1949–50 Denver Nuggets season

1949–50 Denver Nuggets season
Head coachJimmy Darden
ArenaDenver Arena Auditorium
Results
Record11–51 (.177)
PlaceDivision: 6th (Western)
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Stats at Basketball Reference
RadioKOA

The 1949–50 NBA season was the only season for the original Denver Nuggets franchise in the National Basketball Association and their 18th overall season of play when including their sixteen previous seasons of play as a team in the Amateur Athletic Union going back to 1932, as well as their second professional basketball season when you include their previous season that they played in the preceding National Basketball League. During their only season in the NBA, the original Nuggets franchise faced plenty of challenges due to the fact that airplanes were not yet seen as a common way to travel to long distances at a time and that trains were considered the way to travel from one destination to another at the time. Not only that, but some of the bigger markets like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia saw the city of Denver as something more akin to the smaller cities of Anderson, Indiana, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, or Waterloo, Iowa as awkward locations to play under due to how far away Denver was when compared to the rest of the league's locations at the time. This would eventually lead to the original Nuggets ending their only season in the NBA with an 11–51 record (including an at the time record-low 0–15 start to the season, being one of the worst starts to an NBA season ever), as well as resort to them joining the Anderson Packers (who previously withdrew from the NBA themselves two weeks before the Nuggets did), Sheboygan Red Skins, and Waterloo Hawks in their departure from the NBA one day before the 1950 NBA draft was set to begin on April 24, 1950 in order to create what ultimately became the short-lived rivaling National Professional Basketball League as a failed effort to survive beyond the NBA, with the Nuggets first becoming the Denver Refiners and then the Evansville Agogans during that short-lived failure of a season.

Denver would not see a new professional basketball team until the American Basketball Association saw the Denver Rockets come to fruition as an inaugural team there following a failed creation of an ABA team in Kansas City, Missouri and troubled early starts with finding a team name for them after the initial "Denver Larks" and "Denver Lark Buntings" got canned by an eleventh hour ownership change to help save the franchise early on. Despite those early troubles, however, the Rockets proved to be one of the stronger ABA franchises around before later changing their team name in 1974 to the Denver Nuggets, partially as a tribute to the same Nuggets team that previously played in the NBL and NBA (despite not taking their previous history in the NBA in the process), but also because the Denver Rockets wanted to avoid any team name issues with the Houston Rockets franchise that the NBA had created around the same time once an impending ABA-NBA merger occurred, which eventually did happen in 1976. The new Nuggets franchise still operate under that team name to this day, having recently won the NBA Finals in 2023.

Roster

1949–50 Denver Nuggets roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From
F 22 Edward Bartels 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) NC State
F 20 Bob Brown 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Miami (OH)
C 29−30 Jim Browne 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Tilden HS (Chicago)
F/C Jake Carter 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) East Texas A&M
F/C 28 Jack Cotton 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Wyoming
G/F 30 Dillard Crocker 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Western Michigan
G 25 Jimmy Darden 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Denver
F 31 Earl Dodd 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Truman State
G/F 21 Al Guokas 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Saint Joseph's
G Bill Herman 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Mount Union
G 24 Duane Klueh 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Indiana State
G 23 Bob Royer 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 155 lb (70 kg) Indiana State
G 27 Ken Sailors 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Wyoming
F/C 29 John Toomay 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Pacific
F/C 29 Floyd Volker 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Wyoming
Head coach
Legend
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured Injured

Regular season

On October 29, the Nuggets lost to the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (now known as the Atlanta Hawks) at the Wharton Field House in Moline, Illinois in the first ever NBA game following the NBL–BAA merger on August 3.[1]

Season standings

Western Division
 W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
x-Indianapolis Olympians 39 25 .609 – 24–7 12–16 3–2 26–9
x-Anderson Packers 37 27 .578 2 22–9 12–18 3–0 25–12
x-Tri-Cities Blackhawks 29 35 .453 10 20–13 6–20 3–2 20–17
x-Sheboygan Red Skins 22 40 .355 17 17–14 5–22 0–4 15–20
Waterloo Hawks 19 43 .306 20 16–15 2–22 1–6 13–22
11 51 .177 28 9–16 1–25 1–10 8–27

Game log

1949–50 Game log
# Date Opponent Score High points Record
1 October 29 at Tri-Cities 85–93 Bob Brown (16) 0–1
2 November 1 at Indianapolis 64–71 Duane Klueh (15) 0–2
3 November 3 at Syracuse 58–78 Jack Toomay (16) 0–3
4 November 4 vs Syracuse 51–84 Bob Royer (13) 0–4
5 November 9 at Waterloo 65–80 Bob Brown (23) 0–5
6 November 10 vs Chicago 53–64 Al Guokas (15) 0–6
7 November 12 vs Philadelphia 63–81 Ken Sailors (15) 0–7
8 November 13 at Fort Wayne 71–90 Bob Brown (15) 0–8
9 November 16 at Washington 90–99 Ken Sailors (26) 0–9
10 November 17 at Baltimore 71–86 Ken Sailors (20) 0–10
11 November 18 vs New York 78–85 Ken Sailors (25) 0–11
12 November 19 at Rochester 64–96 Dillard Crocker (23) 0–12
13 November 20 at Syracuse 76–102 Jack Toomay (18) 0–13
14 November 21 at Syracuse 67–77 Dillard Crocker (26) 0–14
15 November 25 Minneapolis 81–101 Ken Sailors (29) 0–15
16 November 27 Baltimore 68–61 Dillard Crocker (24) 1–15
17 November 29 Philadelphia 56–57 Al Guokas (12) 1–16
18 December 2 Waterloo 74–63 Ken Sailors (25) 2–16
19 December 4 Waterloo 86–76 Ken Sailors (26) 3–16
20 December 7 St. Louis 72–76 Ken Sailors (30) 3–17
21 December 9 at Indianapolis 75–78 Jimmy Darden (19) 3–18
22 December 10 vs Minneapolis 76–89 Bob Brown (18) 3–19
23 December 11 at Tri-Cities 66–98 Ken Sailors (15) 3–20
24 December 13 Rochester 65–81 Ken Sailors (16) 3–21
25 December 16 Indianapolis 79–81 Jimmy Darden (16) 3–22
26 December 18 Indianapolis 79–83 Bob Brown (21) 3–23
27 December 23 New York 72–83 Ken Sailors (21) 3–24
28 December 25 Sheboygan 72–76 Ken Sailors (16) 3–25
29 December 30 Tri-Cities 83–85 Ken Sailors (19) 3–26
30 January 1 Chicago 78–92 Bob Brown (17) 3–27
31 January 4 Anderson 86–82 Ken Sailors (24) 4–27
32 January 5 Anderson 76–69 Toomay, Volker (18) 5–27
33 January 10 Boston 84–97 Duane Klueh (20) 5–28
34 January 12 at Sheboygan 92–115 Floyd Volker (24) 5–29
35 January 14 at Sheboygan 94–80 Dillard Crocker (28) 6–29
36 January 15 at St. Louis 83–89 Ken Sailors (15) 6–30
37 January 16 at Anderson 83–95 Ken Sailors (24) 6–31
38 January 17 at Indianapolis 81–101 Bob Brown (21) 6–32
39 January 19 at Syracuse 86–107 Bob Brown (21) 6–33
40 January 21 at Waterloo 84–88 Bob Brown (22) 6–34
41 January 22 at Tri-Cities 97–111 Duane Klueh (26) 6–35
42 January 25 at Waterloo 83–104 Dillard Crocker (18) 6–36
43 January 26 at Anderson 75–109 Jack Toomay (18) 6–37
44 January 31 Washington 78–88 Ken Sailors (20) 6–38
45 February 7 Fort Wayne 67–83 Ken Sailors (21) 6–39
46 February 11 Sheboygan 108–78 Dillard Crocker (32) 7–39
47 February 13 Sheboygan 79–67 Ken Sailors (27) 8–39
48 February 14 vs Boston 84–78 Ken Sailors (29) 9–39
49 February 16 Anderson 86–95 Dillard Crocker (26) 9–40
50 February 19 Anderson 86–85 Ken Sailors (31) 10–40
51 February 21 Syracuse 89–78 Ken Sailors (33) 11–40
52 February 23 Syracuse 80–108 Ken Sailors (24) 11–41
53 February 26 Waterloo 76–100 Dillard Crocker (26) 11–42
54 February 27 vs Tri-Cities 75–110 Dillard Crocker (19) 11–43
55 March 1 vs Tri-Cities 80–97 Dillard Crocker (27) 11–44
56 March 2 at Anderson 72–85 Brown, Sailors (19) 11–45
57 March 5 at Tri-Cities 80–91 Dillard Crocker (21) 11–46
58 March 8 at Waterloo 68–97 Jack Toomay (18) 11–47
59 March 9 at Sheboygan 92–115 Jack Toomay (21) 11–48
60 March 10 at Sheboygan 104–141 Jack Toomay (23) 11–49
61 March 16 vs Indianapolis 99–111 Jack Toomay (21) 11–50
62 March 18 vs Indianapolis 73–110 Dillard Crocker (18) 11–51

References

  1. ^ Why The NBA Celebrates The Wrong Birthday
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