1967–68 Denver Rockets season

ABA professional basketball team season August 2023 March 2026 Denver Rockets Denver Nuggets ABA J. William RingsbyDonald W. Ringsby 1968 45 33 Western 3 Bob Bass Denver Auditorium Arena Western Division semifinals(lost to Buccaneers 2–3) 1 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 Denver Rockets 1967–68 #E13C32 #FFFFFF #000000 #E13C32 40 Byron Beck C 6 9 225 January 25, 1945 University of Denver 50 Tommie Bowens PF 6 8 220 July 7, 1940 Grambling State University 14, 23 Jeffrey Congdon PG 6 1 180 October 17, 1943 Brigham Young University 12 Chuck Gardner PF 6 8 205 September 30, 1944 University of Colorado 22 Julian Hammond SF 6 5 205 May 27, 1943 University of Tulsa 54 Wayne Hightower PF 6 8 192 January 14, 1940 University of Kansas 24 Tom Hoover basketball C 6 9 230 January 23, 1941 Villanova University 30 Ron Horn SF 6 7 220 May 24, 1938 Indiana University 32 Larry Jones basketball PG 6 2 180 September 22, 1942 University of Toledo 30 R.B. Lynam G 6 1 190 1944 Oklahoma Baptist University 30 Richie Moore SG 6 2 190 1945 Hiram Scott College 14 John Morrison basketball G 6 2 190 May 2, 1945 Canisius College 44 Willie Murrell SF 6 6 225 September 13, 1941 Kansas State University 10 Grant Simmons basketball PG 6 3 190 March 7, 1943 Nebraska 20 Willis Thomas SG 6 2 185 1937 Tennessee State University 42 Lonnie Wright SG 6 2 205 January 23, 1944 Colorado State University Bob Bass https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/DNR/1968.html<noinclude> 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 Denver Rockets 1968 yes #E13C32 #FFFFFF Denver Rockets ABA Western Division Semifinals yes no yes #000000 #E13C32 2 0 0 3 |- | 1 |March 26 | @ New Orleans | L 104–130 | Larry Jones (29) | Wayne Hightower (12) | | Loyola Field House 3,111 | 0–1 |- | 2 | March 27 | @ New Orleans | L 93–105 |Willie Murrell (21) | Byron Beck (15) | | Loyola Field House3,622 | 0–2 |- | 3 | March 30 | New Orleans | W 105–98 | Wayne Hightower (28) | Willie Murrell (11) | | Denver Auditorium Arena13,359 | 1–2 |- |- | 4 | March 31 | New Orleans | W 108–100 | Willie Murrell (28) | Byron Beck (18) | | Denver Auditorium Arena 3,485 | 2–2 |- |- | 5 | April 3 | @ New Orleans | L 97–102 | Willie Murrell (26) | Murrel, Beck, Hammond (9 each) | | Loyola Field House6,500 | 2–3 |- DNR 1968 yes Rockets lose series, 3–2http://www.remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1968Playoffs.html Remember the ABA: 1967-68 Regular Season Standings and Playoff Results 2008-05-20 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20101129164930/http://remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1968Playoffs.html 2010-11-29 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 https://web.archive.org/web/20101224223628/http://www.remembertheaba.com/ABAStatistics/Awards.html December 24, 2010 References Category:Denver Nuggets seasons Denver Denver Rockets Denver Rockets