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The Denver Nuggets are a National Basketball Association team based in Denver, Colorado.
- Founded: 1967, a member of the American Basketball Association
- Formerly known as: Denver Rockets 1967-1974
- Home Arena: Pepsi Center
- Uniform colors: Columbine Blue and Gold (originally Midnight Blue, Red, and Gold)
- Logo design: The words "Denver NUGGETS" superimposed over a snowy mountain peak
- NBA Championships:
Franchise history
One of 4 ABA teams that joined the NBA through a league merger in 1976, the Denver Nuggets were one of the basketball's most exciting franchises up until the end of the 1980's, but have had a resurgance in 2003.
They were known as the Rockets for their first 7 years of existence, and were very strong in their early years. However, they tended to struggle in the postseason and failed to make a championship game during this span. They had a solid corp of players led by Byron Beck and Larry Jones, then later by Beck and Ralph Simpson. During the 1969-1970 season, the team also had a controversial rookie named Spencer Haywood. Haywood was one of the first players to turn pro before graduating college, and the NBA initially refused to let him play in the league. Haywood averaged 30 points in his only ABA season, then was allowed to sign with the Seattle SuperSonics to start a productive NBA career.
In 1974, the team was renamed the Nuggets, a nickname first used by a 1949-50 NBA franchise. With Larry Brown coaching, they had their best seasons in team history in their first two seasons as the Nuggets, with the team making the ABA finals in 1975-76. They would get no chances to win a league championship, as the ABA merger occurred during the off-season.
Led by Dan Issel, Bobby Jones, and David Thompson, Denver (and their infamous rainbow-colored jerseys) were quite strong 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 successful in the postseason.
Brown left the team in 1979, causing a brief recession in their team's history. It ended in 1981, when they hired Doug Moe as a head coach. Moe brought with him a "run and gun" philosophy, a style of play focusing on scoring at will, and it helped the team become highly competitive. 1980's Denver Nuggets basketball teams would often score in excess of 115 points a game, and during one full season, 1981-82, they failed to NOT score 100 points in a game. It was exciting and fun to watch, but it rarely led to playoff success. Only once, in 1984-85, did they even make it to the conference finals, and that year they lost in 5 games to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Moe left the team in 1990, and his departure ended their run as a competitive franchise. The team had a brief resurgance in 1993-94 (a year they ditched their rainbow colors for a dark blue and gold scheme) finishing 42-40 and stunning the top-seeded Supersonics in the postseason, but it was the only bright spot following his departure. Denver was an also-ran for nearly a decade, and flirted with having the worst record in a season in 1997-98, winning only 11 games in an 82 game season. They tied for the worst record in the NBA in 2002-03 with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The team has shown signs of another renaissance for the 2003-04, with the drafting of Carmelo Anthony and, coincidentally enough, another uniform change. In just two months of the season, they recorded more wins then they had in 5 1/2 months of 2002-03. In April, the turnaround was complete as they became the first franchise in NBA history to qualify for the postseason following a sub 20 win campaign the previous year.
Players of note
Basketball Hall of Famers
Not to be forgotten
Retired numbers
- 2 Alex English
- 33 David Thompson
- 40 Byron Beck
- 44 Dan Issel