Doug Collins

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For the Canadian journalist and Holocaust denier see Doug Collins (journalist)

Olympic medal record
Men's Basketball
Silver	Munich 1972	United States

Paul Douglas Collins (born July 28, 1951 in Christopher, Illinois), better known as Doug Collins, is a former NBA basketball player and announcer who has also been the head coach of a number of NBA teams.

Collins enjoyed a successful high school basketball career in Benton, Illinois, after which he went on to become one of the best college basketball players in the country. He chose to play for a college that was close to the area where he grew up, when, in 1969, he began attending Illinois State University.

Collins was chosen to represent the United States at the infamous 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. Those games are mainly remembered for two things: The terrorist attack that left several Israeli athletes dead, and the gold medal basketball game between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Collins was one of the most notable players on that tournament's version of the United States national basketball team. The United States was undefeated in Olympic basketball competition history, and widely expected to remain undefeated after these Olympics.

After Collins had hit two clutch free throws, the time had apparently expired in the gold medal game; the United States had a 50-49 lead and seemed to have secured yet another gold medal. However, in a very controversial move, it was decided by the game's referees that there were still three seconds left to play, allowing the Soviet Union to have one more chance, which they utilized to make a lay-up, and give the United States its first ever Olympic loss by a 51-50 margin.

Collins and his teammates have remained upset of the outcome of the game ever since. They refused to accept the Olympic silver medal during the medal ceremony, and, even as the International Olympic Committee approached him and the rest of his teammates about thirty years later to see if they accepted the medal, they refused. Collins has been interviewed several times for television documentaries to talk about that game, and he still expresses anger and disappointment when reminded of it.

After that controversial game, Collins went on to be drafted by the Denver Nuggets of the American Basketball Association. In a 1973 supplementary draft, he was chosen by the New York Nets. Despite being drafted by ABA teams, he never played in that league, making his debut with the Philadelphia 76ers during the 1973-74 season. He only played 25 games his first year as a 76er, averaging 8 points per game.

His numbers improved substantially over the next few seasons, scoring almost 18 points and dishing out 2.6 assists while grabbing almost 4 rebounds per game in 81 games played during 1974-75 season, and then scoring 20.8 points per game and grabbing four rebounds per game in 1975-76.

He kept scoring an average of about 19 points and grabbing an average of about four rebounds per game for the next three seasons, becoming an important player in the 76ers team that reached the NBA Finals during 1976-77 season. Although he was teamed with Julius Erving, among others, the 76ers could not overcome Bill Walton and the Portland Trail Blazers in those finals, losing four games to two.

During the 1978-79 season, Collins suffered a serious injury, which limited him to only 47 games that year, and eventually forced him into retirement as a basketball player. His last season was in 1980-81 season, where he could only play 12 games before announcing his retirement.

Collins scored a total of 7,427 points in 415 NBA games, for an average of 17.9 points per game, while grabbing 1,339 rebounds for 3.2 per game and passing for 1,368 assists, averaging 3.3 assists a game. As the three point shots were new to basketball when Collins retired, he only took one of those during his NBA career, missing it.

Collins later on resurfaced as head coach of the Chicago Bulls from the middle to the late 1980s, where he coached Michael Jordan. Although the Bulls had a string of playoff appearances during Collins' tenure, they were unable to win a championship, and Collins was replaced by his assistant, Phil Jackson.

Collins was named the head coach of the Detroit Pistons in 1995, for whom he served until 1997 when he was fired at the end of the season and replaced by Alvin Gentry.

Collins then became a television broadcaster, working for many years at various networks, such as NBC and TNT. He worked as a broadcaster for about five years, before being hired to coach again, by the Washington Wizards, before the start of the 2001-02 NBA season. After the Wizards fired Collins after the 2002-03 season, he returned to announcing games for TNT.

In eight seasons as an NBA head coach, Collins amassed a 332-287 won-loss record (.536 winning percentage) and a 15-23 won-loss record in the playoffs (.395).

Doug and his wife Kathy have two children. Their son Chris, a former professional basketball player, is now an assistant coach at Duke University and their daughter Kelly is a school teacher in Pennsylvania.

[edit] External links

• BasketballReference.com: Doug Collins (as coach)
• BasketballReference.com: Doug Collins (as player)

Preceded by: Stan Albeck	Chicago Bulls Head Coach 1986–1989	Succeeded by: Phil Jackson
Preceded by: Don Chaney	Detroit Pistons Head Coach 1995–1998	Succeeded by: Alvin Gentry
Preceded by: Leonard Hamilton	Washington Wizards Head Coach 2001–2003	Succeeded by: Eddie Jordan