Cowens Is Fired by Warriors

The Golden State Warriors, among the NBA’s most downtrodden franchises, fired Coach Dave Cowens on Saturday.

Cowens was replaced on an interim basis by assistant Brian Winters, who coached the Warriors on Saturday night against Memphis. Winters coached the Vancouver Grizzlies in their first two seasons.

Although reluctant to directly criticize Cowens, Golden State General Manager Garry St. Jean strongly hinted Cowens had lost the respect of several players 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 consecutive losing seasons, from wasting 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, had a 25-80 record with the Warriors.

Cowens clashed publicly and privately in recent weeks with several players, including Mookie Blaylock, Bob Sura and Marc Jackson. Many were unhappy with the coach’s substitution patterns. Cowens questioned the team’s effort and intelligence.

Golden State had lost four in a row and eight of nine before Saturday’s game.

Winters becomes the 20th coach to pass through the revolving door at 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.