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.
POWDER GAME AT DAN BALL PRO
Haywood was one of the first players to turn pro before graduating from college, and the NBA initially refused to let him play in the league. Controversial rookie Spencer Haywood joined the team for the 1969–70 season.
POWDER GAME AT DAN BALL PROFESSIONAL
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.
However, the team had a history of early playoff exits and only once played in the ABA championship series.Įarly, Denver had a solid lineup led by Byron Beck and Larry Jones, then later by Beck and Ralph Simpson. Playing at the Denver Auditorium Arena, the Rockets had early successes on the court, developing a strong fan base along the way.
Ringsby then renamed the team the Rockets, after his company's long-haul trucks. Hours before the deadline, Trindle sold a ⅔ controlling interest to Denver trucking magnate Bill Ringsby for $350,000. The Trindle group was severely undercapitalized, leading Mikan to order the Larks to post a $100,000 performance bond or lose the franchise. After agreeing to name Denver resident and former NBA player Vince Boryla as general manager, Trindle moved his team to Denver as the Denver Larks, named after Colorado's state bird. League commissioner George Mikan suggested moving the team to Denver. However, Trindle was unable to find a suitable arena in the Kansas City area. Later, in 1967, one of the American Basketball Association (ABA)'s charter franchises was awarded to a group in Kansas City, Missouri, headed by southern Californian businessman James Trindle. This franchise's records and statistics remain separate from the modern-day Denver Nuggets.īyron Beck, a University of Denver alumnus, is shown wearing the " Denver Rockets" uniform The Denver Nuggets played the 1949–50 season as one of the charter NBA teams before folding. Following that season, the NBL merged with the Basketball Association of America (BAA), with the newly unified circuit named the National Basketball Association to reflect the merger. Prior to the 1948–49 National Basketball League (NBL) season, the original Denver Nuggets were founded. The Nuggets play their home games at Ball Arena, which they share with the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League (NLL).įranchise history 1967–1969: Franchise background and founding
However, they did not qualify for their first NBA Finals until 2023 as such, they are also the last of the four surviving former ABA teams to reach the NBA Finals. 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. The team has had some periods of success, qualifying for the ABA Playoffs for all seasons from 1967 to the 1976 ABA playoffs where they lost in the finals. After the name change, the Nuggets played for the final ABA Championship title in 1976, losing to the New York Nets. The Rockets then changed their name again to the Nuggets in 1974. The team was founded as the Denver Larks in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association (ABA), but changed their name to Rockets before the first season. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver.
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