Brian Winters

Brian Joseph Winters (born March 1, 1952) is an American former basketball player and coach. \n', ' 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 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 nine-year career that included two appearances in the NBA All-Star Game and playing on six 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. In a 2005 interview, 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."\n', ' 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.\n', '