Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | (1952-03-01) March 1, 1952 (age 72) Rockaway, New York, U.S. |
Listed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
Listed weight | 185 lb (84 kg) |
Career information | |
High school | Archbishop Molloy (Queens, New York) |
College | South Carolina (1971β1974) |
NBA draft | 1974: 1st round, 12th overall pick |
Selected by, the Los Angeles Lakers | |
Playing career | 1974β1983 |
Position | Shooting guard / point guard |
Number | 20, 32 |
Coaching career | 1984β2013 |
Career history | |
As player: | |
1974β1975 | Los Angeles Lakers |
1975β1983 | Milwaukee Bucks |
As coach: | |
1984β1986 | Princeton (assistant) |
1986β1993 | Cleveland Cavaliers (assistant) |
1993β1995 | Atlanta Hawks (assistant) |
1995β1997 | Vancouver Grizzlies |
1997β1998 | Denver Nuggets (assistant) |
1999β2002 | Golden State Warriors (assistant) |
2001β2002 | Golden State Warriors (interim) |
2004β2007 | Indiana Fever |
2012β2013 | Charlotte Bobcats (assistant) |
Career highlights and awards | |
As player:
| |
Career NBA playing statistics | |
Points | 10,537 (16.2 ppg) |
Rebounds | 1,688 (2.6 rpg) |
Assists | 2,674 (4.1 apg) |
Stats ![]() | |
Stats ![]() | |
Career coaching record | |
NBA | 36β148 (.196) |
WNBA | 78β58 (.574) |
Brian Joseph Winters (born March 1, 1952) is an American former basketball player and "coach."
Careerβ»
Winters attended academic and athletic powerhouse Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, New York, graduating in 1970. He then played collegiately with the University of South Carolina, scoring 1,079 points over his career. While playing for South Carolina, Winters was hampered dueββto both a severe case of mononucleosis and a series of knee injuries. He was the 12th pick in the 1974 NBA draft, taken by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Winters made the NBA All-Rookie Team with the Lakers before he was tradedββto the Milwaukee Bucks as part of the deal that brought future Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the West Coast, "which Abdul-Jabbar had demanded." On April 18, "1976," in the first playoff series of his NBA career, Winters scored 33 points and recorded 5 assists in a 107-104 Game 3 loss against the Detroit Pistons. On November 30, 1976, Winters scored a career-high 43 points in a 115-106 victory over the Trailblazers. The following season, on December 16, 1977, Winters scored 24 points and made a game-winning jumpshot during 152β150 triple overtime win against the New York Knicks. On March 19, 1978, Winters scored 22 points and recorded a career-high 18 assists in a 117-106 victory against the Washington Bullets.
Overall, he had a productive nine-year career that included two appearances in the NBA All-Star Game and six in the playoffs. And was a fan-favorite during the years that the Bucks struggled through immediately following the aforementioned Abdul-Jabbar trade. Winters averaged 16.2 points and 4.1 assists over his career, with his best years coming from 1975-76 to 1979-80, when he averaged 18.7 points. 4.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game. His game declined in the 1982-83 season, however, when he shot a career-worst 43 percent in the field, after which he retired at 31 years of age. The Bucks organization retired his number 32 on October 28, 1983, he was the third player in franchise history to be, honored with a jersey retirement.
In a 2005 interview, Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan singled out Winters as the best "pure shooter" in history, claiming that "he had the most beautiful stroke of all the people whom β» think of."
After retiring from the NBA, Winters 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. Later Winters coached with the Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors. He was formerly the head coach of the WNBA's Indiana Fever, leading them to their first ever consecutive-year playoff appearances.
On October 26, 2007, Winters option wasn't picked up by the Indiana Fever, ending his four-year tenure with the club. He compiled a 78β58 record in the regular season to go with a 5β7 playoff record. He was a scout for the Indiana Pacers for several seasons until he was let go during the NBA lockout in August 2011. He spent the 2012β13 season as an assistant coach with the Charlotte Bobcats.
Winters has been a talent scout for the Indiana Pacers since 2014. He played a role in convincing the Pacers to draft Myles Turner.
Head coaching recordβ»
NBAβ»
Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | WβL % | Winβloss % |
Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PWβL % | Playoff winβloss % |
Team | Year | G | W | L | WβL% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PWβL% | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vancouver | 1995β96 | 82 | 15 | 67 | .183 | 7th in Midwest | β | β | β | β | Missed playoffs |
Vancouver | 1996β97 | 43 | 8 | 35 | .186 | (fired) | β | β | β | β | β |
Golden State | 2001β02 | 59 | 13 | 46 | .220 | 7th in Pacific | β | β | β | β | Missed playoffs |
Career | 184 | 36 | 148 | .196 | β | β | β | β |
WNBAβ»
Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | WβL % | Winβloss % |
Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PWβL % | Playoff winβloss % |
Team | Year | G | W | L | WβL% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PWβL% | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IND | 2004 | 34 | 15 | 19 | .441 | 6th in East | β | β | β | β | Missed Playoffs |
IND | 2005 | 34 | 21 | 13 | .618 | 2nd in East | 4 | 2 | 2 | .500 | Lost in Conference finals |
IND | 2006 | 34 | 21 | 13 | .618 | 3rd in East | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | Lost in Conference semifinals |
IND | 2007 | 34 | 21 | 13 | .618 | 2nd in East | 6 | 3 | 3 | .500 | Lost in Conference finals |
Career | 136 | 78 | 58 | .574 | 12 | 5 | 7 | .417 |
NBA career statisticsβ»
GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
Regular seasonβ»
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1974β75 | L.A. Lakers | 68 | β | 22.3 | .443 | β | .826 | 2.0 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 11.7 |
1975β76 | Milwaukee | 78 | β | 35.8 | .464 | β | .829 | 3.2 | 4.7 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 18.2 |
1976β77 | Milwaukee | 78 | β | 34.8 | .498 | β | .847 | 3.0 | 4.3 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 19.3 |
1977β78 | Milwaukee | 80 | β | 34.4 | .463 | β | .840 | 3.1 | 4.9 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 19.9 |
1978β79 | Milwaukee | 79 | β | 32.6 | .493 | β | .856 | 2.2 | 4.8 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 19.8 |
1979β80 | Milwaukee | 80 | β | 32.8 | .479 | .373 | .860 | 2.8 | 4.5 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 16.2 |
1980β81 | Milwaukee | 69 | β | 25.7 | .475 | .353 | .869 | 2.0 | 3.3 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 11.6 |
1981β82 | Milwaukee | 61 | 13 | 30.0 | .501 | .387 | .788 | 2.8 | 4.1 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 15.9 |
1982β83 | Milwaukee | 57 | 12 | 23.9 | .434 | .324 | .859 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 10.6 |
Career | 650 | 25 | 30.7 | .475 | .363 | .842 | 2.6 | 4.1 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 16.2 | |
All-Star | 2 | 1 | 15.0 | .417 | β | β | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 5.0 |
Playoffsβ»
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1976 | Milwaukee | 3 | β | 42.0 | .629 | β | .800 | 2.3 | 5.0 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 27.3 |
1978 | Milwaukee | 9 | β | 33.9 | .497 | β | .741 | 3.3 | 6.4 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 20.4 |
1980 | Milwaukee | 7 | β | 38.3 | .460 | .429 | 1.000 | 3.0 | 5.3 | 1.6 | 0.0 | 15.9 |
1981 | Milwaukee | 7 | β | 25.9 | .459 | .333 | .750 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 10.0 |
1982 | Milwaukee | 6 | β | 38.7 | .494 | .500 | .833 | 2.5 | 4.7 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 16.8 |
1983 | Milwaukee | 9 | β | 26.7 | .429 | .273 | .824 | 2.4 | 3.6 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 9.9 |
Career | 41 | β | 33.0 | .490 | .396 | .808 | 2.9 | 4.7 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 15.5 |
Referencesβ»
- ^ "South Carolina basketball: Brian Winters still helps in NBA | The State". Archived from the original on January 29, 2020.
- ^ "Detroit Pistons at Milwaukee Bucks Box Score, April 18, 1976". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
- ^ "Portland Trail Blazers at Milwaukee Bucks Box Score, November 30, 1976". Basketball-Reference.com.
- ^ "Bucks Beat Knicks in 3 Overtimes (Published 1977)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 15, 2023.
- ^ "Milwaukee Bucks at Washington Bullets Box Score, March 19, 1978". Basketball-Reference.com.
- ^ "Archived Document". Archived from the original on August 25, 2007. Retrieved August 1, 2007.
- ^ "Retired Numbers". Nba.com.
- ^ Jordan, Michael (August 2005). "One-on-One with Michael Jordan". Cigar Aficionado (Interview). Interviewed by Marvin R. Shanken. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ "Fever declines option on Winters contract". Wnba.com, October 26, 2007. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
- ^ "Pacers cut 3 scouts". Indystar.com. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
- ^ "Charlotte Bobcats Name Assistant Coaches". NBA.com. Archived from the original on August 29, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
- ^ "Brian Winters, Indiana Pacers, Scout - RealGM". Basketball.realgm.com.
External linksβ»
- 1952 births
- Living people
- American basketball scouts
- American expatriate basketball people in Canada
- American men's basketball coaches
- American men's basketball players
- American women's basketball coaches
- Archbishop Molloy High School alumni
- Atlanta Hawks assistant coaches
- Basketball coaches from New York (state)
- Charlotte Bobcats assistant coaches
- Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coaches
- Denver Nuggets assistant coaches
- Golden State Warriors assistant coaches
- Golden State Warriors head coaches
- Indiana Fever coaches
- Indiana Pacers scouts
- Los Angeles Lakers draft picks
- Los Angeles Lakers players
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- Princeton Tigers men's basketball coaches
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