Remember When The Nuggets Had One Of The Worst Seasons Of All Time?

The basketball season is finally getting underway, and that means that Coloradans have gotten their beloved Denver Nuggets back.

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People have been absolutely packing into the Ball Arena to make some noise for their team. 

In fact, Ball Arena recently was given the title of having the best home court advantage in the league due to the immense noise and thinner air in the Mile High City.

Just like years before, people are buzzing about the talent that the Nuggets have acquired and are hoping for yet another title run.

However, times haven’t always been good to the Nuggets, and while the franchise has had its moments of success, they also have been at the absolute bottom before. 

In 1997-1998, they had quite possibly one of the worst seasons in NBA history. Although many would like to forget it, with the team being as successful as they are now, it feels like the right time to recap what went wrong with this team.

The Setup to the Nugget’s Worst Season

Coming out of a relatively successful era in the 1980s with bucket-getter Alex English leading the charge, the Nuggets started the 1990s a little flat. 

 Long time head coach Doug Moe had left the team in 1990, and was replaced by Paul Westhead. After two losing seasons, Westhead was fired and replaced with Dan Issel in 1992.

Issel and star rim protector, Dikembe Mutombo, would sneak into the playoffs in the 1993-1994 season, where they faced the championship favorite Seattle Supersonics.

After losing the first two games of the series, the Nuggets stormed back and won in upset fashion in what is by far one of the most memorable moments in team history.

They then played the Utah Jazz, losing the first three games of that series, before winning three in a row to force a Game 7. However, their season ended after losing 91-81.

This seemed like the start of something fresh for the Nuggets, but Dan Issel resigned 34 games into the 1994-1995 season, and the Nuggets would lose in the first round to the Spurs.

Afterwards, the team began to spiral, going through multiple head coaches and losing franchise centerpiece Dikembe Mutombo in 1996.

This would all culminate in a truly horrifying season. 

The 1997-1998 Denver Nuggets May Have Been the Worst Team of All Time

Going into the season, expectations weren’t super high under first year head coach, Bill Hanzlik.

They acquired Tony Battle with the fifth pick of the draft, and got promising small forward Eric Williams in a trade with the Celtics.

Despite losing their first three games in lopsided fashion, Williams was looking like a nice piece for the future, putting up 19.8 points per game. 

However, in his fourth appearance, he suffered a truly terrible knee injury that sidelined him for the rest of the season. Williams would never be the same player again.

It took the Nuggets 13 games to get their first win of the season, and only three more to get their second, starting the year 2-15.

That second win was on December 7th. They wouldn’t win again until January 24th, losing 23 straight to go 3-38 at the halfway point of the season.

After a stretch of play where the Nuggets won three out of seven games, they embarked on yet another month-long losing streak, this time losing 15 straight. By the time this streak was over on March 12th, their record sat at a horrid 6-58. They won the next game, which was the only time all season they won consecutive games.

Including the two game winning streak, the Nuggets finished the last 18 games going 6-12, which somehow is the most successful stretch of play for this team.

They finished the season with an appalling 11-71 record, which is tied for the fifth worst record in NBA history.

The Aftermath of the 1998-1999 Season

For all of their trouble, the Nuggets weren’t able to secure the first overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, instead having to pick third.

They ended up drafting Raef LaFrentz, who had a decent four years with the Nuggets. However, drafted only two picks later by the Toronto Raptors was NBA Hall of Famer Vince Carter, which was certainly a mistake.

In fact, in 1997, the Nuggets passed on another Hall of Fame player, Tracey McGrady, instead picking Tony Battie.

McGrady developed into one of the most elite offensive engines of his era. Battie played one season with the Nuggets.

After the disastrous season, Bill Hanzlik was fired for obvious reasons. He was replaced by assistant coach Mike D’Antoni, a promising up-and-comer. 

In a lockout shortened season, the Nuggets went 14-36. While that’s not great, they still won more games than the season prior in 32 less games.

After just one season, D’Antoni was fired. He would go on to coach some of the most offensively efficient teams of all time, and won NBA Coach of the Year twice in his career. He was replaced by Dan Issel, who coached for two more seasons and didn’t make the playoffs.

Looking back on it, those times made it feel like the Nuggets would never win an NBA Championship due to poor management and luck. While fans definitely want to forget this season, it’s all a part of the struggle that got the Nuggets to where they are today.