Editing Denver Nuggets (section)

===1967–1976: ABA years===
Playing at the [[Denver Auditorium Arena]], the Rockets had early successes on the court, developing a strong fan base along the way.<ref name="remembertheaba.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.remembertheaba.com/TeamMaterial/DenverMaterial/RocketsNuggetsYearly.html |title=Denver Rockets/Nuggets Year-by-Year Notes |publisher=Remember the ABA |access-date=March 22, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130426023343/http://www.remembertheaba.com/TeamMaterial/DenverMaterial/RocketsNuggetsYearly.html |archive-date=April 26, 2013 }}</ref> However, the team had a history of early playoff exits and only once played in the ABA championship series.

Early on, Denver had a solid lineup led by [[Byron Beck]] and [[Larry Jones (basketball)|Larry Jones]], then later by Beck and [[Ralph Simpson]]. [[Lonnie Wright]] of the [[American Football League]]'s [[Denver Broncos]] signed with the Rockets during that first season and became the first player to play professional football and basketball in the same season. Wright played four seasons with Denver.<ref name="remembertheaba.com"/> Controversial rookie [[Spencer Haywood]] joined the team for the 1969–70 season. Haywood was one of the first players to turn professional before graduating from college, and the NBA initially refused to let him play in the league due to his status at the time. Haywood averaged nearly 30 points and 19.5 rebounds per game in his only ABA season, being named ABA MVP, ABA rookie of the year, as well as the All-Star Game MVP. The team finished 51–33, winning their division, before exiting the playoffs in the 2nd round.

Just before the start of the 1970–71 season, Haywood signed with the [[Seattle SuperSonics]], jumping to the NBA and later resulting in the [[Haywood v. National Basketball Association]] case that allowed for both NBA and ABA teams to draft collegiate underclassmen (and later, high school players) going forward. The team tumbled to a 30–54 record and attendance suffered.<ref name="remembertheaba.com"/>

====1974–1976: Becoming the Denver Nuggets====
Ringsby later sold the team to [[San Diego]] businessmen Frank Goldberg and Bud Fischer in 1972 following more recent troubles with his trucking operations at the time.<ref name="nuggetscompanyhistory"/> A year prior to the change in management, the Rockets changed their team logo from a logo reflecting the team's partnership with Ringsby's Rocket Truck Lines (whose logo was similar looking to the one the team was using at the time) to one that gave the team more of an identity beyond branding purposes with Ringsby's business. In 1974, in anticipation of moving into the [[National Basketball Association|NBA]], and the new [[McNichols Arena]], the franchise held a contest to choose a new team nickname, as "Rockets" was already in use by the [[Houston Rockets]]. The winning choice was "Nuggets", in honor of the original [[Denver Nuggets (1948–1950)|Denver Nuggets]] [[National Basketball League (United States)|NBL]] team from 1948 to 1950, the last year as a charter member of the NBA following the [[Basketball Association of America|BAA]] merging operations with the NBL to create the modern-day NBA. Their new logo was a miner "discovering" an ABA ball. The change from Rockets to Nuggets was ultimately made official on August 7, 1974, months before the franchise began the [[1974–75 ABA season]].<ref name="remembertheaba.com"/> Goldberg and Fischer in turn sold the team to a local investment group called Nuggets Management Inc. in 1974 and 1975 in relation to the upcoming move from the ABA to the NBA.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.denverstiffs.com/a-look-back-at-denver-nuggets-history-nba-alex-english-david-thompson-dan-issel/ | title=A look back at Denver Nuggets' history | date=August 10, 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://blitzkrieg13.com/tag/doug-moe/ | title=Doug Moe }}</ref>

With the drafting and signing of future Hall of Fame player [[David Thompson (basketball)|David Thompson]] out of [[NC State Wolfpack men's basketball|North Carolina State]] and [[Marvin Webster]], and the acquisitions of [[Dan Issel]] and [[Bobby Jones (basketball, born 1951)|Bobby Jones]] (all signed for the 1975–76 season), with [[Larry Brown (basketball)|Larry Brown]] coaching, they had their best seasons in team history in their first two as the Nuggets. Playing in the [[Denver Auditorium Arena]] for the last season the 1974–75 team went 65–19, including a 40–2 record at home. However, they lost in the Western Conference Finals in 7 games, to the Indiana Pacers.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web |url=http://www.remembertheaba.com/Denver-Rockets.html |title=Denver Rockets |publisher=Remember the ABA |access-date=March 22, 2013 |archive-date=April 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130422001858/http://www.remembertheaba.com/Denver-Rockets.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1975–76, playing at their new arena, the Nuggets, with the acquisitions of Thompson, Jones and Dan Issel who had come via a trade after he won an ABA title with the 1974–75 Kentucky Colonels, the team went 60–24, edged the reigning champion [[Kentucky Colonels]] four games to three to make the [[1976 ABA Playoffs|1976 ABA finals]] for the first time. Eventually, they lost to the [[New York Nets]] and [[Julius Erving]] in 6 games.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> They did not get a second chance to win an ABA league championship, as the [[American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger|ABA–NBA merger]] took place after the 1975–76 season. The Nuggets, Nets, [[Indiana Pacers]], and [[San Antonio Spurs]] were merged into the NBA. The [[Spirits of St. Louis]] and Kentucky Colonels were disbanded, with the [[Virginia Squires]] not even making it to the merger period.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.remembertheaba.com/Spirits-of-St-Louis.html |title=Spirits of St. Louis |publisher=Remember the ABA |access-date=March 22, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509062256/http://www.remembertheaba.com/Spirits-of-St-Louis.html |archive-date=May 9, 2013 }}</ref>