When it comes to bad basketball, the Washington Generals stand alone.
No team has absorbed the thousands of losses these guys have. Then again, no other team has to play the Harlem Globetrotters every night.In the NBA, where every dog team can have its day, the title of biggest loser belongs to the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers. Their 9-73 record and .110 winning percentage has set the league standard for futility.
Twenty-five years later, however, the mark is in danger.
Introducing the 1997-98 Denver Nuggets. Just three years removed from a spirited playoff run to the Western Conference semifinals, the Nuggets are on pace to finish 6-76.
"Due to unfortunate circumstances we find ourselves exactly where we are, which is in the middle of a quote-unquote rebuilding year, where the despicable is happening," forward LaPhonso Ellis said after a 132-99 loss to Utah Tuesday dropped Denver's record to 2-26. The setback came on a night when the Nuggets celbrated their 30th anniversary by honoring former players such as Hall of Famers David Thompson, Dan Issel and Alex English. "We have won only two games and that's not a lot for the current or past Nuggets to be proud of."
Ellis and teammate Bryant Stith, who is currently on the injured list, are the only players left on the roster from the 1994-95 Denver team that upset Seattle and took Utah to seven games in the playoffs.
"Three years ago, as we did the unbelievable, we thought we were pretty much on track to make not only the current players, but every player who ever wore a Nuggets uniform very proud of what the Nuggets were and were going to be," Ellis told the Denver Post. ". . . (Tuesday) I felt we laid down. That's the sad part of it all, especially on a night some of the greatest Nuggets in history had to sit down and watch that poor excuse for basketball."
The loss capped the single worst month in Nuggets history. Denver went 1-13 in December.
Though frustrated, Ellis is hoping things will improve.
"Like bad Nuggets teams of the past, we're trying to weather the storm until we mature," he said. "(We'll) continue to compete and try to make this season, if at all possible, a respectable season so as an organization we can go out and try to bring in some players and keep some players to put us back on the map next year."
Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan reminded reporters that the game of basketball is filled with both good times and bad times.
"Denver has good young players. I thought they kept trying hard," he said. "Their day will come if they stick with it. These (losses) are disappointments for them, but that's what makes for toughness. If it doesn't make you work harder the next time, you're just here for the paycheck."
Rookie point guard Bobby Jackson subscribes to such thinking. He believes the only way Denver can improve and avoid replacing Philadelphia in the record book is if everyone sticks together and gives it all they have.
"We just have to keep working hard and not get down," he said. "We're not winning, but as long as everybody is giving 100 percent you can't complain."
Few could blame the Nuggets if they did, however. Since Dan Issel stepped down as head coach in 1994, Gene Littles, Bernie Bickerstaff, Dick Motta and now Bill Hanzlik have taken turns on the bench. Stability is not part of this team's chemistry - for coaches and players.
Center Dikembe Mutombo, who was the mainstay of the team's last playoff run, opted for free agency and Atlanta; while promising youngster Antonio McDyess was dealt to Phoenix because the Nuggets feared he'd make a similar departure.
The moves have left Denver with a roster filled with inexperience (at time, three rookies have been in the starting line-up) andyouth. The same ingredients that led to Philly's season of despair.
Not that it's any consolation, but the Nuggets aren't exactly dwelling in the NBA cellar alone. Toronto has four wins and Dallas just five entering the new year.
Does misery love company? Only time will tell.
The future, however, isn't all that bleak in the Rockies. The Nuggets will have approximately $15 million in salary cap room to pursue free agents.
Money can't fix everything, but it may cure what currently ails Denver.
Worst of the worst
In the books . . .
1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers (9-73) .110
1947-48 Providence (6-42) .125
1992-93 Dallas Mavericks (11-71) .134
On their way . . .
1997-98 Denver Nuggets (2-26) .069
1997-98 Toronto Raptors (4-26) .129
1997-98 Dallas Mavericks (5-25) .161