Paul Douglas Collins (born July 28, 1951) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

executive, former player, coach and television analyst in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). He played in the NBA from 1973 to 1981 for the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

, earning four

NBA All-Star The National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game is an annual exhibition basketball game. It is the main event of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Traditionally, the All-Star Game featured a conference-based format, featuring a team composed of ...

selections. He then became an NBA coach in 1986, and had stints coaching the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

and Philadelphia 76ers. Collins also served as an analyst for various NBA-related broadcast shows. He is a recipient of the

Curt Gowdy Media Award The Curt Gowdy Media Award is an annual award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to outstanding basketball writers and broadcasters. It is named for American sportscaster Curt Gowdy, who was the Hall of Fame's president ...

. In April 2024, Collins was elected to the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

class of 2024 by the Contributors Committee.

Early life

Collins was born in Christopher, Illinois. He grew up in

Benton, Illinois Benton is a city in and the county seat of Franklin County, Illinois. The population was 6,709 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. In 1839, Franklin County, Illinois, Franklin County was split roughly in half and the county seat was p ...

, where his next-door neighbor was future film star John Malkovich. Collins enjoyed a successful high school basketball career at Benton Consolidated High School under coach Rich Herrin.

College career

Collins went on to play for

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teachin ...

in Normal, Illinois, coached from 1970 by Will Robinson, the first black head coach in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

Professional career

Philadelphia 76ers (1973–1981)

Collins was drafted first overall in the 1973 NBA draft by the

. He played eight seasons for Philadelphia, and was an

four times. In the 1976–77 season, he joined

Julius Erving Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and he was the best-known player ...

leading the Sixers to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...

. A series of injuries 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).

Coaching career

After his retirement, Collins turned to coaching. He joined Bob Weinhauer's staff at Penn as an assistant coach and later followed Weinhauer to Arizona State for the same job. He resigned from Arizona State on July 7, 1984, to become a CBS television commentator.

Chicago Bulls (1986–1989)

In May 1986, Collins was named head coach of the

; the team featured a young

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

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. 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; however, they were unable to get past their Central Division rival, the "Bad Boys"

. Despite the Bulls' success and his popularity in Chicago, Collins was fired in the summer of 1989.

Detroit Pistons (1995–1998)

Collins was named the head coach of the

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 Grant Henry Hill (born October 5, 1972) is an American professional basketball executive and former player who is a co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and a part-owner of Orlando City SC of Major League ...

. 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 the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

. 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. 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. (Incidentally Collins ended a Chicago losing streak against the Pistons in the 80's.) The Pistons finished 54–28 and lost in the first round of

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

to the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

, 3–2 in the best-of-five series. Collins served as Pistons' head coach until February 2, 1998, when he was fired and replaced by Alvin Gentry. Collins then became a television broadcaster, working for many years at various networks, such as NBC on the ''

NBA on NBC Television broadcasts of the National Basketball Association (NBA) games produced by NBC Sports has aired on American broadcast network NBC under the ''NBA on NBC'' branding throughout three incarnations in its history. The NBA was first telev ...

'' and TNT on the ''

NBA on TNT The ''NBA on TNT'' is an American presentation of National Basketball Association (NBA) games, produced by TNT Sports (formerly known as Turner Sports and later Warner Bros. Discovery Sports). In the United States, the TNT cable network held ...

''.

Washington Wizards (2001–2003)

Collins worked as a broadcaster for about three years before being hired to coach the

for the start of the 2001–02 NBA season. In Washington, Collins was reunited with Michael Jordan and Charles Oakley. Once again, in his first season with his new team, Collins improved the team's previous season's record by 18 games. 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), Collins was fired at the conclusion of the 2002–03 season.

Philadelphia 76ers (2010–2013)

On May 21, 2010, Collins was hired as head coach of the

. 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 the

. Under Collins, the team increased its win total by 14 games over the previous season. They lost to the eventual Eastern Conference champion

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

in the first round, but were able to avoid a sweep that had been predicted. Collins finished second in Coach of the Year voting that season. In the lockout-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. It was announced that he would stay with the team as an adviser.

National team career

Collins represented the United States at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, West Germany. Those basketball games are remembered mainly for the controversial gold medal basketball game between the United States and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, 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.Netflix -The Redeem Team
/ref> In 2008, he was part of

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

' TV coverage of basketball 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. He was part of the cast for Netflix's '' The Redeem Team'' in 2022.

Broadcasting career

Collins started doing work for CBS 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, and ABC/

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. He also called games for the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

during the 2003–04 season on MSG Network on a part-time basis, paired with

Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American former sportscaster. Honored for his work by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he was also know ...

. After being fired by the Wizards, Collins returned to announcing games for TNT. In addition, he served as an analyst for

' TV coverage of basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He also was a basketball analyst for NBC during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. During this time, Collins's name surfaced several times regarding head coaching vacancies. In 2005, he was a candidate for the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

job but was passed over for

Terry Stotts Terry Linn Stotts (born November 25, 1957) is an American former professional basketball player and coach who is the top assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously served as head coa ...

. Collins was approached by the team again in 2008 to serve as their GM and coach but turned them down again. In May 2008, Collins was in negotiations to coach the Chicago Bulls, nearly 20 years after he was fired from the team. However, Collins withdrew his name when he and owner

Jerry Reinsdorf Jerry Michael Reinsdorf (born February 25, 1936) is an American sports executive and businessman who is the owner of the NBA's Chicago Bulls and MLB's Chicago White Sox. He started his professional life as a tax attorney with the Internal Re ...

"agreed it wasn't the best to keep going this way," in light of their close personal friendship.

Executive career

Chicago Bulls (2017–present)

On September 19, 2017, the

announced that Collins had joined the team as senior advisor of basketball operations.

Personal life

Collins and his wife Kathy have two children. They reside in the

Delaware Valley The Philadelphia metropolitan area, also known as Greater Philadelphia and informally called the Delaware Valley, the Philadelphia tri-state area, and locally and colloquially Philly–Jersey–Delaware, is a major metropolitan area in the Nor ...

. Their son

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian autho ...

, a former

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

basketball player, is the head basketball coach at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

and their daughter Kelly, who played basketball at

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...

, is a school teacher in Pennsylvania.

Awards and honors

Illinois State University's basketball court is named after Collins (Doug Collins Court at Redbird 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 the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois on June 19, 2021.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1971–72 , style="text-align:left;", Illinois State , 26 , , , , , , .500 , , , , .808 , , 5.1 , , , , , , , , 32.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1972–73 , style="text-align:left;", Illinois State , 25 , , , , , , .476 , , , , .818 , , 5.0 , , , , , , , , 26.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 51 , , , , , , .489 , , , , .812 , , 5.1 , , , , , , , , 29.4

NBA

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, 25 , , , , 17.4 , , .371 , , , , .764 , , 1.8 , , 1.6 , , .5 , , .1 , , 8.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , , , 34.8 , , .488 , , , , .844 , , 3.9 , , 2.6 , , 1.3 , , .2 , , 17.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 77 , , , , 38.9 , , .513 , , , , .836 , , 4.0 , , 2.5 , , 1.4 , , .3 , , 20.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 58 , , , , 35.1 , , .518 , , , , .840 , , 3.4 , , 4.7 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , 18.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 79 , , , , 35.1 , , .526 , , , , .812 , , 2.9 , , 4.1 , , 1.6 , , .3 , , 19.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 47 , , , , 33.9 , , .499 , , , , .814 , , 2.6 , , 4.1 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , 19.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , , , 26.8, , .466 , , .000 , , .911 , , 2.6 , , 2.8 , , .8 , , .2 , , 13.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 12 , , , , 27.4 , , .492 , , , , .828 , , 2.4 , , 3.5 , , .6 , , .3 , , 12.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 415 , , , , 33.6 , , .501 , , .000 , , .833 , , 3.2 , , 3.3 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , 17.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", All-Star , 3 , , 1 , , 22.7 , , .458 , , , , .800 , , 4.3 , , 5.7 , , 2.0 , , .0 , , 11.3

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;",

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

, style="text-align:left;”,

, 3 , , , , 39.0 , , .434 , , , , .857 , , 7.0 , , 3.3 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , 19.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

, style="text-align:left;”,

, 19 , , , , 39.9 , , .557 , , , , .740 , , 4.2 , , 3.9 , , 1.5 , , .2 , , 22.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, style="text-align:left;”,

, 10 , , , , 34.2 , , .497 , , , , .816 , , 3.1 , , 2.7 , , .3 , , .0 , , 20.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 32 , , , , 38.1 , , .526 , , , , .855 , , 4.1 , , 3.5 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 21.5

Head coaching record

, - , style="text-align:left;",

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, style="text-align:left;", , 82 , , 40 , , 42 , , , , style="text-align:center;", 5th in Central , , 3 , , 0 , , 3 , , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in First round , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 82 , , 50 , , 32 , , , , style="text-align:center;", 2nd in Central , , 10 , , 4 , , 6 , , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in Conference semifinals , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 82 , , 47 , , 35 , , , , style="text-align:center;", 5th in Central , , 17 , , 9 , , 8 , , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in Conference finals , - , style="text-align:left;",

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, style="text-align:left;", , 82 , , 46 , , 36 , , , , style="text-align:center;", 4th in Central , , 3 , , 0 , , 3 , , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in First round , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 82 , , 54 , , 28 , , , , style="text-align:center;", 3rd in Central , , 5 , , 2 , , 3 , , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in First round , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 45 , , 21 , , 24 , , , , style="text-align:center;", (fired) , , , , , , , , , style="text-align:center;", , - , style="text-align:left;", Washington , style="text-align:left;", , 82 , , 37 , , 45 , , , , style="text-align:center;", 5th in Atlantic , , , , , , , , , style="text-align:center;", Missed playoffs , - , style="text-align:left;", Washington , style="text-align:left;", , 82 , , 37 , , 45 , , , , style="text-align:center;", 5th in Atlantic , , , , , , , , , style="text-align:center;", Missed playoffs , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 82 , , 41 , , 41 , , , , style="text-align:center;", 3rd in Atlantic , , 5 , , 1 , , 4 , , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in First round , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 66 , , 35 , , 31 , , , , style="text-align:center;", 3rd in Atlantic , , 13 , , 7 , , 6 , , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in Conference semifinals , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", , 82 , , 34 , , 48 , , , , style="text-align:center;", 4th in Atlantic , , , , , , , , , style="text-align:center;", Missed playoffs , - class="sortbottom" , colspan="2" style="text-align:center;", Career , 849 , , 442 , , 407 , , , , , , 56 , , 23 , , 33 , , , ,

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Doug 1951 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from Illinois Chicago Bulls head coaches College basketball announcers in the United States Denver Rockets draft picks Detroit Pistons head coaches ESPN people First overall NBA draft picks Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball players Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics NBA All-Stars NBA broadcasters New York Nets draft picks Olympic silver medalists for the United States in basketball People from Benton, Illinois People from Christopher, Illinois Philadelphia 76ers draft picks Philadelphia 76ers head coaches Philadelphia 76ers players Shooting guards Small forwards United States men's national basketball team players Washington Wizards head coaches