Lionel Eugene Hollins (born October 19, 1953) is an American professional

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 (appr ...

coach and former player currently serving as an assistant coach for the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

of the

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

(NBA). He played for 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 league's Western Con ...

, winning an

NBA championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

in 1977 and named an

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. Originally, the All-Star Game featured a conference-based format, featuring a team composed of al ...

in 1978. The Trail Blazers

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

his No. 14.

Playing career

During his ten-year NBA career playing as a

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

he played for five teams, averaging 11.6 points and 4.5 assists per game. In 1974 Lionel suffered a serious injury from a moped crash when a bicyclist collided. Fortunately this did not affect his career, but ultimately his left pinky and ring finger never healed correctly. Drafted by the

with the sixth pick of the

1975 NBA draft The 1975 NBA draft was the 29th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 29, 1975, before the 1975–76 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players a ...

out of

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, Hollins was bestowed All-Rookie first team honors that season, averaging 10.8 points in 78 games for the Blazers. Prior to his two seasons at Arizona State, he played two yearsMen's Hoops To Induct Lionel Hollins Into Pac-10 Hall Of Honor - Arizona State University Official Athletic Site
at Dixie College in

St. George, Utah St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...

. He graduated from Arizona State University in 1986 with a degree in sociology. He was a member of Trail Blazers' 1976–77 championship team, and made his only

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

appearance one year later. He was a member of the NBA All-Defensive team twice, in 1978 and 1979. On April 18, 2007, the

retired his #14 jersey.

Coaching career

Prior to his head coaching career, Hollins served as an assistant coach at Arizona State in the 1985–86 season and again in the 1987–88 season. He then served as an assistant for the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

under head coaches

Cotton Fitzsimmons Lowell Gibbs "Cotton" Fitzsimmons (October 7, 1931 – July 24, 2004) was an American college and NBA basketball coach. A native of Bowling Green, Missouri, he attended and played basketball at Hannibal-LaGrange Junior College in Hannibal, Mi ...

and

Paul Westphal Paul Douglas Westphal (November 30, 1950 – January 2, 2021) was an American basketball player, head coach, and commentator. Westphal played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1972 to 1984. Playing the guard position, he won an ...

from 1988 to 1995. In the 1999–2000 season, Hollins acted as the interim head coach while the Grizzlies were still located in Vancouver. He served another stint as interim coach of the Grizzlies in 2004, after the team had moved to Memphis. Hollins served as head coach for the St. Louis SkyHawks of the

United States Basketball League The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

(USBL) in 2002. On May 14, 2008, Hollins was hired as one of

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 league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

head coach

Scott Skiles Scott Allen Skiles Sr. (born March 5, 1964) is an American former basketball coach and player. He coached the Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic. A first-round draft pick out of Michigan State University, Skiles played ...

' assistants. On January 25, 2009, Hollins was named the Grizzlies' head coach for the third time in the franchise's history. On February 11, 2011, Hollins won his 100th career victory, as coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, in an 89–86 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. That season, he led his team to a 46–36 record, earning the eighth seed in the playoffs. The Grizzlies defeated the number-one seed

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

before losing to the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

in seven games in the Western Conference semifinals. In the lockout-shortened NBA season, Hollins' Grizzlies finished the season with a 41–25 record and the best winning percentage in franchise history (.621). After guiding the Grizzlies to a 13–3 record during the month of April, Hollins was named April's Coach of the Month. This streak helped the Grizzlies earn the four seed in the Western Conference, with home court advantage for the first time in franchise history. They lost in the first round to the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

in seven games. In 2012–2013, Hollins led Memphis to a franchise record 56-win season. Memphis lost to the

in the Western Conference Finals in a four-game sweep. Differing views between Hollins and management seemed to be pointing to an eventual change despite Hollins' success. Even though it was announced that Hollins' contract would not be renewed by the team on June 10, 2013, he was still the Grizzlies' most successful coach, having improved the team's record almost every season. He led them to three straight playoff appearances, their first playoff win, a franchise best .683 winning percentage, and the first playoff series victory in franchise history. . In the time between Memphis and Brooklyn, Hollins chose Kauffman Sports Management Group as his representation. On July 2, 2014, Hollins and the Brooklyn Nets reached an agreement for him to serve as the team's head coach for the next four seasons. On July 7, 2014, he was officially introduced by the Nets at a press conference. In his first season as head coach, he guided the Nets to the

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 ...

. On January 10, 2016, he was relieved of his head coaching duties by the Nets after starting the 2015–16 season with a 10–27 record. On July 31, 2019, the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

hired Hollins as an assistant coach. Hollins won his 2nd championship on October 11, 2020 when the Lakers defeated the

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 league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

in the

2020 NBA Finals The 2020 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2019–20 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In this best-of-seven playoff series, the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Laker ...

in 6 games. On July 3, 2022, the

hired Hollins as an assistant coach.

Personal life

Hollins's son,

Austin Hollins Austin Hollins (born November 8, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the University of Minnesota. Early life and h ...

, played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

's men's basketball team.Virginia Tech basketball: Hokies face first true road game at Minnesota - Hokies Journal - The Washington Post
/ref> His son has also played professionally in the EuroLeague, with the Serbian club

KK Crvena Zvezda Košarkaški klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Црвена звезда, ), commonly referred to as KK Crvena zvezda mts for sponsorship reasons or simply Crvena zvezda, is a men's professional basketball Sports club, ...

. His other son, Anthony, played Division 3 basketball for the at-the-time top-ranked team in the country, Washington University in St. Louis Bears. He’s now an orthopedic surgeon.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

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, 76 , , , , 29.3 , , .432 , , – , , .749 , , 2.8 , , 4.1 , , 2.2 , , .5 , , 14.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , , , 33.8 , , .442 , , – , , .743 , , 3.4 , , 4.7 , , 1.9 , , .4 , , 15.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

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Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

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San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

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Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

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Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, 80 , , 60 , , 24.4 , , .461 , , .231 , , .794 , , 2.2 , , 5.2 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 7.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 673 , , , , 27.4 , , .444 , , .149 , , .741 , , 2.4 , , 4.5 , , 1.6 , , .3 , , 11.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", All-Star , 1 , , 0 , , 23.0 , , .375 , , – , , .800 , , .0 , , 8.0 , , 2.0 , , .0 , , 10.0

Playoffs

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1977 Events January * January 8 – 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 (now the Democratic R ...

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, 19, , —, , 35.9, , .417, , –, , .682, , 2.7, , 4.5, , 2.5, , .3, , 17.3 , - , 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 go ...

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, 6, , —, , 37.2, , .449, , –, , .690, , 4.8, , 5.5, , 1.2, , .0, , 16.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

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, 3, , —, , 22.0, , .308, , –, , .714, , 1.0, , 1.7, , 1.0, , .0, , 7.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

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, 18, , —, , 34.3, , .416, , .000, , .794, , 3.9, , 6.3, , 1.5, , .2, , 13.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

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, 16, , —, , 30.6, , .441, , .000, , .784, , 2.1, , 4.1, , 1.1, , .1, , 10.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

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, 8, , —, , 14.3, , .306, , .000, , .667, , 1.1, , 3.1, , 1.1, , .1, , 4.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

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, 2, , —, , 3.0, , .000, , –, , –, , .0, , .0, , .0, , .5, , .0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

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, 5, , 1, , 18.8, , .308, , –, , 1.000, , 1.8, , 3.6, , .8, , .0, , 3.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 77 , , — , , 29.8 , , .411 , , .000 , , .733 , , 2.7 , , 4.5 , , 1.5 , , .1 , , 11.8

Head coaching record

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Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, align="left" , , 60, , 18, , 42, , , , align="center" , 7th in Midwest, , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , Missed Playoffs , - , align="left" ,

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

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, align="left" , , 39, , 13, , 26, , , , align="center" , 5th in Southwest, , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , Missed Playoffs , - , align="left" ,

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, align="left" , , 82, , 46, , 36, , , , align="center" , 4th in Southwest, , 13, , 7, , 6, , , align="center" , Lost in Conf. Semifinals , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , , 66, , 41, , 25, , , , align="center" , 2nd in Southwest, , 7, , 3, , 4, , , align="center" , Lost in

First Round First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

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, align="left" , , 82, , 56, , 26, , , , align="center" , 2nd in Southwest, , 15, , 8, , 7, , , align="center" , Lost in Conf. Finals , - , align="left" ,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, align="left" , , 82, , 38, , 44, , , , align="center" , 3rd in Atlantic, , 6, , 2, , 4, , , align="center" , Lost in

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, align="left" , , 37, , 10, , 27, , , , align="center" , (fired), , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , — , -class="sortbottom" , align="left" colspan="2", Career , 534, , 262, , 272, , , , , , 41, , 20, , 21, , , ,

References

External links

*
NBA.com coach file
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hollins, Lionel 1953 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people African-American basketball coaches African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball players Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball coaches Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Kansas Basketball players from Kansas Brooklyn Nets head coaches Detroit Pistons players Utah Tech Trailblazers men's basketball players Houston Rockets assistant coaches Houston Rockets players Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Los Angeles Lakers assistant coaches Memphis Grizzlies assistant coaches Memphis Grizzlies head coaches Milwaukee Bucks assistant coaches National Basketball Association All-Stars National Basketball Association players with retired numbers People from Arkansas City, Kansas People from Germantown, Tennessee Philadelphia 76ers players Phoenix Suns assistant coaches Point guards Portland Trail Blazers draft picks Portland Trail Blazers players San Diego Clippers players United States Basketball League coaches Vancouver Grizzlies assistant coaches Vancouver Grizzlies head coaches

Playing career

Coaching career

Personal life

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Head coaching record

See also

References

External links