32   Brian Winters

The end of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar era did have a silver lining for Bucks fans. When "the franchise" requested a move, the Bucks received four players from the Lakers on June 16, 1975, including Junior Bridgeman and a young All-Rookie shooting guard named Brian Winters.

Winters, an All-America selection in high school and at the University of South Carolina, quickly carved his niche in Bucks history, playing eight seasons for the Bucks and averaging 16.7 per game. His prodigious numbers would undoubtedly have been even better, but the three-point FG came into existence after he had already played five NBA seasons. For his career, he was 114-of-314 (.363) from downtown. He was also deadly from the free throw line, where he was a career 84.3 percent shooter.

In his first season in Milwaukee, he made the All-Star team, a feat he would achieve again in 1978. In eight seasons, he helped the Bucks achieve six postseason berths. Upon his retirement, Don Nelson called Winters' game intuition "outstanding," and said Winters was the type of player "any coach would welcome."

Upon retiring in 1983, Winters was the leading playmaker in Bucks history (now 3rd, 2,479 assists). He is still among the Bucks all-time leaders in scoring (7th, 9,743), games played (5th, 582) and steals (5th, 718) and assists. The Bucks wasted no time honoring Winters as the third player to have his number retired, raising his No. 32 on October 28, 1983, at halftime of a 104-83 opening night win over Indiana.

Milw. Totals (75-83, eight seasons)

	G	Min.	FGM-A	.PCT	FTM-A	PCT	REB	AST	PF	PTS	AVG
Career	582	18422	4131-8647	.478	1367-1621	.843	1550	2479	1662	9743	16.7
Playoffs	41	1352	269-548	.491	82-101	.812	118	192	123	639	15.6