List of Denver Nuggets head coaches

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]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Nuggets: 1967 to 1979". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  2. ^ "Coach of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on September 15, 2010. Retrieved June 12, 2008.
  3. ^ "Doug Moe Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 8, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  4. ^ "Larry Brown Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 12, 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  5. ^ "John McLendon Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  6. ^ "Joe Belmont Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 20, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  7. ^ "Donnie Walsh Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 20, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  8. ^ "Dan Issel Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  9. ^ "Bill Hanzlik's Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  10. ^ "Mike Evans Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  11. ^ "Jeff Bzdelik Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  12. ^ "Michael Cooper Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  13. ^ "Michael Malone Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2020.