The Chicago Bulls officially announced that Doug Collins is back with the organization as a senior advisor to John Paxson at a press conference on Tuesday in Chicago.
After making the announcement online that Doug Collins would be coming back to join the Chicago Bulls organization as the senior advisor of basketball operations for the upcoming season, the Bulls hosted a press conference for Collins on Tuesday.
Collins, who coached the Bulls for three seasons in 1986-89 and was almost brought back in 2008, made his re-appearance under the Bulls banner in a 25+ minute presser to speak with reporters about his new role with the organization.
Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson opened the setting with some brief comments and took a few questions prior to Collins’ time with the media.
“This is a great day for the Chicago Bulls organization,” Paxson said as he opened up the press conference. Paxson explained that he, Bulls general manager Gar Forman, Bulls COO Michael Reinsdorf and Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf all sat down and discuss a potential role like the one Collins was offered and accepted.
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“Why wouldn’t we do this,” Paxson rhetorically asked during his opening statements. “Here’s a guy that has great respect around the league. He’s got 40+ years of experience in the league. He’s known as one of the brightest minds in all of basketball.”
Paxson expressed that Collins’ main role was to come in and observe the organization on a day-to-day basis and provide insight on the young Bulls moving forward, but nothing has changed for the Bulls in terms of bigger roles around the franchise.
“Doug will not be coaching,” Paxson claimed. “Doug will not be a decision-maker. None of the roles have changed. Fred is our coach. Fred has had a phenomenal summer with our young players in this building .”
Collins came on to speak and answer questions for over 20 minutes after Paxson took a few questions — including one about the status of Nikola Mirotic‘s contract situation — in his first appearance with the Bulls in his new official role.
“Under no circumstances am I going to coach here,” Collins said after walking reporters through his final days in Philadelphia with the 76ers back in the 2012-13 season. “That should not even be a question.”
Collins, who hasn’t coached in the NBA since that 34-48 season with the Sixers, expressed his want to follow his son Chris’ coaching career at nearby Northwestern and emphasized that he has no plans to coach again.
“Where I’m at in my life at this point, I’m a mentor,” Collins said. “That’s when I’m at my best; mentoring people.”
Further talking points from the Collins press conference
- From a personal observation, the way Collins described his role with the Bulls is just that; being a mentor. He hammered the point home that he’s not going to be doing any kind of coaching, but seemed open to observe and answer questions along the way.
- “My schedule is going to be whatever Gar, Pax and Fred need from me. I’m here to help them,” Collins said on Tuesday.
- “Do I think I can help? I think absolutely I can help,” Collins said. “It’s hard for me to sit up here and put this ‘what is the definition of your job’ because I think it’s gonna be a lot of different things. But, the one thing I wanna be is that I wanna be an asset for this organization.”
- It wouldn’t be a Bulls press conference without a featured voice mentioning the past injuries of Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah while the Bulls were on their way toward competing for their first title since 1998 a few years ago.
- To be fair, it was Collins’ Sixers bunch that eliminated the Bulls in the 2011-12 season when the Bulls went 50-16, had the top seed and lost both Rose and Noah in that series to injury.
- According to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, current Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg was in attendance for the Collins press conference watching from the background.
More quotes from the Collins presser
Collins: "I trust Gar and Pax a lot. A ton."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) September 19, 2017Collins: "I'm old but I'm not old school ... I am woke."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) September 19, 2017Doug Collins says Bulls have been a "piñata" in recent years as it relates to taking heat as an organization.
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) September 19, 2017Collins: "I think there’s this feeling that I’m a guy who’s always on and fired up. I can sit and do a crossword puzzle for 3 hours now."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) September 19, 2017Collins on not getting job in 08: "Jerry told me 'I love you like a son, and I don't want to have to fire you.' " #Bulls
— Matt Peck (@Bulls_Peck) September 19, 2017Collins cites Johnny Bach again explaining that this is his 1 time w/ media: "Be brief, and be seated. That was his line." #Bulls
— Matt Peck (@Bulls_Peck) September 19, 2017Although some questions were asked towards Paxson and Collins on Tuesday afternoon, there still seems to be a lot of questions surrounding this relatively random hire. Collins does have respect and a popular status within the NBA, but despite having an official name for a role, it doesn’t sound like his new role has an actual definition.
Collins mentioned that he’ll assist Paxson, Forman and Hoiberg when needed, but emphasized that he will not be coaching in any form or fashion and that he won’t be making any kind of decisions for the Bulls moving forward. He’ll be at training camp next week observing from the side and only just observing, and won’t miss any of his son’s games coaching Northwestern later this year.
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It’s a curious situation for the Bulls to make this hire with media day and training camp right around the corner. It might be simply over-analyzing the situation, but it is rather curious what Collins is actually going to do with this role for the Bulls if he’s not coaching or making any decisions.