By Danny Franks, Utah Jazz
After 542 games and 10 seasons in the NBA with four different teams (including eight seasons and 480 games with the Utah Jazz), Jarron Collins kind of knew what he wanted to do when he hung up his shoes.
“I had an idea I wanted to stay around and be involved with the game [of basketball] that I know and love,” said Collins.
Not sure what his future held in basketball, Collins turned to the NBA Players Association to mull over his options.
Luckily, the Stanford-graduate is truly a jack-of-all-trades.
“The Player’s Association did a fantastic job of having these seminars [for ex-players], one with an executive seminar to give us an opportunity to see how a front office works, another was the coaching seminar where you go and learn different techniques and different styles and some of the technology that’s used in coaching the game today and the other seminar they had was in broadcasting,” said Collins. “And, quite frankly I loved all of them.”
Collins decided initially to pursue broadcasting, working with a number of different media outlets including the Pac-12 Networks, ESPNU and the Los Angeles Sparks, where he was able to showcase his vast knowledge of the game, and keep his passion for basketball alive.
“For two years I did broadcasting, where I’d analyze college basketball games, WNBA games and I did pregame, halftime and postgame coverage of some NBA games,” said Collins. “It was a great opportunity to be around what I know and what I love.”
But true to Collins’ multi-talented nature, he soon made a transition.
“I was very fortunate that I’d been around as a player for 10 years, and at that gait in any industry you’re going to know a wide network of people,” explained Collins. “And when I reached out to people, they were very receptive and I got an opportunity to scout with the Los Angeles Clippers.”
Collins was able two spend two seasons as a personnel scout with Los Angeles where his keen eye for the game thrived. Subsequently, in the summer of 2014 he was called to join Steve Kerr’s staff in Golden State as an assistant coach for player development.
“When this opportunity came around with Coach Kerr and the Golden State Warriors, it was a no-brainer,” said Collins. “I’ve been very fortunate.”
Collins credits much of his success in coaching to h
is eight seasons with Utah and to a certain coach that bestowed on him a great base of basketball knowledge and toughness.
“I was very lucky in that I played for a Hall of Fame coach, Coach [Jerry] Sloan, and my foundation in professional basketball was playing for Jerry Sloan and all the experiences and success we had in Utah in my playing days,” said Collins. “Basically, I had this specific knowledge for the game.”
As a former NBA center, Collins’ main role in Golden State is to help scout, mentor and prepare their big men. And his natural ability for coaching the position, may stem from his lack of natural talent as a player.
“I wasn’t the most athletic guy, I wasn’t the most explosive guy out there on the court,” Collins chuckled. “So I had to do it different ways. I had to think about the game, I had to really pay attention in scouting reports and I had to pick up on little details that were going to make me effective playing against the Tim Duncans, the Shaquille O’Neals, the Yao Mings and the really skilled big men I had to play against. So I’ve always been a student of the game in that aspect, and I just wanted to be able to give that back.”
Now with the Warriors, Collins fondly remembered what it meant to be part of Jazz Nation and how much he appreciated how this community stuck with the team through thick and thin.
“There were some tough years that the transition wasn’t smooth from John Stockton to Karl Malone from Deron Williams to Carlos Boozer,” admitted Collins. “I was there during that transition where we only won 26 games in [2004-05], but our fans’ never wavered. They stuck with us. They were very passionate.”
After rattling off a multitude of names, including former season-ticket holders, coaches and people from the Jazz community, it was clear what Collins most cherished from his time in Utah.
“I miss the connection I had with the fans,” he said.” It truly does mean something, that relationship I had with the fans.”