1967–68 Denver Rockets season

The 1967–68 ABA season marked the inaugural season of both the American Basketball Association and the Denver Rockets. Initially, the team was meant to play in Kansas City out in Missouri, but was able to relocate themselves to Denver in time for the start of the 1967 ABA draft due to a lack of suitable playing arenas; they then also considered the ideas of Denver Larks and Denver Lark Buntings as team names for the franchise at first before an eleventh hour purchase by Bill Ringsby and his son Don Ringsby (who had owned the local Ringsby Rocket Truck Lines business at that point in time) that helped save the franchise before they even had a chance to play a single game caused the team to change their team name to the Denver Rockets (primarily as a promotion to the Ringsby Rocket Truck Lines business at hand) before the season officially began. This was the first time that professional basketball was officially played in the city of Denver since the original Denver Nuggets left the NBA in 1950 after the season it was created through the merger of the Basketball Association of America and National Basketball League (which the original Nuggets were first a part of) and then since the rebranded Denver Frontier Refiners of the short-lived National Professional Basketball League left Denver in January 1951 to briefly become the Evansville Agogans. The Rockets finished the season with a 45–33 record, which was good enough to qualify for a playoff spot as the third seed out of four playoff teams in the Western Division. However, they would lose to the New Orleans Buccaneers in the first round, with the Buccaneers later reaching the first ABA Finals in league history before losing the championship match-up to the Pittsburgh Pipers. Still, this was their first of three consecutive playoff appearances and first of ten playoff appearances in the franchise's first twelve years of existence. Roster

Season standings Eastern Division Team Wins Loses Pct.Pittsburgh Pipers5424.692Minnesota Muskies5028.641Indiana Pacers3840.487Kentucky Colonels3642.462New Jersey Americans3642.462

Western Division Team Wins Loses Pct.New Orleans Buccaneers4830.615Dallas Chaparrals4632.590Denver Rockets4533.577Houston Mavericks2949.372Anaheim Amigos2553.321Oakland Oaks2256.282Rockets on Basketball Reference

ABA Playoffs

Rockets lose series, 3–2

Game log 1967-68 Denver Rockets Schedule and Results | Basketball-Reference.com

Statistics +Num Name University Pos GP Reb Asts Pts RPG APG PPG10 Grant Simmons Nebraska G 78 240 182 793 3.1 2.3 10.212 Charles Gardner Colorado F 42 136 13 197 3.2 0.3 4.714 Jeff Congdon Brigham Young G 41 34 59 159 0.8 1.4 3.914 John Morrison Canisius G 9 9 7 27 1.0 0.8 3.020 Willis Thomas Tennessee State G 24 58 25 294 2.4 1.0 12.322 Julian Hammond Tulsa C/F 74 327 62 591 4.4 0.8 8.024 Tom Hoover Villanova C 70 491 64 454 7.0 0.9 6.530 R. B. Lynam Oklahoma Baptist G 7 5 0 17 0.7 0.0 2.430 Ron Horn Indiana F 1 1 0 2 1.0 0.0 2.030 Richard Moore Hiram Scott 18 19 8 69 1.1 0.4 3.8 6.432 Larry Jones Toledo G 76 599 270 1742 7.9 3.6 22.940 Byron Beck Denver C/F 71 559 38 669 7.9 0.5 9.442 Lonnie Wright Colorado State G 38 96 68 373 2.5 1.8 9.844 Willie Murrell Kansas State F 71 637 164 1165 9.0 0.9 16.450 Tom Bowens Grambling F/C 67 374 41 410 5.6 0.6 6.154 Wayne Hightower Kansas F 74 536 143 1282 7.2 1.9 17.3ABA Denver Rockets-Nuggets Rosters

Awards and records ABA All-Star: Larry Jones ABA All-League Team: Larry JonesRemember the ABA: Year-to-Year Postseason Awards

References

1967–68 Denver Rockets season

Bron en licentie