Brian Winters

{{about|the basketball coach|the American football player|Brian Winters (American football)|the American soccer player|Brian Winters (soccer)}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Brian Winters

| image =

| width =

| caption =

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 4

| weight_lb = 185

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|03|01}}

| birth_place = Rockaway, New York, U.S.

| high_school = {{nowrap|Archbishop Molloy
(Queens, New York)}}

| college = South Carolina (1971–1974)

| draft_year = 1974

| draft_round = 1

| draft_pick = 12

| draft_team = Los Angeles Lakers

| career_start = 1974

| career_end = 1983

| career_number = 20, 32

| career_position = Shooting guard

| coach_start = 1984

| coach_end = 2013

| years1 = {{nbay|1974|full=y}}

| team1 = Los Angeles Lakers

| years2 = {{nbay|1975|start}}–{{nbay|1982|end}}

| team2 = Milwaukee Bucks

| cyears1 = 1984–1986

| cteam1 = Princeton (assistant)

| cyears2 = {{nbay|1986|start}}–{{nbay|1992|end}}

| cteam2 = Cleveland Cavaliers (assistant)

| cyears3 = {{nbay|1993|start}}–{{nbay|1994|end}}

| cteam3 = Atlanta Hawks (assistant)

| cyears4 = {{nbay|1995|start}}–{{nbay|1996|end}}

| cteam4 = Vancouver Grizzlies

| cyears5 = {{nbay|1997|full=y}}

| cteam5 = Denver Nuggets (assistant)

| cyears6 = {{nbay|1999|start}}–{{nbay|2001|end}}

| cteam6 = Golden State Warriors (assistant)

| cyears7 = {{nbay|2001|full=y}}

| cteam7 = Golden State Warriors (interim)

| cyears8 = 2004–2007

| cteam8 = Indiana Fever

| cyears9 = {{nbay|2012|full=y}}

| cteam9 = Charlotte Bobcats (assistant)

| highlights =

As player:

2× NBA All-Star ({{nasg|1976}}, {{nasg|1978}})
NBA All-Rookie First Team ({{nbay|1974|end}})
No. 32 retired by Milwaukee Bucks

| stats_league = NBA

| stat1label = Points

| stat1value = 10,537 (16.2 ppg)

| stat2label = Rebounds

| stat2value = 1,688 (2.6 rpg)

| stat3label = Assists

| stat3value = 2,674 (4.1 apg)

| cstats_league1 = NBA

| cwin1 = 36

| closs1 = 148

| cstats_league2 = WNBA

| cwin2 = 78

| closs2 = 58

}}

Brian Joseph Winters (born March 1, 1952) is an American former basketball player and coach.

Career

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 due to both a severe case of mononucleosis and a series of knee injuries.{{cite web |url=https://www.thestate.com/sports/college/university-of-south-carolina/usc-mens-basketball/article239497243.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129223621/https://www.thestate.com/sports/college/university-of-south-carolina/usc-mens-basketball/article239497243.html |archive-date=January 29, 2020 |title=South Carolina basketball: Brian Winters still helps in NBA {{!}} The State}} 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 traded to 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/197604180MIL.html|title=Detroit Pistons at Milwaukee Bucks Box Score, April 18, 1976|website=Basketball-Reference.com|access-date=January 29, 2022}} On November 30, 1976, Winters scored a career-high 43 points in a 115–106 victory over the Trailblazers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/197611300MIL.html|title = Portland Trail Blazers at Milwaukee Bucks Box Score, November 30, 1976|website=Basketball-Reference.com}} The following season, on December 16, 1977, Winters scored 24 points and made a game-winning jumpshot during a 152–150 triple overtime win against the New York Knicks.{{cite web |title=Bucks Beat Knicks in 3 Overtimes (Published 1977) |website=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215220741/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/17/archives/bucks-beat-knicks-in-3-overtimes-bucks-go-three-overtimes-to-defeat.html |archive-date=February 15, 2023 |url-status=live |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/17/archives/bucks-beat-knicks-in-3-overtimes-bucks-go-three-overtimes-to-defeat.html}} On March 19, 1978, Winters scored 22 points and recorded a career-high 18 assists in a 117–106 victory against the Washington Bullets.{{Cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/197803190WSB.html|title = Milwaukee Bucks at Washington Bullets Box Score, March 19, 1978|website=Basketball-Reference.com}}

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.{{cite web |url=http://www.basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=WINTEBR01 |title=Archived Document |access-date=August 1, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825001947/http://www.basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=WINTEBR01 |archive-date=August 25, 2007 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nba.com/bucks/history/retired-numbers|title = Retired Numbers|website=Nba.com}}

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 [he could] think of."{{cite interview |last=Jordan |first=Michael |subject-link=Michael Jordan |interviewer=Marvin R. Shanken |title=One-on-One with Michael Jordan |url=http://www.michaeljordan.pl/wywiad_michael_jordan_5ang.php |date=August 2005|work=Cigar Aficionado |access-date=March 6, 2018}}

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.[http://www.wnba.com/fever/news/071026_winters.html "Fever declines option on Winters contract"]. Wnba.com, October 26, 2007. Retrieved March 3, 2012. He compiled a 78–58 record in the regular season to go with a 5–7 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.indystar.com/article/20110809/SPORTS04/108090359/Pacers-cut-3-scouts|title=Pacers cut 3 scouts|website=Indystar.com|access-date=January 29, 2022}} He spent the 2012–13 season as an assistant coach with the Charlotte Bobcats.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nba.com/bobcats/charlotte-bobcats-name-assistant-coaches|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829030827/http://www.nba.com/bobcats/charlotte-bobcats-name-assistant-coaches|url-status=dead|title=Charlotte Bobcats Name Assistant Coaches|website=NBA.com |archive-date=August 29, 2012|access-date=January 29, 2022}}

Winters has been a talent scout for the Indiana Pacers since 2014.{{Cite web|url=https://basketball.realgm.com/staff/Brian-Winters/Summary/660|title = Brian Winters, Indiana Pacers, Scout – RealGM|website=Basketball.realgm.com}} He played a role in convincing the Pacers to draft Myles Turner.

Head coaching record

=NBA=

| style="text-align:left;"|Vancouver

| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1995}}

|82||15||67||{{Winning percentage|15|67}}|| align="center"|7th in Midwest|||—||—||—||—

| style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs

| style="text-align:left;"|Vancouver

| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1996}}

|43||8||35||{{Winning percentage|8|35}}|| align="center"|(fired)|||—||—||—||—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:left;"|Golden State

| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|2001}}

|59||13||46||{{Winning percentage|13|46}}|| align="center"|7th in Pacific|||—||—||—||—

| style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs

|- class="sortbottom"

| style="text-align:left;"|Career

| ||184||36||148||{{Winning percentage|36|148}}|| ||—||—||—||—||

=WNBA=

| align="left" |IND

| align="left" |{{wnbay|2004}}

|34||15||19||{{Winning percentage|15|19}}|| align="center" |6th in East||—||—||—||—

| align="center" |Missed Playoffs

| align="left" |IND

| align="left" |{{wnbay|2005}}

|34||21||13||{{winning percentage|21|13}}|| align="center" |2nd in East||4||2||2||{{Winning percentage|2|2}}

| align="center" |Lost in Conference finals

| align="left" |IND

| align="left" |{{wnbay|2006}}

|34||21||13||{{winning percentage|21|13}}|| align="center" |3rd in East||2||0||2||{{Winning percentage|0|2}}

| align="center" |Lost in Conference semifinals

| align="left" |IND

| align="left" |{{wnbay|2007}}

|34||21||13||{{winning percentage|21|13}}|| align="center" |2nd in East||6||3||3||{{Winning percentage|3|3}}

| align="center" |Lost in Conference finals

|-class="sortbottom"

| align="left" |Career

| ||136||78||58||{{Winning percentage|78|58}}|| ||12||5||7||{{Winning percentage|5|7}}||

NBA career statistics

= Regular season =

| style="text-align:left;"| {{Nbay|1974}}

| style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers

| 68 || – || 22.3 || .443 || – || .826 || 2.0 || 2.9 || 1.1 || 0.3 || 11.7

| style="text-align:left;"| {{Nbay|1975}}