Denver Nuggets Twenty Greatest: Nineteenth-Walter Davis

My Denver Nuggets 20 Greatest Players of all time stops at No. 19 with a favorite of Nuggets fans from the late 1980’s, Walter Davis.  “The Greyhound” as he was affectionately called during his playing days spent 3 seasons with the Nuggets.  He played for Denver from 1988-1990, Doug Moe’s last 2 years as Head Coach and still had a lot of the flash and shooting skill that he displayed in his many seasons with the Phoenix Suns.  The Nuggets signed Davis as an unrestricted Free Agent in the Summer of 1988 to a two year deal worth $1.35 Million to play shooting guard in Moe’s up-tempo “Passing Game” system. In 1988-1989 Davis played in 81 of the Nuggets 82 games and averaged 15.6 points, 2.3 assists and 1.9 rebounds per contest while shooting almost 50% from the field.  He was also an excellent Free Throw shooter averaging close to 90% for his Nuggets career from the charity stripe.  In 1989-1990, Moe’s last season at the helm, Davis had an even better year averaging 17.5 points per game while shooting 48% from the field and better than 91% from the line.  Davis had one of the smoothest jump shots ever to grace the McNichols Arena floor and he was still a very serviceable defensive player even towards the end of his career.  He was traded to Portland near the trade deadline in 1990 but returned to Denver in 1991 and finished his career in the Rainbow Warriors uniform then retiring after the 1991-1992 season.  For his career, mostly with the Suns, Davis scored a total of 19,521 points averaging 18.9 points per game and shot 51% from the field and over 85% from the line.  The one black mark on Davis’ career was that he was involved in a drug scandal while he was with the Suns which was a major reason the Suns did not re-sign him after the 1988 season and he was able to sign with the Nuggets.  The Suns and Davis reconciled several years after his retirement and his number “6” is now retired in the Rafters at the US Airways Center which is the home Arena of the Phoenix Suns.  The thing I remember most about Walter’s time with the Nuggets is if he pulled up from the elbow on the fast break and stroked that sweet jumper, I always thought it was going in.  And it did over 50% of the time.  After Davis’ playing career, he spent several seasons as the Color Commentator on Denver Nuggets television broadcasts and was appointed an official “Denver Nuggets Community Ambassador” travelling around the Denver and Colorado area doing camps and speaking engagements for the youth of the area.  Walter Davis, Denver Nuggets 19th Greatest Player of All-time.  Look for my #18 all time greatest Nugget in the next couple of days and get all your Nuggets information by following us on Twitter @Nugg_Love.