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DENVER NUGGETS
HISTORY
 Denver Nuggets,
professional basketball team and one of seven teams in the Midwest
Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball
Association (NBA). The Nuggets play in the Pepsi Center in Denver,
Colorado, and wear jerseys of gold, red, and blue. The team’s name
refers to the history of gold mining in Colorado.
A team called the Denver Nuggets was
among the 17 clubs in the NBA’s first season, in 1949-50, but they
lasted only one year. The current Nuggets franchise traces its roots to
the Denver Rockets, a team that entered the American Basketball
Association (ABA) in 1967. The ABA was known for open-court,
high-scoring play, which suited Denver’s star guard, Larry Jones. In the
Rockets’ first season, Jones registered the league’s highest single-game
score with 52 points.
Another high-scoring player, forward-center Spencer Haywood, signed with
the club in 1969. As an ABA rookie Haywood registered single-game highs
of 59 points and 31 rebounds, averaged 30 points and 19.5 rebounds per
game, and won the league’s most valuable player (MVP) award. The Rockets
won their first division title in 1969-70. Haywood signed with the
Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA the following season, and the Rockets had
several lackluster years.
In 1974 the team renamed itself the Nuggets. Under head coach Larry
Brown, they became one of the top ABA teams that season, winning 65
games. The next season, 1975-76, the team added forward Dan Issel and
guard David Thompson. The Nuggets advanced to the ABA Finals but lost to
the New York Nets (later the New Jersey Nets).
The ABA folded after the 1975-76 season, and the Nuggets were one of
four ABA teams absorbed by the NBA. Denver finished the year with a
50-32 win-loss record to capture the Midwest Division. They were
defeated in the conference semifinals by the Portland Trail Blazers.
Two seasons later, in 1977-78, the Nuggets again won their division, but
they fell to the Seattle SuperSonics in the conference finals. Doug Moe
took over as head coach during the 1980-81 season and guided the team
for eight full seasons. The Nuggets reached the playoffs in each of
those seasons and frequently led the league in scoring, averaging more
than 120 points per game for five consecutive campaigns. During the
1982-83 season forward Alex English averaged 28.4 points per game to
lead the league in scoring. Forward Kiki Vandeweghe, averaging 26.7
points, finished second. On December 13, 1983, the Nuggets lost to the
Detroit Pistons, 186-184, in the highest-scoring game in league history.
Before the 1984-85 season the team traded Vandeweghe to the Portland
Trail Blazers for three players—Wayne Cooper, Lafayette “Fat” Lever, and
Calvin Natt. Teamed with English and Issel, they formed the Nuggets’
most successful lineup. The Nuggets advanced to the conference finals,
where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers. Three seasons later, in
1987-88, they fell to the Dallas Mavericks in the conference semifinals.
The Nuggets’ fortunes declined in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and
they failed to make the postseason for three consecutive years, starting
in 1990-91. Before the 1991-92 season, Denver drafted center Dikembe
Mutombo, an outstanding shot-blocker. Issel returned to coach the
Nuggets before the 1992-93 season, and a year later the Nuggets bested
the heavily favored Seattle SuperSonics in the first round of the
playoffs before losing to the Utah Jazz. Issel resigned during the
1994-95 season, and a series of coaches followed. The team’s roster also
underwent several changes over the next few years, including Mutombo’s
departure after the 1995-96 season, when he signed with the Atlanta
Hawks. Issel resumed his coaching duties for the 1999-2000 season.
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