DETROIT, Mich. (September 23, 2024) – The Detroit Pistons announced today that Luke Walton, Sidney Lowe, Fred Vinson, Vitaly Potapenko, Kevin Burleson, Jerome Allen and Josh Estes have been named as assistant coaches to Head Coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s coaching staff. Additionally, Jarett Jack and Steve Scalzi have been retained as assistant coaches.
Walton comes to Detroit after spending the last two seasons in Cleveland on Bickerstaff’s staff. Prior to Cleveland, Walton spent three seasons as head coach of the Sacramento Kings (2019-2022). Before leading the Kings, Walton served as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers from 2016-2019, improving the team’s win total in each of those seasons, including consecutive nine-game improvements in his first two seasons with the team (2016-17, 2017-18).
Before joining the Lakers, Walton was an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors from 2014-16, reaching the NBA Finals both years and winning the NBA Championship in 2015. He was named Western Conference Coach of the Month (October/November 2015) while serving as interim head coach in Steve Kerr’s absence and leading Golden State to a 39-4 start in 2015-16, including winning the first 24 games, an NBA record. Walton also served as a player development coach for the South Bay Lakers, the Lakers NBA G League affiliate, in 2013-14.
Walton played 10 NBA seasons with the Lakers and Cavaliers. He was the 32nd overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Lakers and was a member of back-to-back NBA Championship teams in 2009 and 2010. Prior to his professional career, he played collegiately at the University of Arizona where he was named an All-Pac-10 performer twice.
Walton is the son of the late NBA legend and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, Bill Walton.
Lowe returns to Detroit for his third stint, second as an assistant coach, after the previous three seasons as an assistant coach in Cleveland under Bickerstaff.
The Washington, D.C. native and former NBA point guard began his coaching career with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1992, as an assistant coach under Head Coach Jimmy Rodgers. He was promoted to head coach midway through the 1992-93 season and remained in the position through the 1993-94 season. Following five years as an assistant with Cleveland (1994-1999) and one with Minnesota (1999-2000), Lowe was named head coach of the Vancouver Grizzlies in 2000 and remained at the helm until 2002-03. He was the lead assistant to Head Coach Flip Saunders in Detroit during the 2005-06 season when the team advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Lowe served as head coach at his alma mater, North Carolina State (2006-11), where in his first season he became the third coach in school history to win 20 games and defeat the three other ACC North Carolina institutions (North Carolina, Duke and Wake Forest). After coaching at NC State, Lowe returned to the NBA and spent three seasons as an assistant with the Utah Jazz (2011-2014) and two with the Washington Wizards (2016-2018).
Lowe was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the second round (25th overall) in the 1983 NBA Draft and played four seasons with Indiana, Detroit, Atlanta, Charlotte and Minnesota. He also competed in the Continental Basketball Association, leading the Albany Patroons and Tampa Bay Thrillers to CBA titles. Lowe played his college basketball under the late Jim Valvano at North Carolina State, earning Final Four All-Tournament honors while helping lead the Wolfpack to the 1983 NCAA Championship.
Vinson joins the Pistons as an assistant coach after serving in the same role in New Orleans for the previous 14 seasons.
Vinson helped the Pelicans to four playoff appearances (one as the New Orleans Hornets) and served as the Pelicans’ 2019 NBA Summer League Head Coach in Las Vegas. A renowned shooting coach, Vinson helped the Pelicans to a top-11 3-point shooting percentage six times, including the fourth-highest rate in the NBA of 38.3% in 2023-24.
Prior to the Pelicans, Vinson was an assistant coach for the LA Clippers from 2007-10 and also served as the club’s director of player programs, where he was responsible for mentoring young players in their transition to the NBA.
Vinson played 13 seasons of professional basketball, including two seasons with the Atlanta Hawks and Seattle SuperSonics. Additionally, he played in the United States Basketball League, Continental Basketball Association, American Basketball Association and with professional clubs in the Philippines, Israel, Venezuela, Poland and France. In 2003, Vinson was a member of the CBA Champion Yakima Sun Kings and was named a CBA All-Star that season.
Vinson played collegiately at Georgia Tech and was a three-year letterman for the Yellow Jackets. He also attended Chowan Junior College (North Carolina).
Potapenko joins the Pistons staff after six seasons as an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Prior to joining the Grizzlies in 2018-19, Potapenko served five seasons (2013-18) as the assistant director of player development for the Cleveland Cavaliers, winners of the 2016 NBA Championship. In addition to serving as an assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers (2010-11), Potapenko had stints in the NBA G League with the Santa Cruz Warriors (2012-13), Dakota Wizards (2011-12) and Fort Wayne Mad Ants (209-10).
The 12th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, Potapenko appeared in 610 games (189 starts) with Boston, Cleveland, Seattle and Sacramento.
A native of Kyiv, Ukraine, Potapenko began his professional career in Ukraine before coming to the NBA and won two Ukrainian Championships with Budivelnyk. Potapenko played two seasons at Wright State University where he was twice named All-Midwestern Collegiate Conference (1995, 1996) and is a member of the school’s hall of fame.
Burleson comes to Detroit as an assistant coach after serving as the head coach of the Houston Rockets’ NBA G League affiliate, Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the last two seasons.
Previously, Burleson spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves after a stint as an assistant/player development coach with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2018-19. In 2017-18, Burleson served as the associate head coach for the Iowa Wolves, the NBA’s G League affiliate of Timberwolves and spent three seasons as a player development coach for the Houston Rockets (2014-2017).
Burleson played four years, collegiately, at the University of Minnesota. He played two seasons in Germany before appearing in 39 games for the Charlotte Bobcats during the 2005-06 season. He later competed professionally in the NBA G League, Turkey, Romania and Egypt and won the Romanian League Championship with CSU Asesoft Ploiesti in 2010.
Allen rejoins the Pistons for his second stint as an assistant coach. Previously, he worked on Dwane Casey’s staff from 2021-23 and served as a pro personnel scout for the Boston Celtics during the 2023-24 season.
Prior to his first stint in Detroit, Allen spent six seasons as an assistant coach with the Celtics and served the previous five years as the head coach at the University of Pennsylvania after one year as Penn’s interim head coach.
Born in Philadelphia, PA, Allen played collegiately at Penn and was a two-time Ivy League Player of the year. As a four-year starter, he led the Quakers to Ivy League titles in each of his last three seasons. He was drafted 49th overall in the 1995 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves and played in 117 career NBA games with Minnesota, Indiana and Denver. He also played professionally in Europe including France, Italy, Greece, Spain and Turkey.
Estes joins the Pistons as an assistant coach after spending the previous four seasons (2020-24) as a coaching analyst and analytics coordinator in Cleveland under Bickerstaff. He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Amherst College in 2019-20, where the Mammoths went 18-8 and made a semifinal run in the New England Small College Athletic Conference Championship. Estes spent the 2023 Canadian Elite Basketball League season as an assistant coach for the Brampton Honey Badgers.
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