Nuggets & Spurs: A 20-year portrait

Back in the Bicentennial year of 1976, four American Basketball Association squads -- the Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs, New York Nets and Indiana Pacers -- were absorbed into the NBA.
Over the ensuing 18 seasons, none of the four managed to reach the NBA Finals, but two -- the Nuggets and Spurs -- clearly emerged as the class of the quartet, sporting Hall of Famers such as David Thompson, George Gervin, Dan Issel, David Robinson, Alex English and  Artis Gilmore while missing the playoffs only a combined eight times in 36 total seasons.
But in the 20 years since, let's just say the paths have diverged rather dramatically for the Nuggets and Spurs. Here's a tale of the tape of what's transpired for the two franchises over the past two decades (Warning, Nuggets fans, this isn't pretty):

• Winning seasons: Spurs 19, Nuggets 10
• 50-win seasons: Spurs 18, Nuggets 5
• 50-loss seasons: Nuggets 4, Spurs 1
• Playoff berths: Spurs 19, Nuggets 11
• Division titles: Spurs 13, Nuggets 3
• Playoff games: Spurs 264, Nuggets 67
• Playoff games won: Spurs 163, Nuggets 22
• Playoff series wins: Spurs 35, Nuggets 2
• Western Conference titles: Spurs 6, Nuggets 0
• NBA titles: Spurs 5, Nuggets 0
• Head coaches: Nuggets 11, Spurs 2
• All-Star Game selections: Spurs 28, Nuggets 11
• Regular season head-to-head wins: Spurs 63, Nuggets 25
• Postseason head-to-head wins: Spurs 13, Nuggets 2
• Top-20 draft picks: Nuggets 10, Spurs 2
• Top-five draft picks: Nuggets 4, Spurs 1
• All-NBA players drafted: Spurs 3, Nuggets 1 

Hey, just sayin' . . . 

Another NBA Finals & no Nuggets . . . so what's new?

So it's the Spurs and Heat in the NBA Finals.
No surprise. We've been there, seen that matchup before.
It is the NBA after all where the chalk and the same teams dominate the action seemingly season after season.
To wit: Over the last 30 seasons, including the current one, only eight franchises have hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy with five teams (the Spurs, Heat, Lakers, Pistons and Bulls) winning a whopping 24 of the 30 (80 percent) championships.
Only 18 franchises have made NBA Finals appearances during those three decades, and as you well know your Denver Nuggets -- who joined the NBA in 1976 -- ain't one of them.
The Nuggets, in fact, are missing the party for the 38th consecutive season as one of the the seven current NBA franchises who have never made it to the Finals. The others are the Los Angeles Clippers (who joined the NBA as the Buffalo Braves in 1970), New Orleans Pelicans/Hornets/Charlotte Hornets ('88), Minnesota Timberwolves ('89), Memphis/Vancouver Grizzlies ('95), Toronto Raptors ('95) and Charlotte Hornets/Bobcats ('04).
Expanding the view to include all four major U.S. pro sports leagues, the Nuggets are one of 17 current franchises (out of 122 total or 13.9 percent) never to have made it to their current league's championship series or game.
The others, outside of the aforementioned NBA seven, are as follows:

• NFL: Jacksonville Jaguars (joined in 1995), Houston Texans ('02).
• MLB: Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos ('69), Seattle Mariners ('77)
• NHL: Phoenix Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets ('79), San Jose Sharks ('91), Nashville Predators ('98), Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers ('99), Columbus Blue Jackets ('00), Minnesota Wild ('00)

A quick survey of those left-out 17 reveals that only the Nationals/Expos (45 years) and Clippers/Braves (44 years) have endured longer droughts than the Nuggets.

Sigh.