 | — | 33.6 | .501 | .000 | .833 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 1.2 | .3 | 17.9 | |
| All-Star | 3 | 1 | 22.7 | .458 | — | .800 | 4.3 | 5.7 | 2.0 | .0 | 11.3 | |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Philadelphia | 3 | — | 39.0 | .434 | — | .857 | 7.0 | 3.3 | 1.0 | .3 | 19.3 |
| 1977 | Philadelphia | 19 | — | 39.9 | .557 | — | .740 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 1.5 | .2 | 22.4 |
| 1978 | Philadelphia | 10 | — | 34.2 | .497 | — | .816 | 3.1 | 2.7 | .3 | .0 | 20.4 |
| Career | 32 | — | 38.1 | .526 | — | .855 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 1.1 | .1 | 21.5 | |
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win–loss % |
| Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win–loss % |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 1986–87 | 82 | 40 | 42 | .488 | 5th in Central | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | Lost inFirst round |
| Chicago | 1987–88 | 82 | 50 | 32 | .610 | 2nd in Central | 10 | 4 | 6 | .400 | Lost inConference semifinals |
| Chicago | 1988–89 | 82 | 47 | 35 | .573 | 5th in Central | 17 | 9 | 8 | .529 | Lost inConference finals |
| Detroit | 1995–96 | 82 | 46 | 36 | .561 | 4th in Central | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | Lost inFirst round |
| Detroit | 1996–97 | 82 | 54 | 28 | .659 | 3rd in Central | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | Lost inFirst round |
| Detroit | 1997–98 | 45 | 21 | 24 | .467 | (fired) | — | — | — | — | — |
| Washington | 2001–02 | 82 | 37 | 45 | .451 | 5th in Atlantic | — | — | — | — | Missed playoffs |
| Washington | 2002–03 | 82 | 37 | 45 | .451 | 5th in Atlantic | — | — | — | — | Missed playoffs |
| Philadelphia | 2010–11 | 82 | 41 | 41 | .500 | 3rd in Atlantic | 5 | 1 | 4 | .200 | Lost inFirst round |
| Philadelphia | 2011–12 | 66 | 35 | 31 | .530 | 3rd in Atlantic | 13 | 7 | 6 | .538 | Lost inConference semifinals |
| Philadelphia | 2012–13 | 82 | 34 | 48 | .415 | 4th in Atlantic | — | — | — | — | Missed playoffs |
| Career | 849 | 442 | 407 | .521 | 56 | 23 | 33 | .411 | |||
