2002–03 Denver Nuggets season

2002–03 Denver Nuggets season
Head coachJeff Bzdelik
General managerKiki VanDeWeghe
OwnerStan Kroenke
ArenaPepsi Center
Results
Record17–65 (.207)
PlaceDivision: 7th (Midwest)
Conference: 14th (Western)
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Stats at Basketball Reference
Local media
Television
RadioKKFN

The 2002–03 Denver Nuggets season was the 27th season for the Denver Nuggets in the National Basketball Association, and their 36th season as a franchise.[1] The Nuggets received the fifth overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft, and selected power forward Nikoloz Tskitishvili from the Republic of Georgia.[2][3][4] During the off-season, the team acquired Marcus Camby, and Brazilian rookie power forward, and top draft pick Nenê Hilario from the New York Knicks,[5] acquired second-year guard Rodney White from the Detroit Pistons, signed free agents Mark Blount, and undrafted rookie point guard Junior Harrington, and acquired Chris Whitney from the Washington Wizards. The team also hired Jeff Bzdelik as their new head coach.

After a 2–9 start to the regular season, the Nuggets won three straight games, but then lost 15 of their next 16 games, which included a 10-game losing streak in December. Also in December, the team traded James Posey to the Houston Rockets in a three-team trade.[6] The Nuggets posted a 7-game losing streak between January and February, and held a 12–37 record at the All-Star break.[7] At mid-season, Blount was traded back to his former team, the Boston Celtics, in exchange for Shammond Williams in February, while Whitney was released to free agency, and signed with the Orlando Magic for the remainder of the season. The Nuggets suffered a 14-game losing streak between February and March, and lost their final eight games of the season, finishing in last place in the Midwest Division with a league-worst 17–65 record, which was tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers this season; it was also the franchise's worst record since the 1997–98 season.[8] The team also missed the NBA playoffs for the eighth consecutive year.

Juwan Howard averaged 18.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, while Nenê averaged 10.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, and Williams provided the team with 9.4 points and 5.1 assists per game in 27 games after the trade. In addition, White contributed 9.0 points per game, while Donnell Harvey provided with 7.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, and Camby averaged 7.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, but only played just 29 games due to injury. Meanwhile, rookie small forward, and second-round draft pick Vincent Yarbrough contributed 6.9 points per game, second-year center Chris Andersen averaged 5.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, Harrington contributed 5.1 points and 3.4 assists per game, Tskitishvili contributed 3.9 points per game, but struggled only shooting .293 in field-goal percentage, and Ryan Bowen provided with 3.9 points per game.[9]

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, Nenê was selected for the NBA Rookie Challenge Game, as a member of the Rookies team.[10][11] He also finished in sixth place in Rookie of the Year voting.[12] The Nuggets finished 25th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 607,813 at the Pepsi Center during the regular season, which was the fifth-lowest in the league.[9][13]

Following the season, Howard signed as a free agent with the Orlando Magic, and Williams, Harvey and Harrington were all released to free agency.

Draft picks

Main article: 2002 NBA draft
Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club team
1 5 Nikoloz Tskitishvili F/C  Georgia
1 25 Frank Williams PG  United States Illinois
2 33 Vincent Yarbrough SF  United States Tennessee

Roster

2002–03 Denver Nuggets roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From
F/C 15 Chris Andersen 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Blinn
G/F 32 Ryan Bowen  6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Iowa
F/C 23 Marcus Camby 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 220 lb (100 kg) UMass
G 21 Adam Harrington 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Auburn
G 6 Junior Harrington 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Wingate
F 1 Donnell Harvey 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Florida
F/C 5 Juwan Howard 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Michigan
F/C 31 Nenê 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 260 lb (118 kg) Brazil
G 4 Predrag Savović  6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Hawaiʻi
G 20 Jeff Trepagnier 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) USC
F 22 Nikoloz Tskitishvili 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Republic of Georgia
G/F 7 Rodney White 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 238 lb (108 kg) Charlotte
G 11 Shammond Williams 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 201 lb (91 kg) North Carolina
G 3 Vincent Yarbrough 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Tennessee
Head coach
Assistant(s)
Legend
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Roster

Roster notes

  • Point guard Shammond Williams holds American and Georgian dual citizenship. He played for the Georgian national team although he was born in the United States.

Regular season

Season standings

Midwest Division
 W L PCT GB Home Road Div
y-San Antonio Spurs 60 22 .732 – 33–8 27–14 17–7
x-Dallas Mavericks 60 22 .732 – 33–8 27–14 18–6
x-Minnesota Timberwolves 51 31 .622 9 33–8 18–23 15–9
x-Utah Jazz 47 35 .573 13 29–12 18–23 15–9
e-Houston Rockets 43 39 .524 17 28–13 15–26 11–13
e-Memphis Grizzlies 28 54 .341 32 20–21 8–33 5–17
e-Denver Nuggets 17 65 .207 43 13–28 4–37 3–21
#
Western Conference
Team W L PCT GB
1 z-San Antonio Spurs 60 22 .732 –
2 y-Sacramento Kings 59 23 .720 1
3 x-Dallas Mavericks 60 22 .732 –
4 x-Minnesota Timberwolves 51 31 .622 9
5 x-Los Angeles Lakers 50 32 .610 10
6 x-Portland Trail Blazers 50 32 .610 10
7 x-Utah Jazz 47 35 .573 13
8 x-Phoenix Suns 44 38 .537 16
9 e-Houston Rockets 43 39 .524 17
10 e-Seattle SuperSonics 40 42 .488 20
11 e-Golden State Warriors 38 44 .463 22
12 e-Memphis Grizzlies 28 54 .341 32
13 e-Los Angeles Clippers 27 55 .329 33
14 e-Denver Nuggets 17 65 .207 43
z - clinched division title
y - clinched division title
x - clinched playoff spot

Game log

Player statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game

Regular season

Player GP GS MPG FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Juwan Howard 77 77 35.5 .450 .500 .803 7.6 3.0 1.0 0.4 18.4
James Posey 25 24 34.9 .373 .273 .843 5.8 3.1 1.2 0.2 14.1
Nenê 80 53 28.2 .519 .000 .578 6.1 1.9 1.6 0.8 10.5
Chris Whitney 29 20 26.3 .360 .336 .807 1.6 4.3 0.6 0.0 9.6
Shammond Williams 27 9 26.4 .390 .363 .667 2.3 5.1 0.6 0.1 9.4
Rodney White 72 19 21.7 .408 .239 .784 3.0 1.7 0.6 0.4 9.0
Donnell Harvey 77 27 20.9 .446 .143 .670 5.3 1.3 0.6 0.4 7.9
Marcus Camby 29 9 21.2 .410 .400 .660 7.2 1.6 0.7 1.4 7.6
Vincent Yarbrough 59 39 23.4 .393 .269 .790 2.7 2.2 1.0 0.6 6.9
Devin Brown 3 2 23.7 .280 .000 .667 3.7 1.7 1.3 0.3 6.0
Kenny Satterfield 22 6 19.1 .309 .179 .696 1.6 2.4 0.8 0.1 5.6
Jeff Trepagnier 8 0 12.1 .425 .500 1.000 2.0 0.8 1.0 0.0 5.6
Mark Blount 54 24 16.4 .393 .717 3.4 0.6 0.4 0.9 5.2
Chris Andersen 59 3 15.4 .400 .000 .550 4.6 0.5 0.5 1.0 5.2
Junior Harrington 82 51 24.4 .362 .250 .652 3.0 3.4 1.0 0.2 5.1
Nikoloz Tskitishvili 81 16 16.3 .293 .243 .738 2.2 1.1 0.4 0.4 3.9
Ryan Bowen 62 31 16.1 .492 .286 .659 2.5 0.9 1.0 0.5 3.6
John Crotty 12 0 15.0 .341 .308 .600 1.3 2.4 0.3 0.0 3.4
Adam Harrington 6 0 12.3 .350 .364 .500 1.0 1.7 0.2 0.0 3.2
Predrag Savović 27 0 9.5 .312 .154 .724 0.9 0.8 0.5 0.0 3.1
Mark Bryant 3 0 4.7 .000 .500 0.7 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.3

Player statistics citation:[9]

Awards and records

Transactions

References

  1. ^ 2002-03 Denver Nuggets
  2. ^ Passan, Jeff (June 27, 2002). "Rockets Select Yao No. 1 Overall in Draft". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 15, 2022.
  3. ^ "Rockets Make Yao Ming First Overall Pick". ESPN. June 26, 2002. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  4. ^ "2002 NBA Draft". Basketball-Reference. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  5. ^ "WESTERN CONFERENCE: Team-by-Team Preview". The New York Times. October 28, 2002. Retrieved July 16, 2022.
  6. ^ "Nuggets, Rockets, 76ers Agree to 3-Way Trade". Arizona Daily Sun. December 18, 2002. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
  7. ^ "NBA Games Played on February 6, 2003". Basketball-Reference. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
  8. ^ "2002–03 Denver Nuggets Schedule and Results". Basketball-Reference. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c "2002–03 Denver Nuggets Roster and Stats". Basketball-Reference. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  10. ^ "Basketball". The Madison Courier. February 8, 2003. p. A8. Retrieved January 28, 2026.
  11. ^ "2003 NBA Rising Stars: Sophomores 132, Rookies 112". Basketball-Reference. Retrieved January 28, 2026.
  12. ^ "2002–03 NBA Awards Voting". Basketball-Reference. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
  13. ^ "2002–03 NBA Season Summary". Basketball-Reference. Retrieved February 9, 2026.

See also

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