1997–98 Denver Nuggets season

1997–98 Denver Nuggets season
Head coach	Bill Hanzlik
Arena	McNichols Sports Arena
Results
Record	11–71 (.134)
Place	Division: 7th (Midwest) Conference: 14th (Western)
Playoff finish	DNQ
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	Fox Sports Rocky Mountain, KWGN

The 1997–98 NBA season was the Nuggets’ 22nd season in the NBA and 31st season as a franchise.

The Nuggets set numerous unwanted records during this season. They won only eleven games, the equal second-fewest in an 82-game NBA season with the 1992–93 Dallas Mavericks, and just like the Mavericks were for a long time viewed as likely to beat the 1972–73 76ers record of winning only nine games in a full season. After forty games the Nuggets had a 2–38 record (winning percentage .050), a mark equalled only by the 1993–94 Mavericks and they later lost sixteen consecutive games before finally avoiding a possibility of the worst-ever NBA record against the Golden State Warriors on 27 March.

The unfortunate season meant head coach Bill Hanzlik was fired after a single season in charge of the team.

In his 2007 study The NBA from Top to Bottom, basketball enthusiast Kyle Wright argued that in fact the 1997–98 Nuggets were a worse team than the 1972–73 76ers, saying that they played a worse schedule in the Midwest Division than the 1972–73 76ers did in their Atlantic Division where a dominant Boston Celtics team was played seven times by the 76ers. In contrast, Wright says, “the Nuggets got to play the 62–20 Utah Jazz only four times”.

Draft picks

Main article: 1997 NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club Team
1	5	Tony Battie	PF/C	United States	Texas Tech
2	33	James Cotton	SG	United States	Long Beach State
2	42	Jason Lawson	C	United States	Villanova

Roster

Denver Nuggets roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From PG 7 Alexander, Cory 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Virginia PF 4 Battie, Tony 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Texas Tech SF 3 Ellis, Harold 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Morehouse SF 20 Ellis, LaPhonso 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Notre Dame PF 15 Fortson, Danny 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 260 lb (118 kg) Cincinnati C 21 Garrett, Dean 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Indiana PG 5 Goldwire, Anthony 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 182 lb (83 kg) Houston PG 13 Jackson, Bobby 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Minnesota C 30 Lauderdale, Priest 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) 325 lb (147 kg) Central State SF 22 Newman, Johnny 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Richmond SG 23 Stith, Bryant 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 208 lb (94 kg) Virginia SG 14 Washington, Eric 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Alabama SF 32 Williams, Eric  6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Providence C 17 Wolf, Joe 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 230 lb (104 kg) North Carolina	Head coach Bill Hanzlik (Notre Dame) Assistant coach(es) Mike D'Antoni (Marshall) T. R. Dunn (Alabama) Brian Winters (South Carolina) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster • Transactions

Roster Notes

• Assistant coach Mike D'Antoni holds American and Italian dual citizenship. He played for the Italian national team although he was born in the United States.
• Center Priest Lauderdale holds American and Bulgarian dual citizenship.

Regular season

Season standings

Midwest Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
z-Utah Jazz	62	20	.756	–	36–5	26–15	22–2
x-San Antonio Spurs	56	26	.683	6	31–10	25–16	18–6
x-Minnesota Timberwolves	45	37	.549	17	26–15	19–22	14–10
x-Houston Rockets	41	41	.500	21	24–17	17–24	14–10
Dallas Mavericks	20	62	.244	42	13–28	7–34	9–15
Vancouver Grizzlies	19	63	.232	43	14–27	5–36	4–20
Denver Nuggets	11	71	.134	51	9–32	2–39	3–21

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Utah Jazz	62	20	.756	–
2	y-Seattle SuperSonics	61	21	.744	1
3	x-Los Angeles Lakers	61	21	.744	1
4	x-Phoenix Suns	56	26	.683	6
5	x-San Antonio Spurs	56	26	.683	6
6	x-Portland Trail Blazers	46	36	.561	16
7	x-Minnesota Timberwolves	45	37	.549	17
8	x-Houston Rockets	41	41	.500	21
9	Sacramento Kings	27	55	.329	35
10	Dallas Mavericks	20	62	.244	42
11	Vancouver Grizzlies	19	63	.232	43
11	Golden State Warriors	19	63	.232	43
13	Los Angeles Clippers	17	65	.207	45
14	Denver Nuggets	11	71	.134	51

z - clinched division title

y - clinched division title

x - clinched playoff spot

Player statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Dean Garrett	82	82	32.1	.428	N/A	.648	7.9	1.1	0.7	1.6	7.3
Anthony Goldwire	82	32	27.0	.423	.384	.806	1.8	3.4	1.0	0.1	9.2
Danny Fortson	80	23	22.6	.452	.333	.776	5.6	1.0	0.6	0.4	10.2
LaPhonso Ellis	76	71	33.9	.407	.284	.805	7.2	2.8	0.9	0.6	14.3
Johnny Newman	74	15	29.4	.431	.343	.820	1.9	1.9	1.0	0.3	14.7
Bobby Jackson	68	53	30.0	.392	.259	.814	4.4	4.7	1.5	0.2	11.6
Eric Washington	66	36	23.3	.404	.321	.783	1.9	1.2	0.8	0.4	7.7
Tony Battie	65	49	23.2	.446	.214	.702	5.4	0.9	0.8	1.1	8.4
Joe Wolf	57	8	10.9	.331	.200	.500	2.6	0.5	0.4	0.1	1.5
Priest Lauderdale	39	0	8.8	.417	N/A	.551	2.2	0.5	0.2	0.4	3.7
Bryant Stith	31	15	23.2	.333	.208	.872	2.1	1.6	0.7	0.3	7.6
Kiwane Garris	28	0	8.0	.338	.357	.760	0.7	1.0	0.3	0.0	2.4
Harold Ellis	27	3	12.7	.559	.000	.635	1.9	0.7	0.7	0.1	6.1
Cory Alexander	23	19	34.7	.435	.411	.846	4.3	6.0	2.0	0.3	14.0
George Zidek	6	0	7.0	.267	N/A	.833	2.2	0.2	0.0	0.3	3.0
Eric Williams	4	4	36.3	.393	N/A	.689	5.3	3.0	1.0	0.0	19.8

Awards and records

• Bobby Jackson, NBA All-Rookie Team 2nd Team

See also

• 1997-98 NBA season