Robert William Weiss (born May 7, 1942) is an American former professional basketball player and coach.
Early life and education
Weiss was born on May 7, 1942, in Easton, Pennsylvania. He played high school basketball at Athens Area High School in Athens, Pennsylvania.
College career and statistics
Weiss played college basketball at Penn State University from 1963 to 1965, where he averaged 16.3 points per game during his senior season.
|-
| align="left" | 1962–63
| align="left" | Penn State
| 20 || – || – || .423 || – || .704 || 4.5 || – || – || – || 15.3
|-
| align="left" | 1963–64
| align="left" | Penn State
| 23 || – || – || .436 || – || .800 || 3.9 || – || – || – || 17.0
|-
| align="left" | 1964–65
| align="left" | Penn State
| 24 || – || – || .420 || – || .769 || 4.8 || – || – || – || 16.4
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 67 || – || – || .427 || – || .762 || 4.4 || – || – || – || 16.3
|}
National Basketball Association
Philadelphia 76ers
Weiss was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1965 NBA draft in the third round with the 22nd overall selection. Weiss interspersed his career with the 76ers with a stint in the Eastern Professional Basketball League (EPBL), where he played for the Wilmington Blue Bombers in Wilmington, Delaware. Weiss won
CBA champion with the Blue Bombers in 1966
and 1967.
He led the EPBL in assists in the 1966–67 season and was named to the All-EPBL First Team that season.
In 1967, Weiss was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers' NBA Finals team.
Seattle SuperSonics
In the 1967 NBA expansion draft, he was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics.
Weiss played in the NBA for twelve seasons, including six with the
Chicago Bulls.
NBA career statistics
Regular season
|-
| align="left" | 1965–66
| align="left" | Philadelphia
| 7 || – || 4.3 || .333 || – || .000 || 1.0 || 0.6 || – || – || 0.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;" | 1966–67†
| align="left" | Philadelphia
| 6 || – || 4.8 ||
.500 || – || .400 || 0.5 || 1.7 || – || – || 2.0
|-
| align="left" | 1967–68
| align="left" | Seattle
|
82 || – || 19.7 || .430 || – || .839 || 1.8 || 4.2 || – || – || 9.8
|-
| align="left" | 1968–69
| align="left" | Milwaukee
| 15 || – || 16.1 || .316 || – || .794 || 1.8 || 1.8 || – || – || 6.6
|-
| align="left" | 1968–69
| align="left" | Chicago
| 62 || – || 19.9 || .397 || – || .802 || 2.2 || 2.8 || – || – || 6.6
|-
| align="left" | 1969–70
| align="left" | Chicago
| style="background:#cfecec;" |
82* || – ||
31.0 || .427 || – ||
.842 ||
2.8 ||
5.8 || – || – ||
11.5
|-
| align="left" | 1970–71
| align="left" | Chicago
|
82 || – || 27.3 || .422 || – || .840 || 2.3 || 4.7 || – || – || 9.5
|-
| align="left" | 1971–72
| align="left" | Chicago
|
82 || – || 29.9 || .430 || – || .835 || 2.1 || 4.6 || – || – || 11.3
|-
| align="left" | 1972–73
| align="left" | Chicago
| style="background:#cfecec;" |
82* || – || 25.4 || .426 || – || .841 || 1.8 || 3.6 || – || – || 8.7
|-
| align="left" | 1973–74
| align="left" | Chicago
| 79 || – || 21.6 || .466 || – || .835 || 1.3 || 3.8 ||
1.3 || 0.2 || 8.5
|-
| align="left" | 1974–75
| align="left" | Buffalo
| 76 || – || 17.6 || .391 || – || .806 || 1.4 || 3.4 || 1.1 ||
0.3 || 3.4
|-
| align="left" | 1975–76
| align="left" | Buffalo
| 66 || – || 15.1 || .486 || – || .729 || 1.0 || 2.3 || 0.7 || 0.2 || 3.2
|-
| align="left" | 1976–77
| align="left" | Washington
| 62 || – || 12.4 || .466 || – || .784 || 1.1 || 2.1 || 0.9 || 0.1 || 2.5
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 783 || – || 22.1 || .428 || – || .828 || 1.8 || 3.7 || 1.0 || 0.2 || 7.6
|}
Playoffs
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;" | 1966–67†
| align="left" | Philadelphia
| 1 || – || 4.0 ||
.667 || – || .000 || 2.0 || 2.0 || – || – || 4.0
|-
| align="left" | 1969–70
| align="left" | Chicago
| 5 || – || 24.2 || .424 || – || .800 || 1.2 || 4.8 || – || – || 11.6
|-
| align="left" | 1970–71
| align="left" | Chicago
| 7 || – ||
35.7 || .457 || – || .867 || 2.6 ||
8.1 || – || – ||
15.7
|-
| align="left" | 1971–72
| align="left" | Chicago
| 4 || – || 29.8 || .490 || – || .875 ||
3.3 || 3.0 || – || – || 13.8
|-
| align="left" | 1972–73
| align="left" | Chicago
| 7 || – || 25.0 || .430 || – || .762 || 2.3 || 2.1 || – || – || 12.0
|-
| align="left" | 1973–74
| align="left" | Chicago
|
11 || – || 22.8 || .311 || – ||
1.000 || 1.8 || 2.9 ||
0.6 ||
0.1 || 4.7
|-
| align="left" | 1974–75
| align="left" | Buffalo
| 7 || – || 16.1 || .478 || – || .667 || 1.0 || 2.4 ||
0.6 ||
0.1 || 4.3
|-
| align="left" | 1975–76
| align="left" | Buffalo
| 7 || – || 5.1 || .375 || – || .667 || 0.6 || 0.4 || 0.3 || 0.0 || 1.1
|-
| align="left" | 1976–77
| align="left" | Washington
| 4 || – || 8.5 || .600 || – || .000 || 0.8 || 0.5 || 0.3 || 0.0 || 1.5
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 53 || – || 20.8 || .426 || – || .802 || 1.7 || 3.1 || 0.5 || 0.1 || 7.7
|}
Coaching career
NBA
After retiring as a player in 1977, Weiss briefly worked for an investment firm in Anaheim, California. In 1978, he joined the as an assistant coach.
["Weiss joins Clippers". Chicago Tribune. August 30, 1978. E5.] In 1980, he moved to the
Dallas Mavericks, an expansion franchise.
After six years in Dallas, Weiss accepted his first head coaching job in 1986 with the San Antonio Spurs. He coached the Spurs for two seasons, never posting a winning record. He did, however, lead them to the NBA Playoffs in 1988.
After one year as an assistant with the Orlando Magic, Weiss moved to the Atlanta Hawks as head coach. In three seasons, his Hawks teams posted a record of 124–122 and made the playoffs twice.
Weiss left the Hawks in 1993. He spent one year as head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers before joining the SuperSonics as an assistant coach. He served in that post for 12 years under both George Karl and Nate McMillan, going to the NBA Finals in 1996. He was promoted to head coach in 2005 after McMillan left for the Portland Trail Blazers. However, Weiss did not last even one season, as the Sonics struggled to a losing record. After a 13–17 start to the 2005–06 season, his three-year deal was terminated on January 3, 2006, and he was replaced with Bob Hill.
China
In 2008, Weiss went to China to coach the
Shanxi Loongs in the Chinese Basketball Association.
He also coached for the
Shandong Lions.
Return to NBA
In 2012, Weiss joined the
Atlanta Hawks' coaching staff.
The next year, he became an assistant with the Charlotte Bobcats.
In 2017, he was hired by the
Denver Nuggets as an assistant coach.
Head coaching record
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|San Antonio
| style="text-align:left;"|
| 82||28||54|||| style="text-align:center;"|6th in Midwest||—||—||—||—
| style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|San Antonio
| style="text-align:left;"|
| 82||31||51|||| style="text-align:center;"|5th in Midwest||3||0||3||
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First Round
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta
| style="text-align:left;"|
| 82||43||39|||| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Central||5||2||3||
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First Round
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta
| style="text-align:left;"|
| 82||38||44|||| style="text-align:center;"|5th in Central||—||—||—||—
| style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta
| style="text-align:left;"|
| 82||43||39|||| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Central||3||0||3||
| style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First Round
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers
| style="text-align:left;"|
| 82||27||55|||| style="text-align:center;"|7th in Pacific||—||—||—||—
| style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|Seattle
| style="text-align:left;"|
| 30||13||17|||| style="text-align:center;"|(fired)||—||—||—||—
| style="text-align:center;"|—
|- class="sortbottom"
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|
Career
| 522||223||299|||| ||11||2||9||||
