1997–98 Denver Nuggets season

The 1997–98 NBA season was the Nuggets’ 22nd season in the National Basketball Association, and 31st season as a franchise.^[1] The Nuggets received the fifth overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft, and selected Tony Battie out of Texas Tech University.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} During the off-season, the team acquired Eric Williams from the Boston Celtics,^[7][8][9] acquired Johnny Newman, Joe Wolf and top draft pick Danny Fortson out of the University of Cincinnati from the Milwaukee Bucks,^[2][3][4] first round draft pick Bobby Jackson from the Seattle SuperSonics,^[10] second round draft pick Eric Washington from the Orlando Magic,^[10] and signed free agent Dean Garrett.^[11][12][13] However, Williams suffered a devastating knee injury after only just four games, and was out for the remainder of the season, averaging 19.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game,^[14][15][16] while Bryant Stith only played just 31 games due to ankle and foot injuries.^[17] At midseason, the team signed free agent Cory Alexander, who was previously released by the San Antonio Spurs.^[18]

The Nuggets set numerous unwanted records during this season, which started off with the team losing their first twelve games under new head coach, former Nuggets player Bill Hanzlik.^[19][20][21] The Nuggets finished with the league's worst record at 11–71, which was also the team's worst record in franchise history.^[22] Their eleven wins equaled the third-fewest in an 82-game NBA season along with the 1992–93 Dallas Mavericks, and just like the Mavericks were for a long time viewed as likely to beat the 1972–73 Philadelphia 76ers record of winning only nine games in a full season, and the 2015–16 76ers, who only won just ten games. Incidentally, the NFL's Denver Broncos had won the Super Bowl earlier in 1998 and would go towards the Super Bowl again in the same year when this occurred.^[23][24] After 40 games and a dreadful 23-game losing streak, which was tied with the 1995–96 Vancouver Grizzlies, the Nuggets had a 2–38 record (winning percentage .050), a mark equalled only by the 1993–94 Mavericks,^[25][26][27] With the team holding a 4–42 record at the All-Star break,^[28] General Manager Allan Bristow was fired.^[29][30] The Nuggets later on lost sixteen consecutive games between February and March,^[22] before finally avoiding a possibility of the worst-ever NBA record against the Golden State Warriors on March 27.

Newman played a sixth man role, leading the team in scoring with 14.7 points per game off the bench, while LaPhonso Ellis averaged 14.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, and Jackson provided the team with 11.6 points, 4.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game, and was selected to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. In addition, Fortson averaged 10.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, while Anthony Goldwire contributed 9.2 points and 3.4 assists per game, Battie provided with 8.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, Garrett averaged 7.3 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, Washington contributed 7.7 points per game, and Stith contributed 7.6 points per game.^[31] The Nuggets had the worst team defensive rating in the NBA.^[32]

The unfortunate season meant Hanzlik was fired after a single season in charge of the team.^[33][34][35] Following the season, Ellis signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Hawks,^[36][37] while Newman re-signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers,^[38] Garrett and Jackson were both traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Battie was dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers,^[39][40] who then traded him to the Boston Celtics several months later,^[41] and Goldwire and Wolf were both released to free agency.^[42]

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.^[43] In contrast, Wright says, "the Nuggets got to play the 62–20 Utah Jazz only four times".

Draft picks

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

1997–98 Denver Nuggets roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From G 7 Alexander, Cory 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1973–06–22 Virginia F/C 4 Battie, Tony 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1976–02–11 Texas Tech G/F 3 Ellis, Harold 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1970–10–07 Morehouse F 20 Ellis, LaPhonso 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 1970–05–05 Notre Dame F 15 Fortson, Danny 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 260 lb (118 kg) 1976–03–27 Cincinnati C 21 Garrett, Dean 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1966–11–27 Indiana G 5 Goldwire, Anthony 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 182 lb (83 kg) 1971–09–06 Houston G 13 Jackson, Bobby 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1973–03–13 Minnesota C 30 Lauderdale, Priest 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) 325 lb (147 kg) 1973–08–31 Central State G/F 22 Newman, Johnny 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1963–11–28 Richmond G 23 Stith, Bryant 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 208 lb (94 kg) 1970–12–10 Virginia G 14 Washington, Eric 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1974–03–23 Alabama F 32 Williams, Eric  6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1972–07–17 Providence F/C 17 Wolf, Joe  6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1964–12–17 North Carolina

Head coach Bill Hanzlik Assistant coach(es) Mike D'Antoni T. R. Dunn Brian Winters Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster Last transaction: March 13, 1998

Regular season

Season standings

z – clinched division title

y – clinched division title

x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Player statistics

Awards and records

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

Transactions

References

See also

• 1997–98 NBA season

This page was last edited on 10 October 2023, at 00:13