A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA).[1] The Nuggets were founded as the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1967.[1] 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 and the name Nuggets won.[1] In 1976, the ABA folded, and the NBA decided to admit four ABA teams into the league, including the Nuggets, the San Antonio Spurs, the Indiana Pacers and the New York Nets.[1]
There have been 22 head coaches for the Nuggets franchise. The franchise's first head coach was Bob Bass, who led the team to the division semifinals, losing to the New Orleans Buccaneers.[1] Doug Moe (1988) and George Karl (2013) were the only Nuggets coaches to win the NBA Coach of the Year Award. .[2] Moe is the franchise's all-time leader in both regular season and playoff games coached and wins.[3] Larry Brown & George Karl are the only Nuggets coaches to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, although John McLendon was inducted as a contributor, but not a coach.[4] In 1976, Brown coached the Nuggets to the team's only ABA championship game.[1] John McLendon, Joe Belmont, Donnie Walsh, Dan Issel, Bill Hanzlik, Mike Evans, Jeff Bzdelik, Michael Cooper, and Brian Shaw spent their entire NBA coaching careers with the Nuggets. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]Michael Malone is the current head coach.[13]
Key
GC | Games coached |
W | Wins |
L | Losses |
Win% | Winning percentage |
# | 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 2022–23 season.
# | Name | Term | GC | W | L | Win% | GC | W | L | Win% | Achievements | Reference | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||
Denver Rockets | |||||||||||||||
1 | Bob Bass | 1967–1969 | 156 | 89 | 67 | .571 | 12 | 5 | 7 | .417 | [14] | ||||
2 | John McLendon* | 1969 | 28 | 9 | 19 | .321 | — | — | — | — | [5] | ||||
3 | Joe Belmont* | 1969–1970 | 69 | 45 | 24 | .652 | 12 | 5 | 7 | .417 | [6] | ||||
4 | Stan Albeck | 1970–1971 | 71 | 27 | 44 | .380 | — | — | — | — | [15] | ||||
5 | Alex Hannum | 1971–1974 | 252 | 118 | 134 | .468 | 12 | 4 | 8 | .333 | [16] | ||||
Denver Nuggets | |||||||||||||||
6 | Larry Brown† | 1974–1979 | 385 | 251 | 134 | .652 | 45 | 21 | 24 | .467 | Led team to and lost 1975–76 ABA Finals[1] | [4] | |||
7 | Donnie Walsh* | 1979–1980 | 142 | 60 | 82 | .423 | 3 | 1 | 2 | .333 | [7] | ||||
8 | Doug Moe | 1980–1990 | 789 | 432 | 357 | .548 | 61 | 24 | 37 | .393 | 1987–88 NBA Coach of the Year[2] | [3] | |||
9 | Paul Westhead | 1990–1992 | 164 | 44 | 120 | .268 | — | — | — | — | [17] | ||||
10 | Dan Issel* | 1992–1995 | 198 | 96 | 102 | .485 | 12 | 6 | 6 | .500 | [8] | ||||
11 | Gene Littles | 1995 | 16 | 3 | 13 | .188 | — | — | — | — | [18] | ||||
12 | Bernie Bickerstaff | 1995–1996 | 127 | 59 | 68 | .465 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | [19] | ||||
13 | Dick Motta | 1996–1997 | 69 | 17 | 52 | .246 | — | — | — | — | [20] | ||||
14 | Bill Hanzlik* | 1997–1998 | 82 | 11 | 71 | .134 | — | — | — | — | [9] | ||||
15 | Mike D'Antoni | 1998–1999 | 50 | 14 | 36 | .280 | — | — | — | — | [21] | ||||
— | Dan Issel* | 1999–2001 | 190 | 84 | 106 | .442 | — | — | — | — | [8] | ||||
16 | Mike Evans* | 2001–2002 | 56 | 18 | 38 | .321 | — | — | — | — | [10] | ||||
17 | Jeff Bzdelik* | 2002–2004 | 192 | 73 | 119 | .380 | 5 | 1 | 4 | .200 | [11] | ||||
18 | Michael Cooper* | 2004 | 14 | 4 | 10 | .286 | — | — | — | — | [12] | ||||
19 | George Karl† | 2004–2013 | 680 | 423 | 257 | .622 | 59 | 21 | 38 | .356 | 2012–13 NBA Coach of the Year | [22] | |||
20 | Brian Shaw* | 2013–2015 | 141 | 56 | 85 | .397 | — | — | — | — | |||||
21 | Melvin Hunt* | 2015 | 23 | 10 | 13 | .435 | — | — | — | — | [23] | ||||
22 | Michael Malone | 2015–present | 719 | 424 | 295 | .590 | 68 | 37 | 31 | .544 | NBA championship (2023) | [24] |
-
Mike D'Antoni coached the Denver Nuggets for 50 games during the 1998–99 NBA season.
-
George Karl was the 2004–2013 Denver Nuggets head coach.
-
Brian Shaw was the 2013–2015 Denver Nuggets head coach.
-
Michael Malone has been the Denver Nuggets head coach since 2015.
Notes
- a A running total of the number of coaches of the Nuggets. Thus any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once.
- b Each year is linked to an article about that particular NBA season, except for the seasons spent in the ABA.
References
- General
- "Denver Nuggets Coach Register". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- Specific
- ^ a b c d e f g "Nuggets: 1967 to 1979". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ a b "Coach of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on September 15, 2010. Retrieved June 12, 2008.
- ^ a b "Doug Moe Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 8, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ a b "Larry Brown Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 12, 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
- ^ a b "John McLendon Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ a b "Joe Belmont Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 20, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ a b "Donnie Walsh Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 20, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ a b c "Dan Issel Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ a b "Bill Hanzlik's Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ a b "Mike Evans Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ a b "Jeff Bzdelik Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ a b "Michael Cooper Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ "Michael Malone Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
- ^ "Bob Bass Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 2, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ "Stan Albeck Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on May 16, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ "Alex Hannum Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 23, 2019. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ "Paul Westhead Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 25, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ "Gene Littles Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ "Bernie Bickerstaff Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ "Dick Motta Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 23, 2019. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ "Mike D'Antoni Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ "George Karl Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 24, 2010. Retrieved May 14, 2010.
- ^ "Brian Shaw Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 9, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
- ^ "Nuggets name Michael Malone new head coach". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. June 15, 2015. Archived from the original on October 25, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2015.