The forgotten Nuggets “big three,” from the 1980’s

The Denver Nuggets have had many great players come through the organization over the years, but some of the underrated combinations they have had tend to get forgotten.

The Denver Nuggets have had their fair share of dynamic duos of star players over the years. From Alex English and Fat Lever to Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony all the way to Carmelo Anthony with Chauncey Billups, Denver has had plenty of talent come to the team.

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However, they have rarely possessed a “big three,” of stars. They have had one from the 1980’s though which seems to have gotten lost in time. Obviously, it didn’t result in the desired result as it has for many other championship teams as Denver still remains without a title to this day, but they still have some special seasons to reminisce about.

The big three I am elaborating on is the one from the 1983 season. In this season, the Nuggets possessed the likes of Alex English, Dan Issell and Kiki Vandeweghe. This “big three,” which was coached by the famous Doug Moe may not have won a title, but they still found some success.

They were able to get past the first round of the playoffs defeating the Phoenix Suns 2-1, but lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the semi finals 1-4.

This was Issel’s second to last season in the league, but was still putting up decent scoring numbers of 19.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Vandeweghe was just hitting his prime as he averaged 26.7 points  per game along with 54.7% shooting that season and English averaged an outstanding 28.4 points along with 4.8 assists per game this particular season.

Looking at numbers like these, it is almost baffling how Denver did not win a title in the 1983 season especially being coached by someone like Doug Moe.

Next: Filling out the Nuggets' rotation

However, what is done is done and fans should look back and appreciate this “big three,” Denver possessed for a short time. All stats were were verified via basketball-reference.com.