Pistons Interview Kevin Ollie, Jarron Collins, Charles Lee for Coaching Job

The Pistons are ramping up their coaching search and have interviewed former UConn coach Kevin Ollie, Pelicans assistant Jarron Collins and Bucks assistant Charles Lee, per James Edwards III of The Athletic.

Ollie, the coaching director of Overtime Elite, may be the frontrunner for the job, though Edwards suggested all three are serious candidates with lots of interviews still to go.

The Pistons have also been linked to former Celtics coach Ime Udoka and former Raptors coach Nick Nurse, who was fired on Friday. Nurse replaced Dwane Casey in Toronto, and with Casey moving to the front office, the connection is there for the Pistons.

Heat assistant Chris Quinn also confirmed he has interviewed for the opening.

Ollie, 50, currently serves as head of coaching and player development in upstart league Overtime Elite. He coached at UConn from 2012-18, taking over for Jim Calhoun and leading the Huskies to the national championship in 2014.

He and the school had a fairly bitter breakup, though, with Ollie filing a grievance after being fired.

Prior to his coaching career, Ollie played in the NBA from 1997-2010 as a guard for 12 different teams. None of those teams were the Pistons.

Collins, 44, spent 10 years in the NBA as a center with the Jazz, Suns, Clippers and Trail Blazers from 2001-11. He was an assistant with Steve Kerr and the Warriors from 2014-21, working under Willie Green with the Pelicans since.

Lee, 38, has been an assistant under Mike Budenholzer since 2014, first with the Hawks and then with the Bucks, starting in 2018. Milwaukee won the championship in 2019.

Lee stepped into the lead assistant role this season, filling the post vacated by Darvin Ham, who left to become head coach of the Lakers before the season.

Detroit's search for its next head coach is far from over.

However, @TheAthleticNBA has learned that three names have emerged as the *early* frontrunners to be the Pistons' next head coach.

There's still more work/interviews to be done.

(sub just $2!)https://t.co/4PwPCT0VZ3

— James L. Edwards III (@JLEdwardsIII) April 22, 2023