The Denver Nuggets, who have struggled to a 13-15 start, fired head coach Jeff Bzdelik after two-plus seasons at the helm.

 
(AP Photo/file£©

Assistant Michael Cooper will take over for Bzdelik on an interim basis, General manager Kiki Vandeweghe made the announcement during a Tuesday press conference in Denver.

"I want to thank Jeff for all of his good work," said Vandeweghe. "This has been a difficult day at best. I felt the team needed a change."

The team is in the midst of a six-game slide.

Bzdelik, who was named the 17th coach in Nuggets' history back on August 21, 2002, engineered one of the NBA's greatest turnarounds last season. He guided Denver to 43 wins and the team's first postseason berth since 1995.

It marked a 26-game improvement from the 2002-03 campaign, when the Nuggets won just 17 contests. Bzdelik compiled an overall mark of 73-119 with the club.

Denver, which was expected by many to compete near the top of the Western Conference after acquiring All-Star power forward Kenyon Martin, has been decimated by injuries as well as inconsistency.

Voshon Lenard, who was the Nuggets' only legitimate outside shooter (14.2 ppg in 2003-04), tore his Achilles' tendon in a season-opening loss to the Lakers and is lost for the season.

Denver also started the season without power forward Nene and has played the past five contests without star forward Carmelo Anthony, who scored 21.4 points per game leading the club in scoring.

Denver began the 2004-05 campaign 2-5 and then won 10 of its next 12 games to show signs of life. However, 10 different starting lineups didn't help the club's cause and Monday night's 104-101 loss to Golden State left the team two games below .500. Cooper joined the Nuggets' coaching staff after a successful head coaching run in the WNBA. In four-plus seasons as coach of Los Angeles, he led the Sparks to a 116-31 record and four playoff appearances.

Los Angeles captured back-to-back WNBA championships in 2001 and 2002 and reached the Finals three consecutive years.

Cooper, who is a 12-year NBA veteran and a member of five NBA championship teams in 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988, began his coaching career in March, 1994, serving as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers under Magic Johnson and later with Del Harris from 1994-97.

Editor: Wing