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) are the only Nuggets coaches to win the NBA Coach of the Year Award.[2] Michael Malone is the franchise's all-time leader in both regular season and playoff 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]
Key
| GC | Games coached |
| W | Wins |
| L | Losses |
| Win% | Winning percentage |
| # | Number of coaches[a] |
| * | Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Nuggets |
| † | Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach |
Coaches
Note: Statistics are correct of the 2024–25 season.
| # | Name | Term[b] | 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 | [13] | ||||
| 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 | — | — | — | — | [14] | ||||
| 5 | Alex Hannum | 1971–1974 | 252 | 118 | 134 | .468 | 12 | 4 | 8 | .333 | [15] | ||||
| 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 | — | — | — | — | [16] | ||||
| 10 | Dan Issel* | 1992–1995 | 198 | 96 | 102 | .485 | 12 | 6 | 6 | .500 | [8] | ||||
| 11 | Gene Littles | 1995 | 16 | 3 | 13 | .188 | — | — | — | — | [17] | ||||
| 12 | Bernie Bickerstaff | 1995–1996 | 127 | 59 | 68 | .465 | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | [18] | ||||
| 13 | Dick Motta | 1996–1997 | 69 | 17 | 52 | .246 | — | — | — | — | [19] | ||||
| 14 | Bill Hanzlik* | 1997–1998 | 82 | 11 | 71 | .134 | — | — | — | — | [9] | ||||
| 15 | Mike D'Antoni | 1998–1999 | 50 | 14 | 36 | .280 | — | — | — | — | [20] | ||||
| — | 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 | [21] | |||
| 20 | Brian Shaw* | 2013–2015 | 141 | 56 | 85 | .397 | — | — | — | — | [22] | ||||
| 21 | Melvin Hunt* | 2015 | 23 | 10 | 13 | .435 | — | — | — | — | [23] | ||||
| 22 | Michael Malone | 2015–2025 | 798 | 471 | 327 | .590 | 80 | 44 | 36 | .550 | NBA championship (2023) | [24] | |||
| 23 | David Adelman* | 2025–present | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | 14 | 7 | 7 | .500 | [25] | ||||
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.
- Specific
- "Nuggets: 1967 to 1979". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008.
- "Coach of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on September 15, 2010.
- "Doug Moe Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 8, 2011.
- "Larry Brown Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 12, 2010.
- "John McLendon Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008.
- "Joe Belmont Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 20, 2008.
- "Donnie Walsh Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 20, 2008.
- "Dan Issel Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010.
- "Bill Hanzlik's Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015.
- "Mike Evans Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008.
- "Jeff Bzdelik Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008.
- "Michael Cooper Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008.
- "Bob Bass Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 2, 2008.
- "Stan Albeck Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on May 16, 2017.
- "Alex Hannum Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 23, 2019.
- "Paul Westhead Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 25, 2011.
- "Gene Littles Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008.
- "Bernie Bickerstaff Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011.
- "Dick Motta Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 23, 2019.
- "Mike D'Antoni Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011.
- "George Karl Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 24, 2010.
- "Brian Shaw Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 9, 2014.
- "Melvin Hunt Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC.
- "Nuggets name Michael Malone new head coach". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. June 15, 2015. Archived from the original on October 25, 2015.
- "David Adelman Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC.