1975–76 Denver Nuggets season

1975–76 Denver Nuggets season
Head coach	Larry Brown
Arena	McNichols Sports Arena
Results
Record	60–24 (.714)
Place	Division: 1st Conference: 1st
Playoff finish	ABA Finals (lost to Nets 2–4)

The 1975–76 Denver Nuggets season was Denver's ninth and final season in the American Basketball Association (ABA). Prior to the season, the team moved their home games from the Denver Auditorium Arena to the new McNichols Arena. At the conclusion of the season the team would join the National Basketball Association (NBA). This was the second season in the Larry Brown tenure as head coach.

ABA Draft

Player	School/Club Team
Bill Willoughby	Dwight Morrow H.S. Englewood NJ
Tom Kropp	Kearney State
Monte Towe	North Carolina State
Bob Fleischer	Duke University
Jim Moore	Utah State
Charles Russell	Alabama
Mike Odems	Western Kentucky
Owen Brown	Maryland
Marvin Webster	Morgan State

Roster

1975–76 Denver Nuggets roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From PF 40 Byron Beck 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) January 25, 1945 Denver PF 10 Jim Bradley 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) March 16, 1952 Northern Illinois C 20 Roger Brown 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 225 lb (102 kg) February 23, 1950 Kansas PG 15 Jimmy Foster 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) December 16, 1951 Connecticut SF 22 Gus Gerard 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 200 lb (91 kg) July 27, 1953 Virginia SF 30 George Irvine 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) February 1, 1948 Washington C 25 Dan Issel 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) October 25, 1948 Kentucky PF 24 Bobby Jones 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) December 18, 1951 North Carolina SG 44 Ralph Simpson 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) August 10, 1949 Michigan State SG 21 Claude Terry 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) January 12, 1950 Stanford SF 33 David Thompson 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) July 13, 1954 NC State PG 13 Monte Towe 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) 150 lb (68 kg) September 27, 1953 NC State C 10 Marvin Webster 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 225 lb (102 kg) April 13, 1952 Morgan State PG 11 Chuck Williams 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) June 6, 1946 Colorado

Head coach Larry Brown Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster

Season standings

Team	W	L	PCT.	GB
Denver Nuggets *	60	24	.714	—
New York Nets *	55	29	.655	5
San Antonio Spurs *	50	34	.595	10
Kentucky Colonels *	46	38	.548	14
Indiana Pacers *	39	45	.464	21
Spirits of St. Louis	35	49	.417	25
Virginia Squires †	15	68	.181	44
San Diego Sails †	3	8	.273	—
Utah Stars †	4	12	.250	—
Baltimore Claws †	0	0	.000	—

Asterisk (*) denotes playoff team
† did not survive the end of the season.
Bold – ABA champions

Player stats

Note: PG= per game; M= Minutes; R= Rebounds; A= Assists; S = Steals; B = Blocks; P = Points; T = Turnovers; PF = Personal fouls

Player	Age	Games played	MPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	PFPG	PPG
David Thompson	21	83	37.4	6.3	3.7	1.6	1.2	3.0	3.4	26.0
Ralph Simpson	26	84	37.2	5.4	7.1	1.8	0.3	4.3	2.2	18.0
Bobby Jones	24	83	34.3	9.5	4.0	2.0	2.2	2.8	3.0	14.9
Dan Issel	27	84	34.0	11.0	2.4	1.2	0.7	2.4	3.2	23.0
Chuck Williams	29	79	32.0	2.7	4.7	1.5	0.1	2.3	2.7	11.0
Gus Gerard	22	60	19.8	5.0	2.0	0.9	0.9	2.4	2.8	9.9
Byron Beck	31	80	19.8	4.4	1.5	0.6	0.3	1.1	2.4	9.6
Claude Terry	26	79	17.1	1.9	1.8	0.5	0.1	1.2	1.5	7.1
Jim Bradley	23	7	15.3	4.3	1.6	0.7	0.7	0.7	3.7	4.6
Marvin Webster	23	38	10.5	4.6	0.8	0.2	1.4	1.0	1.6	4.3
Monte Towe	22	64	9.0	0.9	2.1	0.6	0.1	1.3	1.3	3.0
Roger Brown	25	37	7.9	2.0	0.6	0.2	0.6	0.5	1.7	2.0
James Foster	24	48	7.3	0.9	1.0	0.4	0.1	1.3	1.6	3.1
George Irvine	27	3	4.7	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	1.3

Playoffs

Main article: 1976 ABA Playoffs

Semifinals

Game	Date	Location	Score	Record	Attendance
1	April 15	Denver	110–107	1–0	15,234
2	April 17	Denver	110–138	1–1	16,384
3	April 19	Kentucky	114–126	1–2	9,644
4	April 21	Kentucky	108–106	2–2	11,444
5	April 22	Denver	127–117	3–2	17,068
6	April 25	Kentucky	119–115	3–3	6,312
7	April 28	Denver	133–110	4–3	18,821

Nuggets win series, 4–3

ABA Finals

Game	Date	Location	Score	Record	Attendance
1	May 1	Denver	118–120	0–1	19,034
2	May 4	Denver	127–121	1–1	19,107
3	May 6	New York	111–117	1–2	12,243
4	May 8	New York	112–121	1–3	15,934
5	May 11	Denver	118–110	2–3	18,881
6	May 13	New York	106–112	2–4	15,934

Nuggets lose series 4-2

Awards, records, and honors

• Ralph Simpson led the league in turnovers (360)
• Bobby Jones led the league in field goal percentage (.581)

ABA All-Stars

Due to the unique circumstances involved with this particular season in the ABA, the usual format of East Vs. West All-Star teams was scrapped by December 1975 in favor of having the best team by the All-Star break competing against the rest of the league's best All-Stars around the rest of the league that still remained intact by this point in time. When they reached that specific point, it was officially confirmed that the Denver Nuggets would be the team that would compete against the rest of the ABA's All-Star talents that season, which was something the league conveniently had hoped for since Denver agreed to host the All-Star Game for this season earlier on back when the ABA still had ten teams around. Originally, three of the Nuggets' players were selected for the ABA All-Star team before swapped back to the Nuggets team and replaced by other players worthy of the All-Star team spot for this season. As such, the following Denver Nuggets players represented the team that competed in the 1976 ABA All-Star Game.

• Byron Beck
• Roger Brown
• James Foster
• Gus Gerard
• Dan Issel
• Bobby Jones
• Ralph Simpson
• Claude Terry
• David Thompson
• Monte Towe
• Chuck Williams

All-ABA Teams

• Ralph Simpson- 1st team
• Don Buse- 2nd team
• Bobby Jones- 2nd team
• David Thompson- 2nd team

All-Defensive Team

• Don Buse- 1st team
• Bobby Jones- 1st team

All-Rookie Team

• David Thompson