Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The team was originally founded as the Denver Larks in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, but changed their name to the Rockets before the first season began due to a swift ownership change that came from the owners of the local Ringsby Rocket Truck Lines company. The Rockets then changed their name to the Nuggets on August 7, 1974 as a precautionary measure for their franchise to move from the ABA to the NBA. After the name change, the Nuggets played for the final ABA Championship title in 1976, losing to the New York Nets.
The team has had some periods of success, qualifying for the ABA playoffs in all but two seasons of the ABA's existence. The team made the 1976 ABA Finals, losing to the New York Nets. The team joined the NBA in 1976 after the ABA–NBA merger and qualified for the NBA playoffs in nine consecutive seasons in the 1980s and ten consecutive seasons from 2004 to 2013. In 2023, the Nuggets, led by Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray, reached their first NBA Finals and defeated the Miami Heat to capture the franchise's first NBA championship. The Nuggets were the last of the four surviving former ABA teams to reach the NBA Finals, and the second former ABA team to win an NBA title. The Nuggets play their home games at Ball Arena, which they share with the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League and the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League.
History
1967: Franchise founding
The current franchise traces its roots to 1967, when one of the American Basketball Association 's charter franchises was awarded to a group in Kansas City, Missouri, headed by Southern California businessman James Trindle. However, Trindle was unable to find a suitable arena within the Kansas City area. League commissioner George Mikan suggested moving the team to Denver instead. After agreeing to name Denver resident and former NBA player Vince Boryla as the general manager, Trindle moved his Kansas City team to Denver as the newly named Denver Larks franchise, named after Colorado's state bird. However, the Trindle group was found out to be severely undercapitalized, leading Mikan to order the Larks franchise to post a $100,000 performance bond or lose the franchise before they even played a single game. Hours before the deadline happened, Trindle sold a two-thirds controlling interest to Denver trucking magnate Bill Ringsby and his son for $350,000. Ringsby then immediately renamed the team the Rockets, after his local company's long-haul trucks called the "Ringsby Rocket Truck Lines".1967–1976: ABA years
Playing at the Denver Auditorium Arena, the Rockets had early successes on the court, developing a strong fan base along the way. However, the team had a history of early playoff exits and only once played in the ABA championship series.Early on, Denver had a solid lineup led by Byron Beck and Larry Jones, then later by Beck and Ralph Simpson. Lonnie Wright of the American Football League's Denver Broncos signed with the Rockets during that first season and became the first player to play professional football and basketball in the same season. Wright played four seasons with Denver. Controversial rookie Spencer Haywood joined the team for the 1969–70 season. Haywood was one of the first players to turn professional before graduating from college, and the NBA initially refused to let him play in the league due to his status at the time. Haywood averaged nearly 30 points and 19.5 rebounds per game in his only ABA season, being named ABA MVP, ABA rookie of the year, as well as the All-Star Game MVP. The team finished 51–33, winning their division, before exiting the playoffs in the 2nd round.
Just before the start of the 1970–71 season, Haywood signed with the Seattle SuperSonics, jumping to the NBA and later resulting in the Haywood v. National Basketball Association case that allowed for both NBA and ABA teams to draft collegiate underclassmen going forward. The team tumbled to a 30–54 record and attendance suffered.
1974–1976: Becoming the Denver Nuggets
Ringsby later sold the team to San Diego businessmen Frank Goldberg and Bud Fischer in 1972 following more recent troubles with his trucking operations at the time. A year prior to the change in management, the Rockets changed their team logo from a logo reflecting the team's partnership with Ringsby's Rocket Truck Lines to one that gave the team more of an identity beyond branding purposes with Ringsby's business. In 1974, in anticipation of moving into the NBA, and the new McNichols Arena, the franchise held a contest to choose a new team nickname, as "Rockets" was already in use by the Houston Rockets. The winning choice was "Nuggets", in honor of the original Denver Nuggets NBL team from 1948 to 1950, the last year as a charter member of the NBA following the BAA merging operations with the NBL to create the modern-day NBA. Their new logo was a miner "discovering" an ABA ball. The change from Rockets to Nuggets was ultimately made official on August 7, 1974, months before the franchise began the 1974–75 ABA season. Goldberg and Fischer in turn sold the team to a local investment group called Nuggets Management Inc. in 1974 and 1975 in relation to the upcoming move from the ABA to the NBA.With the drafting and signing of future Hall of Fame player David Thompson out of North Carolina State and Marvin Webster, and the acquisitions of Dan Issel and Bobby Jones, with Larry Brown coaching, they had their best seasons in team history in their first two as the Nuggets. Playing in the Denver Auditorium Arena for the last season the 1974–75 team went 65–19, including a 40–2 record at home. However, they lost in the Western Conference Finals in 7 games, to the Indiana Pacers.
In 1975–76, playing at their new arena, the Nuggets, with the acquisitions of Thompson, Jones and Dan Issel who had come via a trade after he won an ABA title with the 1974–75 Kentucky Colonels, the team went 60–24, edged the reigning champion Kentucky Colonels four games to three to make the 1976 ABA finals for the first time. Eventually, they lost to the New York Nets and Julius Erving in 6 games. They did not get a second chance to win an ABA league championship, as the ABA–NBA merger took place after the 1975–76 season. The Nuggets, Nets, Indiana Pacers, and San Antonio Spurs were merged into the NBA. The Spirits of St. Louis and Kentucky Colonels were disbanded, with the Virginia Squires not even making it to the merger period.
1976–1982: Early NBA years
The Nuggets and Nets had actually applied to join the NBA in 1975, but were forced to stay in the ABA by a court order. The Nuggets continued their strong play early on in the NBA, as they won division titles in their first two seasons in the league, and missed a third by a single game. However, neither of these teams were ultimately successful in the postseason. Similarly to the other new NBA teams, the Nuggets were saddled with stiff financial obligations upon joining the NBA, including a $2 million entry fee. Red McCombs bought the team in 1978.In 1979, Brown left the team, helping usher in a brief decline in their performance. It ended in 1981, when they hired Doug Moe as a head coach. Moe brought with him a "motion offense" philosophy, a style of play focusing on attempting to move the ball until someone got open. Moe was also known for not paying as much attention to defense as other NBA coaches. The offense helped the team become highly competitive. During the 1980s, the Nuggets often scored in excess of 115 points a game, and during the 1981–82 season, they scored at least 100 points in every game. The NBA-record streak was halted at 136 consecutive games. During the 1981–82 season, the Nuggets set the league scoring record for the highest points per game average at 126.5 points.
1982–1989: The Alex English era
Anchored by scoring machines Alex English and Kiki Vandeweghe at the two forward spots, and Dan Issel at center, Denver led the league in scoring, with English and Vandeweghe both averaging above 25 points per game. It was a novel strategy, allowing the Nuggets to top the Midwest Division and qualify for the playoffs during that span. At the end of the season, English won the NBA scoring title, becoming the only Nugget to win the award despite the heavily favored offensive play of Doug Moe. In 1984–85, they made it to the Western Conference finals after being perennial playoff contenders, and they lost in five games to the Los Angeles Lakers.Vandeweghe was traded before the 1984–85 season to the Portland Trail Blazers for 6–3 rebounding guard Fat Lever, undersized power forward Calvin Natt and center Wayne Cooper. Spearheaded by Alex English and supported by the three new acquisitions and defensive specialists Bill Hanzlik and TR Dunn, the team replicated its success in the Western Conference despite the loss of Vandeweghe. They even managed to win 54 games in the 1987–88 season, the most they had ever won as an NBA team. However, the Mavericks eliminated the Nuggets in the second round of the 1988 NBA Playoffs. McCombs sold the team to Sidney Shlenker in 1985. Shlenker, in turn, sold the team to COMSAT in 1989.
1989–1991: A period of decline
Moe left the team in 1990, and was replaced by Paul Westhead. Westhead also believed in a "run and gun" style of play allowing players to speed down the court to shoot rather than creating set plays. Combined with the 1980s Nuggets core slowly departing due to age and injuries, the Nuggets collapsed, going from a 46-36 record and a playoff spot in '88-'89 to a pitiful 20-62 record and last place in the conference.1991–1996: The Dikembe Mutombo era
Denver took a positive step in rebuilding by drafting Georgetown University center Dikembe Mutombo in 1991. Mutombo finished runner-up to Larry Johnson for the NBA rookie of the year that season. Denver finished 24–58 that year.Denver fired Westhead prior to the 1992–93 season and hired former star player Dan Issel as his successor. The Nuggets had two lottery picks that year and drafted University of Notre Dame forward LaPhonso Ellis and University of Virginia guard Bryant Stith. Denver improved to 36–46, just missing the playoffs that year.
Denver ditched their rainbow colors for a dark navy, metallic gold and wine color scheme starting in the 1993–94 season. Led by Mutombo, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and Ellis, Denver finished with its first winning season since the Doug Moe era at 42–40. Denver clinched the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoffs, playing the first place Seattle SuperSonics. Denver was a heavy underdog, having only a couple of players on their roster with actual NBA playoff experience. After dropping the first two games of the five-game set in Seattle, the series returned to Denver. Denver won both games and tied the series at 2. The Nuggets made NBA history in Game 5, upsetting Seattle in overtime 98–94. They became the first 8th-seeded team to defeat a 1st-seeded team in NBA playoff history. Denver almost repeated the feat before falling to the Utah Jazz in Game 7 of the second round.
Denver acquired Sonics sharp-shooter Dale Ellis in the off-season and drafted University of Michigan guard Jalen Rose. Denver struggled, causing Issel to resign as coach partway into the season. Assistant Coach Gene Littles assumed control for a brief period before relinquishing control to general manager Bernie Bickerstaff. Denver rebounded and earned the eighth seed again in the playoffs, finishing 41–41. The Nuggets were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs that season.
Following that season, Denver acquired Antonio McDyess in a draft-day trade with the Los Angeles Clippers. McDyess was the face of the franchise for the next few years, as Mutombo left after the 1995–96 season for the Atlanta Hawks, Ellis missed the majority of the next few seasons due to recurring knee and leg injuries, Rose was traded to the Indiana Pacers for Mark Jackson, and Abdul-Rauf was traded to the Sacramento Kings prior to the 1996–97 season.