The Denver Nuggets were another team that started in the ABA. In 1969, they started playing as the Denver Rockets. Their first star was controversal rookie, prep-to-pro player Spencer Haywood. He averaged over 30 PPG and 20 RPG in his only season with the Rockets. In 1974, with anticipation of moving to the NBA, the Rockets became the Nuggets, because Houston already had the Rockets. They still struggled in the postseason though. By 1973, they had obtained David Thomson and Marvin Webster from drafts and aquired Dan Issel and Bobby Jones. This roster got the team's best season in the ABA's last 2 years and they even made it to the ABA Finals in 1976. They moved to the NBA in 1976 after the merger and continued their winning ways, but still struggling in the postseason. In 1981, that changed when Doug Moe became coach. He brought his "motion offense" with him, which resulted in the team scoring 100+ points for 136 straight games, and averaging 126.5 PPG in 1982. With the addition of Alex English and Kiki Vandeweghe, they continued to produce points and even played in highest scoring game in NBA history, a 186-184 triple-overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons. When Moe left, the team started to decline because their new coach, Paul Westhead ignored defense, which led to the team giving up a lot of points. But, the Nuggets got lucky and obtained 3 stars in defense beast Dikembe Mutombo, Mauhmoud Abdul-Rauf, and LaPhonso Ellis, who led the team to its first winning season in 3 years. The three made NBA history when they led the 8th seeded Nuggets to defeat the 1st seeded Seattle Supersonics in the playoffs. Old problems came back as the team still struggled in the postseason when they didn't make the playoffs again until 2003 (10 years). But Carmelo Anthony joined and his first season resulted in the team winning 26 more games than they had the year before. Things got better when star point guard Allen Iverson joined the party, and the duo ended up leading the team to the top of its division and getting its first 50+ win season in 20 years. Their overall record is 1418-1508 (.485). Their best season was their 2008-2009 season, where they got 54-28 (.659), and their worst season was their 1997-1998 season, a pitiful 11-71 (.134), almost getting the record for the least amount of wins in a 82 game season. They've retired 5 jersey numbers. 2 (Alex English), 33 (David Thompson), 40 (Byron Beck), 44 (Dan Issel), and 432 (Doug Moe).