The '91 Nuggets Were Terrible and Hilarious
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- Опубликовано: 24 авг 2024
- The 1991 Denver Nuggets played basketball at the fastest pace in NBA history. Their shot chucking, defense optional approach the game of basketball made them the most ridiculous team of all-time and led to some of the craziest statistical outliers we've ever seen.
#nba #nuggets
Admittedly some poor word choice on my behalf when referring to the Nuggets, some of whom are quite notable! More so meant that they aren’t particularly **household** names in 2024. My apologies to Mahmoud and Orlando 🙌
Your point is still valid. Those guys had moments but were never part of contenders in a lead role.
@@JoeKnows44exactly
Wait! where is Avery Johnson Dallas mavericks coach
hiding the westhead pace dot in the i was legit genius, this stuff rules, dude. great things are gonna be coming your way soon
That's exactly what brought me to the comments. Awesome bit of design.
Is this the *secret* Secret Base??? Outstanding work & presentation!!!
Really felt like a mix of dorktown and colapse, yes ;)
Secret base went down the tubes the last few years.
@@kman9884no it didn’t lmao, they still make great content
@@kman9884😂😂I guess
Jajaja its seems like it
In a preseason game against the Hawks, they managed to give up 194 points.
Heard about that, Dominique Wilkins said he was running out of different dunks to do in the game.
Why is the NBA trying to bury this? Lmao. A team almost scores 200 points in an NBA game and I have to read about it in a RUclips comment section. Granted it was preseason but those tapes are out there somewhere, release the damn footage. We need to see all 48 mins of that fuckery.
@@rose4mvp2012 why would they try to bury it???
@@prvb888 It's not "good basketball". It goes against everything people think about 90s basketball. Casuals need to see that not every team in the 90s were the Pistons or the Knicks and it was some defensive dogfight every night. Shit even when these MJ lowlights started resurfacing this year and the whole "we done with the 90s" thing they couldn't handle it. Man let these 91 Nuggets tapes out they might commit that lmao. Can't defend that shit. No pun intended.
@@rose4mvp2012 you could just rewatch any of the all star games from the past 20 years
How did this video not cover Loyola Marymount? That's such an important part of this story. It was after Westhead was fired by the Bulls and went to coach in college that he developed this run-and-gun style. And he actually had quite a bit of success with it at Loyola Marymount.
When Loyola Marymount played one of the best run and gun teams of the era, the Arkansas razorbacks coach by Nolan Richardson, Loyola got blown out 120-101
Jon Bois would've. Wait he did
@@johnykilroy5521 Bois and Secret Base were awesome, until they decided to infuse politics into their pieces. Politics ruins everything.
@@67L48 when did he not include politics. From day one there was politics, maybe you didn't see. Politics is in everything btw
@@67L48 I was referring to OG Jon Bois. Pretty Good Jon Bois
Having played in the same conference as Grinnell for two years and dealing with that brand of basketball, I know first-hand they were not a "no defense" team. They pressured the hell out of you and rewarded you with two points if you broke the press. They wanted you to expend energy to cross half court, focus completely on offense, and force all your players into their back court. That way, the three players they left behind on defense could get 2-3 attempts at a 3PA before our defense completely resets. High scores don't indicate bad/no defense; high scores per possession indicates that.
The exact details of the Grinnell System from Arsenault himself in 2001:
- Take 94 or more FGA
- Ensure at least 50% FGA are 3PA
- Force 32 turnovers
- Obtain a minimum 33% OREB%
- Take 25+ more FGA than your opponent.
Also, subs were every two minutes with exception of the "hot hand" player. They could play an extra stint if "hot."
Paul Westhead coached at Loyola Marymount University during that gap in the 80s. It’s where he developed his system. Under Westhead, Marymount averaged 21 wins a year and averaged an NCAA record 122 points per game in 1989-90
@@theleftuprightatsoldierfield I believe it was the base for the Jon Bois video about Devry basketball and the highest scoring ncaa basketball game.
That's fucking insane when you consider college basketball games are only 40 minutes long as opposed to the NBA's 48 minutes.
On October 20, 1990 in an exhibition game, the Celtics beat the Nuggets 173-155, in regulation.
So wait, Magic Johnson forced Westhead out, who coached the bulls to their draft pick that they used to pick MJ? So, the original MJ directly lead to the Bulls drafting Mike?
😂😂Exactly
that would be an interesting video. how "Magic Johnson ended the laker Dynasty"
@@fusioncannon Except that Chicago didn't end the Laker dynasty. Detroit did. Then Chicago ended Detroit's short-lived run.
@@67L48 in 1991 the lakers were favored over the bulls in the finals, they had just won a title in 88. the bulls ended the laker dynasty.
@@williambrabston3045 Showtime was kinda already over by then.
In my first season with season tickets to Warriors games, Paul Westhead was our assistant coach. My seats were near an old leather-lunged guy who was a massive homer, complained about every call, and compared every dirty play to Bill Laimbeer and/or Danny Ainge. I loved that dude. Never knew his name. And he HATED P. J. Carlesimo, our head coach, and without fail would always say that the wrong guy was our head coach. "Westhead won the Lakers the 'Chip in 1980. What the f*ck do we have PJ for? Give Westhead the f*cking whistle!" He couldn't have done worse :P
Love hearing from Dubs fans who remember the Carlesimo days must have felt like they would never end
@@baxterbrown8088 I was a little kid at the time. My first season of watching basketball in general was the 1995-96 season. My favorite player was Latrell Sprewell. I literally had posters of him in my room, but it took two years for us to get season tickets to the Dubs.
ONE MONTH into the season, my parents walk into my bedroom all somber. "We have something to tell you." Yep, the choking thing, and I was so devastated. I was just a little kid, 8 years old, and I was certain that PJ's neck must have assaulted Spree's hands. When the next game rolled around, my parents said "now, you understand Latrell Sprewell won't be there and he probably won't be playing for the Warriors ever again, right?" When I still wanted to go, that's when my parents realized "okay this basketball obsession isn't a temporary fad."
@@IndieGamerChick From what I hear PJ as a coach was a douche - even by professional coaching standards. After hearing the full story, well.. obviously, I don't advocate choking someone, but, considering how PJ was just constantly on Spree's ass over stupid, off-court stuff, "FAAFO Law" is gonna eventually take effect. That stands for "Fuck Around and Find Out",
They were like a 2020s team playing in the 1990s. The 91 Nuggets were that far ahead of their time.
True
They must have won a bunch of rings, being so “ahead” of their time.
@@RevenNeveEncosuns didn’t either so much for being modern
@@RevenNeveEnco Except they played a prehistoric version of 2020s basketball with 90s players who couldnt shoot, %28 from 3 as a team thats instant lottery in current NBA :D
@@RevenNeveEnco you are genuinely stupid for this comment
The Enver Nuggets reference made me think of when the Suns had Antoni as coach...you know, the coach with no D. Same thing 😂
At least they were winning though. Lol
my favorite one is "Oran Poole"
great vid man watched and was confused to see only 250 views! keep up the grind bro
I've been watching the 91 season, and am very pleased to have ran into this video. Great work, man!
Interesting fact - Paul Westhead coached U.ofOregon's Women's BBall at the same time Chip Kelly coached Oregon football. The two actuaIly had meetings together to discuss the philosophy of tempo in their respective athletic endeavors. Imagine both those two eating lunch together. Do u think they had races to see who could finish their plates first?
Great job adapting some Secret Base elements and making them your own. Looks like a winning formula to me!
A Secret Base disciple!!!
Awesome video dude! Can’t wait for the next one
I think I found a new candidate for best basketball coaching system ever.
Cmon man Orlando Woolridge was Jordan’s best teammate before Pippen and had many 20 pt seasons
Good point, no disrespect intended to the late great O!
@@NylonMedia of course man great video nonetheless!!!!!! He is just one of those “good” hoopers that’s just forgotten 👍🏾
It didn't lead to wins though.
Orlando Woodridge was on plenty drugs
@@barclaydonaldson8863 yeah that season with Denver was kind of a career revival for him, he had virtually disappeared after Chicago dumped him.
Looks like a daily All-Star game.
Paul Westhead walked so Mike D’Antoni could run
Awesome video, I've always been fascinated with this team and you did a great job putting them into context.
I do think it's worth mentioning that Paul Westhead also won a WNBA championship with Phoenix in 2007 and had coached mid-major Loyola Marymount to 3 NCAA tournaments including a Regional Final before taking over the Nuggets. Obviously his approach tends to be on the extreme side and has been more miss than hit but it can work. Funny enough, the clash with Magic Johnson was because Westhead wanted to play through Kareem with a slower pace while Magic wanted to be more uptempo. Always wonder what the Lakers would have looked like using something closer to the style Westhead is famous for.
Great video! It looks like you used Robert Pack's pic for Reggie Williams though.
What a fantastic watch. You can really tell how much effort went into writing and creating this video.
Jack Taylor being allowed 108 attempts should be a crime
great video! looking forward to more
Michael Adams in 2005 would’ve averaged half of the league’s team average for threes per game. He would’ve been the three point leader in attempts per game in 2014. Today, he would be number 7 in three’s per game. The man played in 1991.
Literally what the NBA is now
Crazy presentation. Good job man
This sounds like every modern nba coach
The first instance of the "cook his ass offense"
cmon man orlando woolridge is a hoop grids legend
You know what’s pretty crazy to think about now. This is pretty much how majority of NBA teams play in present. Lack of defense, chuck up as much as you can, especially from three, offensive dominated, and with skillsets now pretty fast pace. Back then it must’ve not worked, but Westhead was definitely on to something.
It still doesn't work now though?
There is no team that is seriously worth anyone's time that plays like that. Any team that has even the remotest chance of being successfully has to be very good defensively.
@@brianduru3753 Well ofcourse, that’s why I said majority of NBA teams play that style. Not that it’s the ingredient to success these days.
You have a really cliched bad understanding of the modern NBA.
@@rome8180 hmu let’s talk ball. How old even are you?
Remember Westhead during the twilight sonic years
4. Most of the craziness were early in the season. In the opener, the Nuggets lost 158-162 to the Run TMC Warriors, highest scoring regulation game ever. The Phoenix game was the 6th.
After 7 games, Denver averaged 137 PPG. But stood at 0-7 as the opponents averaged 153.
If we only take the 2nd half of the season, they're not the worst D ever (though close to it).
5. Preseason was even worst. 155-173 to the Celtics, 123-186 to the Suns in a precursor of the record game, and the crown jewel, 166-194(!!!) to the Hawks.
It was only 77-78 at halftime. Atlanta scored 116 in the 2nd half including 64 in the 4th.
.....but ya gotta admit, the uniforms really rocked! The Denver skyline on a multicolor background! All that were missing were the Converse Break Dancing themed high tops, green on one side, purple on the other, and a red tongue.....
They had the worst uniforms next to the old Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniforms, 80's and 90's Seahawks Home uniforms, and some of the off-colour MLB Road uniforms from the 80's.
This video reminds me so much of sb nation, big fan of your presentation. Keep it up!
Excellent video! One minor mistake that’s a photo of Robert Pack and not Reggie Williams in the Nuggets points per game segment. 8:51
Looks like you guys only have 3 total videos at the moment, but I added the other 2 to my playlist based on the quality of this one! 🤘
That Nov 10, 1990 game against PHX is still my favorite box score ever. If I said a team didn't make a single three and turned it over 27 times, you'd think they would've had a hard time scoring. If I said they also surrendered 143, you'd figure they would've lost by at least 30. But despite the turnovers and not making a single three, they still put up 173 points, with 50 in the first quarter and 57 in the second quarter. If PHX didn't put it on cruise control in the second half, they could've hit 190 pretty easily. I was a kid reading the sports section of USA Today and thinking that 173 points had to be a typo.
This is the basketball I love. More of that, please!
Not talking about Loyola Marymount in a video like this is a bizarre decision.
Thank you for sharing.
342 combined points were scored in an ABA game.
Abdul Rauf is/was amazing.
He was still Chris Jackson then.
this channel is a hidden gem
Im a minute in and blown awaybby the presentation and attention put into the video already. Reminds me of an early Jon Bois!
This was really well-written and put together. Might be the nest NBA video essay I've ever seen.
Thank you for this love letter to some of my favorite teams of all time, which ultimately made me the Nuggets fan I am today ❤
7:05 I was hoping you would do that. Bravo.
incredible video man, keep up the great work!
Y’know, I’d pegged you as a Jon Bois clone, but 7:08… that’s clever.
this channel got hell good graphics considering how early in development it is. good work!
Buckets ✅ Defense 🚫…..sounds like the NBA today 😂
Really good production, more obscure historical teams please
Westhead's biggest change to the Nuggets was shape-shifting Reggie Williams into Robert Pack (8:50).
🫣
I also noticed that. What a magician!
91 nuggets were ahead of there time because they said screw defense🤣
Awesome content man keep going fr.
As a record afficionado, that's a nice vid about a unique team, but it's missing a few details that could have improved it.
1. Between Westhead's tenures with the Bulls and the Nuggets, he spent some years in college, and had better luck employing the same run-and-gun strategy with Loyola Marymount, setting numerous NCAA D1 records, such as 186 and 181 point games, or scoring 149 over the ingoing champs Michigan in the NCAA tournament.
One has to wonder how this wild experiment would fare with a more talented chore, such as English, Lever and co.
2. The game vs the Suns deserves a few more words. Phoenix tied the then-record for 1st quarter points with 50, then scored 57 more in the 2nd, one shy of the record for *any* quarter. *It was 107-67 at halftime.* Needless to say, the only 100 point half in NBA history. The 2nd most for a 1st half was 90, set a few days earlier by the Nuggets themselves, improved since to 92 by GS (in Klay's 14 threes game). The Suns had 33 assists by halftime, another record (finished with 50, three shy of the all time mark).
In the end, the Suns' 173 points "only" tied the regulation record, set by Boston in 1959 (which was 146 before that game).
3. If we're talking assists, Scott Skiles was then the point guard of a pretty bad Magic team. Guess who were the rivals when he passed for 30 in one game?
Internet said it's okay to have a little extra Chart Party, as a treat.
Keep up the monthly uploads exited to see the next one
Great video! The data, the presentation, the design, the info. Thanks!
Dude, this is seriously one of the best produced videos I’ve seen in a while! Keep it up, you’ll blow up soon. Awesome content
I remember hearing about Grinnell almost a year ago from JmxHighRoller. He profiled Grinnell College and I have been a fan of the system ever since. I actually remember Paul Westhead for the system he ran at Loyola Marymount with Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers.
Poor Hank Gathers.
@@Apple2-ux8uo Yes. RIP Hank Gathers.
My fault. They played in the Midwest division for the 1990-1991 season. Wow. Learn something new every day.
Meanwhile Orlando Woolridge: Am i a joke to you???
8:50
a few issues, one that’s not Reggie “Russ” Williams, that’s Robert Pack. Russ had his best seasons with the Nuggets, he got traded to Denver after sitting on the bench in San Antonio… Averaged close to 15 I believe. 91-92 I knew he had his best statistical season..
• Reggie Williams played on the best High School team of all time (organic, same neighborhood, not today’s private school, sports academies, AAU influenced amateur circuit) ESPN did a 30 for 30.. great book,
Welp, I’m from the same city, Baltimore, and was a hoops junkie before the NBA was popular, Baltimore has been an extremely underrated hoop haven for generations ~ High School basketball was legendary… Baltimore Dunbar High was and still is legendary, producing professional athletes, in both football and basketball. Dozens of college players.
But Russ was my favorite on those great Dunbar teams that featured Mugsy Bogues, David Wingate, Reggie Lewis..
Modeled my game after him, versatile SF… he’d be a 3&D guy in today’s game.
And I have an issue with saying Orlando Woolridge, Mamhoud Abdul-Rauf , who was still Chris Jackson weren’t players of note.
Lol.
Heck, I remember Michael Adams, as a great college player at Boston College!
I remember when he broke out for the Bullets…
the defacto local team, got to watch them on local television back when the NBA wasn’t on television 7 days a week.
lol.
The disrespect of those players… sheesh. Same attitude with the younger generation, highly dismissive of past generations players stories, those guys of note, accomplished a lot in their careers…
Except for Todd Lichti 😂😂😂 nah, his name made me not like him.
Nah. He had a solid college career, tons of misfortune early in his career, only played like 5 seasons…
This channel deserves more attention
I used to drive past Grinnell, most boring place you could possible imagine to put a college.
Where is it lol
@AS-fz5dp - Grinnell is a small town in Central Iowa.
Great place if you want to focus on your academics.
@@Destrophite thank you
@@bball3048mm thank you
Fun Fact about that game they gave up 173 to the Phoenix Suns, Suns had 107 by halftime 😂
I miss the early 90s nba thanks for doing a video on a truly unique team
As a life long Nuggets fan, it wasn't a whole lot different than the Doug Moe teams
So this vid has me searching the RUclipss for a '91 Nuggets game and found a '93 game where they were definitely pushing the pace. Then i started studying Adams one handed jay because i shoot one handed because of a frozen shoulder. Thank you for the rabbit hole
Mutombo holding a toddler's jacket
Absolutely love your statistical presentations. So visually appealing. Great work
I think you mixed up Reggie Williams with Robert Pack.
This is an incredibly well done video. Very impressed! Can’t wait to see more.
My Grandpa though Magic was a Prima Donna Coach Killer for getting Westhead fired. Lol
This channel deserves wayyyy more views
Orlando Woolridge was bad ass. Wished Lakers found bigger role for him.
The quality on this is absurd
Their defense was so bad they're comparable to modern NBA defenses is all you need to know about the current state of the game
For some strange reason I thought the Showtime Lakers led the league in pace all those years
Winning Time made me hate Paul Westhead lol
I never forget this team averaged 120 and allowed 131...that's crazy. No wonder Scott Skiles still have the record of 30 assists.
Wonderful video and analysis! Incredible stat presentation as well…would love to see more game footage. You have a new subscriber!
Loved the video but your 1991 standings, you have Magic listed in the Western Conference. Just a heads up. Reminded me of the stat video. Good work, kid. One Love.
The script was well-written and well-researched. And the graphics and presentation were very good.
But I was left disappointed that there wasn’t any Nuggets game footage.
You would leave the arena with a giant blue card with a yellow three on it.
one of the best nba analysis videos ive seen in a minute 🙌🙌
You just earned a subscription with that hiding of the stupid little dot
This is an excellent video. I’ve been a Jon Bois fan forever and see the inspiration here so it works for me.
I know there were other… issues that led to changing the name of the Washington Bullets, but that logo where the Ls are hands and there’s a basketball above them makes it look like Is instead of Ls and I kinda like it.
What I’m saying is that before they settled on Wizards, they should’ve considered Buiiets. They could’ve even trademarked the word, because it isn’t a word.
Believe it or not people do remember players like Adams, woolridge, and Rasmussen. I remember that year, that year, I was in high school at the time and the nuggets were horrible. I could remember in the preseason the late chick Hearn during a lakers game, the nuggets can score, they are going to be great! Them later in the season, they can score but they can’t play defense
Great visuals and animations
How did you make the animations? Great vid
Maybe I was onto something when I would sincerely fan up for sincerely awful teams.
Im soo glad someone did a video on this team
US International versus Arkansas in 1989
So many pace and space guys had to die so that the golden state warriors could flourish