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Saturday, December 15
 
Assistant Winters will serve as interim coach

ESPN.com news services

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Golden State Warriors fired coach Dave Cowens on Saturday after just 105 games with one of the NBA's most downtrodden franchises.

Cowens will be replaced on an interim basis by assistant coach Brian Winters, a team spokesman said. Winters coached the Vancouver Grizzlies in their first two seasons.

Cowens was fired with more than a year and a half left on his contract.

Though reluctant to directly criticize Cowens, Golden State general manager Garry St. Jean strongly hinted Cowens had lost the respect of a large portion of his roster during the Warriors' recent slide following a strong start.

St. Jean said he moved swiftly in an attempt to prevent the team, which has had seven straight losing seasons, from wasting yet another campaign. At the very least, competence was expected this season from a roster that was finally healthy after two injury-plagued seasons.

"You have to have a pulse of a team and how it's going," St. Jean said. "It wasn't at the level it needs to be to succeed."

Cowens, a Hall of Famer who was promoted from an assistant's job before last season, went 25-80 with the Warriors. Golden State (8-15) has lost four straight and eight of nine entering Saturday night's game against Memphis.

Winters becomes the 20th coach of one of the NBA's original franchises. He is the Warriors' seventh coach since 1995, when Don Nelson left the team after seven seasons and owner Chris Cohan assumed control of the club.

Star forward Antawn Jamison and reserve guard Bob Sura both have publicly questioned Cowens' substitution rotations.

"Brian understands the game," Jamison said. "He really knows the mismatches and the strategies, and how to use guys. He definitely has the players' respect. He's going to do the job to get the best out of us."

On Friday, the Contra Costa Times reported that Cowens kicked point guard Mookie Blaylock out of practice, saying he "wasn't ready" to practice and "didn't respond" to instruction.

"He wasn't ready and I dismissed him early," Cowens said after practice. "It happened. We didn't like it and it doesn't happen routinely, but he didn't respond."

Golden State had the NBA's second-worst record at 17-65 last season, and after a strong start this fall, the team again has sunk to the bottom of the Pacific Division.

After leading the league in man-games lost to injury during Cowens' first season, the Warriors appeared to be turning the corner this year. But Cowens has struggled to find a consistent rotation for his players and has kept $24 million center Marc Jackson buried on the bench.

Golden State has missed the playoffs in each of its last seven seasons -- the longest current streak in the NBA.

"We're good enough not to be at the bottom of this league," forward Danny Fortson said. "It's all on us now. The players have all the responsibility for this."

Cowens played 10 of his 11 NBA seasons with the Boston Celtics, who have retired his No. 18. He was the league MVP in 1973 and won two championships.

He previously coached the Celtics for 68 games during the 1978-79 season, then led the Charlotte Hornets to consecutive 50-win seasons from 1996-98. He resigned in Charlotte 15 games into the 1998-99 season.

Cowens was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.




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