On Monday, April 6th the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced 11 new members to be enshrined in Springfield, MA on September 11, 2015.
Among those members, the Denver Nuggets were well represented with three inductees boasting ties to the organization:
Dikembe Mutombo was drafted by the Nuggets with the fourth overall selection in the 1991 NBA Draft and spent five seasons with Denver from 1991-1996. He averaged 12.9 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.80 blocks in 391 games. His Nuggets resume is filled with awards and accolades including three NBA All-Star selections, NBA All-Rookie First Team (1991-92), NBA Defensive Player of the year (1994-95) and leading the NBA in blocks in three straight seasons (1993-94; 1994-95; 1995-96).
Mutombo ranks first all-time in Nuggets franchise history with 1,486 blocked shots (360 more than the next closest player) and third all-time in rebounds with 4,811. He also ranks 19th on the Nuggets all-time scoring list with 5,054 points.
There have also only been nine instances in Nuggets team history when a player has posted a point/rebound/block triple-double, with Mutombo owning eight of them.
Mutombo also was a part of NBA history by leading the eighth seeded Nuggets to an upset victory over the number one seeded Seattle Super Sonics in the first round of the 1994 NBA Playoffs, the first time an eight-seed ever upset a one-seed. Mutombo laying on the floor as the buzzer sounded remains one of the most iconic moment in Nuggets history. His 31 blocked shots in a five-game series also set an NBA record.
A native of Zaire, Africa, Mutombo attended Georgetown University (1988-1991) and played in the NBA from 1991 until 2009, recording 11,729 points, 12,359 rebounds, and 3,289 blocks in eighteen NBA seasons. He received the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 2001 and 2009. His legendary finger-wagging motion after blocked shots became one of the most recognized gestures in the game.
Spencer Haywood only spent one season with the Denver Rockets franchise in 1969-70, but oh what a season it was. He put together one of the most impressive campaigns in basketball history, posting monster numbers of 30.0 points per game, 19.5 rebounds per game and 2.26 steals per game. It was capped off by being named the ABA’s Most Valuable Player, ABA Rookie of the year and taking home the All-Star Game MVP.
Haywood joined the ABA in 1969 and then went on to play for 12 years in the NBA (1970-1983), where he scored 14,592 points, had 7,038 rebounds and won an NBA Championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1980. He is a four-time NBA All-Star (1972-1975) and two-time All-NBA First Team member (1973, 1974).
He holds ABA single season records for most minutes played (3,808), most field goals made (986), most rebounds (1,637) and highest rebounding average (19.5). Haywood was also the leading scorer on the 1968 gold medal USA Olympic team. At the University of Detroit, he was a unanimous First Team All-America selection in 1969.
Louie Dampier was an Assistant Coach with the Nuggets from 1998-2002 after a stellar ABA career.
Dampier is one of a handful of players to play all nine seasons the ABA was in existence (1967-1976) and is one of just two men to have played with one team in each of those nine years (Kentucky Colonels). Dampier finished first all-time in the ABA in games played (728), minutes played (27,770), points scored (13,726), and assists (4,044). An ABA Champion in 1975, he was also named a seven-time ABA All-Star (1968-70, 1972-75), a member of the ABA All-Rookie First Team (1968) and a member of the ABA All-Time Team.
Prior to the ABA, Dampier played three seasons at Kentucky where he was a Second-Team All-American twice and an Academic All-American once. Upon graduation, he was ranked third all-time in points scored for the Wildcats. Dampier concluded his professional career with the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA after the ABA merger in 1976.