The Denver Nuggets

Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...

 are an American professional basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 team based in Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

. They play in the Northwest Division

Northwest Division (NBA)

The Northwest Division is one of the three divisions in the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association . The division consists of five teams, the Denver Nuggets, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Portland Trail Blazers and the Utah JazzThe division was...

 of the Western Conference

Western Conference (NBA)

Below is a list of current Western Conference NBA team rosters.-Western Conference:There are a total of 15 teams in the Western Conference. The current leading team of the Western conference are the Dallas Mavericks....

 in the National Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

 (NBA). The Nuggets were originally founded as the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association

American Basketball Association

The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...

 (ABA) in 1967. In 1974, in anticipation of moving to the NBA, the franchise held a contest to choose a new trademarked name for the team, as Rockets was already in use by the Houston Rockets

Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...

 and the name Nuggets won. In 1976, the ABA folded, and the NBA decided to admit four ABA teams into the league, including the Nuggets, the San Antonio Spurs

San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....

, the Indiana Pacers

Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...

 and the New York Nets.

There have been 19 head coach

Head coach

A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...

es for the Nuggets franchise. The franchise's first head coach was Bob Bass

Bob Bass

Bob Bass is a former basketball coach and executive who worked in the NCAA, American Basketball Association, and the National Basketball Association....

, who led the team to the division semifinals, losing to the New Orleans Buccaneers

New Orleans Buccaneers

New Orleans Buccaneers was a charter member of the American Basketball Association. After three seasons in New Orleans, Louisiana the franchise moved to Memphis, Tennessee where it became the Pros, Tams and Sounds for four years before an abortive move to Baltimore in 1975.-Origins:With the...

. Doug Moe

Doug Moe

Douglas Edwin Moe is an American professional basketball coach. He is most closely associated with the Denver Nuggets franchise....

 won the NBA Coach of the Year Award

NBA Coach of the Year Award

The National Basketball Association's Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1962–63 NBA season. The winner receives the Red Auerbach Trophy, which is named in honor of the head coach who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA Championships from 1956 to 1966...

 for the . Moe is the franchise's all-time leader in both regular season and playoff games coached and wins. Larry Brown

Larry Brown (basketball)

Lawrence Harvey "Larry" Brown is an American basketball coach and former player. He most recently served as head coach of the National Basketball Association's Charlotte Bobcats....

 is the only Nuggets coach to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame

Basketball Hall of Fame

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, honors exceptional basketball players, coaches, referees, executives, and other major contributors to the game of basketball worldwide...

. In 1976, Brown coached the Nuggets to the team's only ABA championship game. John McLendon

John McLendon

John B. McLendon, Jr. was a pioneering American basketball coach who is recognized as the first African American basketball coach at a predominantly white university. He was a major contributor to the development of modern basketball and coached on both the college and professional levels during...

, Joe Belmont

Joe Belmont

Joe Belmont is a former American basketball player and coach. He played college basketball at Duke University, and was selected in the 1956 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia Warriors. He never played in the NBA, however...

, Donnie Walsh

Donnie Walsh

Joseph Donald Walsh Jr., better known as Donnie Walsh is a former professional basketball coach, and former president of basketball operations for the New York Knicks.-Biography:...

, Dan Issel

Dan Issel

Daniel Paul Issel is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player and coach.-Collegiate playing career:...

, Bill Hanzlik

Bill Hanzlik

William Henry Hanzlik is a retired American professional basketball player and coach. A 6'7" guard, Hanzlik played college basketball at the University of Notre Dame. He was selected for the 1980 US Mens Olympic Team which never was afforded the chance to compete due to the US's boycott of the...

, Mike Evans, Jeff Bzdelik

Jeff Bzdelik

Jeff Bzdelik is an American basketball coach, currently coaching at Wake Forest University. He formerly coached the Denver Nuggets in the National Basketball Association for slightly over two seasons, from 2002 through 2004...

, and Michael Cooper spent their entire coaching careers with the Nuggets. As of September 2008, the current coach of the Nuggets is George Karl

George Karl

George Matthew Karl is a former National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association player. He is the current head coach of the Denver Nuggets. On December 10, 2010 he became the seventh coach in NBA history to record 1,000 wins.-Biography:Karl was born in Penn Hills,...

.
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Key

GC	Games coached
W	Wins
L	Losses
Win%	Winning percentage Winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. It is defined as wins divided by wins plus losses . Ties count as a ½ loss and a ½ win...
#	Number of coaches
*	Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Nuggets
	Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the .

#	Name	Term	GC	W	L	Win%	GC	W	L	Win%	Achievements	Reference
			Regular season				Playoffs
11		1967–1969	156	89	67	.571	12	5	7	.417
22	*	1969	28	9	19	.321	—	—	—	—
33	*	1969–1970	69	45	24	.652	12	5	7	.417
44		1970–1971	71	27	44	.380	—	—	—	—
55		1971–1974	252	118	134	.468	12	4	8	.333
66		1974–	385	251	134	.652	45	21	24	.467	Led team to and lost 1975–76 ABA Final
77	*	–	142	60	82	.423	3	1	2	.333
88		–	789	432	357	.548	61	24	37	.393	1987–88 NBA Coach of the Year NBA Coach of the Year Award The National Basketball Association's Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1962–63 NBA season. The winner receives the Red Auerbach Trophy, which is named in honor of the head coach who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA Championships from 1956 to 1966...
99		–	164	44	120	.268	—	—	—	—
1010	*	–	198	96	102	.485	12	6	6	.500
1111			16	3	13	.188	—	—	—	—
1212		–	127	59	68	.465	3	0	3	0
1313			69	17	52	.246	—	—	—	—
1414	*		82	11	71	.134	—	—	—	—
1515			50	14	36	.280	—	—	—	—
16—	*	–	190	84	106	.442	—	—	—	—
1716	*		56	18	38	.321	—	—	—	—
1817	*	–	192	73	119	.380	5	1	4	.200
1918	*		14	4	10	.286	—	—	—	—
2019		–present	532	328	204	.617	46	16	30	.348