Brian Winters
historyBrian Joseph Winters (born March 1, 1952 in Rockaway, New York) is a former NBA guard/forward, coach and former WNBA head coach. He attended academic and athletic powerhouse Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, NY, graduating in 1970. He then played collegiately with the University of South Carolina and was the 12th pick in the 1974 NBA Draft, taken by the Los Angeles Lakers. He made the NBA All-Rookie Team with the Lakers, and was then traded to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of the trade that brought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers. He had a productive, if unspectacular, 9-year career that included two appearances in the NBA All-Star Game and playing on 6 playoffs teams. Winters averaged 16.2 points and 4.1 assists over his career, with his best years coming from 1975 to 1979 when he averaged over 19 points and slightly less than 5 assists per game. His number 32 was retired by the Bucks. »http://www.basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=WINTEBR01
After retiring from the NBA, Brian became an assistant coach for two years under legendary coach Pete Carril at Princeton. From there, he moved on to become an assistant coach under Hall of Famer, Lenny Wilkens, with the Cleveland Cavaliers for 7 years and Atlanta Hawks for two more. Next, he was the inaugural coach for the Vancouver Grizzlies for a year and a half. In recent years, Brian has coached with the Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors. He was formerly the head coach of the WNBA's Indiana Fever, recently leading them to their first ever consecutive-year playoff appearances.
On October 26, 2007 Brian's option wasn't picked up by the Indiana Fever, ending his four year tenure with the club. He compiled a 78–58 record in the regular season to go with a 5–7 playoff record. He is currently a scout for the Indiana Pacers.
Coaching record
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
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! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="4"|Regular Season !! colspan="4"|Post Season
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!Won!!Lost!!Win %!!Finish!!Won!!Lost!!Win %!!Result
|-
!VAN||1995-96
|15||67||.183||7th in Midwest Division|| || || ||
|-
!VAN||1996-97
|8||35||.186||7th in Midwest Division|| || || ||
|-
!GSW||2001/02
|13||46||.220||7th in Pacific Division|| || || ||
|-
! colspan="2"|3 seasons||36||148||.196||-||-||-||-||-
|}
Source: »Brian Winters Coaching Record – Basketball-Reference.com
- »BasketballReference.com: Brian Winters (as coach)
- »BasketballReference.com: Brian Winters (as player)
- »Fever declines 2008 option for Brian Winters