Last week, it was reported that one of the people interviewing for the Detroit Pistons head coaching vacancy would be New Orleans Pelicans Lead Assistant Coach Jarron Collins.
Well, it looks like the Pistons liked what they heard from Collins, as he, along with Milwaukee Bucks Associate Head Coach Charles Lee and former Connecticut Huskies and Overtime Elite coach Kevin Ollie, will meet with team officials again this week for a second interview.
The Pistons’ coaching search is advancing to a second-round of interviews this week, including Milwaukee associate HC Charles Lee, ex-UConn and Overtime Elite coach Kevin Ollie and New Orleans assistant Jarron Collins, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 24, 2023
The first round of interviews for the job are being conducted over Zoom (the Pistons still have a couple more of those they need to complete). The second round (the round these three coaches are now in) will be conducted in person.
The job became available after now-former Head Coach Dwane Casey announced at the end of the season that he would be stepping down from his role and pivoting over to a front office position.
Casey has been with the franchise since 2018, but he’s been working as a coach since 1979 – when he started out as an assistant for the Kentucky Wildcats (the school where he played college basketball at). Casey just recently turned 66 and is likely looking for a less travel-intensive position at this point in his career.
Collins has been a member of Head Coach Willie Green’s staff since Green joined the team last season. As we mentioned earlier, he is the Lead Assistant on Green’s staff.
Collins got his start on the coaching/scouting side of things in 2013 as a scout for the Los Angeles Clippers. From there, Collins joined Head Coach Steve Kerr’s staff upon Kerr’s arrival at Golden State in 2014. He started out as a player development coach, but after only one season, he was promoted to assistant coach. In total, he spent seven seasons with the organization, contributing to three NBA titles in the process.
Before he started coaching, Collins had a long and successful playing career that spanned across ten seasons with three different teams (the Clippers, Utah Jazz, and Portland Trail Blazers).