Admittedly some poor word choice on my behalf when referring to the Nuggets, some of whom are quite notable! More so meant that they aren’t particularly **household** names in 2024. My apologies to Mahmoud and Orlando 🙌

hiding the westhead pace dot in the i was legit genius, this stuff rules, dude. great things are gonna be coming your way soon

Is this the *secret* Secret Base??? Outstanding work & presentation!!!

In a preseason game against the Hawks, they managed to give up 194 points.

How did this video not cover Loyola Marymount? That's such an important part of this story. It was after Westhead was fired by the Bulls and went to coach in college that he developed this run-and-gun style. And he actually had quite a bit of success with it at Loyola Marymount.

Paul Westhead coached at Loyola Marymount University during that gap in the 80s. It’s where he developed his system. Under Westhead, Marymount averaged 21 wins a year and averaged an NCAA record 122 points per game in 1989-90

Having played in the same conference as Grinnell for two years and dealing with that brand of basketball, I know first-hand they were not a "no defense" team. They pressured the hell out of you and rewarded you with two points if you broke the press. They wanted you to expend energy to cross half court, focus completely on offense, and force all your players into their back court. That way, the three players they left behind on defense could get 2-3 attempts at a 3PA before our defense completely resets. High scores don't indicate bad/no defense; high scores per possession indicates that. The exact details of the Grinnell System from Arsenault himself in 2001: - Take 94 or more FGA - Ensure at least 50% FGA are 3PA - Force 32 turnovers - Obtain a minimum 33% OREB% - Take 25+ more FGA than your opponent. Also, subs were every two minutes with exception of the "hot hand" player. They could play an extra stint if "hot."

On October 20, 1990 in an exhibition game, the Celtics beat the Nuggets 173-155, in regulation.

In my first season with season tickets to Warriors games, Paul Westhead was our assistant coach. My seats were near an old leather-lunged guy who was a massive homer, complained about every call, and compared every dirty play to Bill Laimbeer and/or Danny Ainge. I loved that dude. Never knew his name. And he HATED P. J. Carlesimo, our head coach, and without fail would always say that the wrong guy was our head coach. "Westhead won the Lakers the 'Chip in 1980. What the f*ck do we have PJ for? Give Westhead the f*cking whistle!" He couldn't have done worse :P

great vid man watched and was confused to see only 250 views! keep up the grind bro

So wait, Magic Johnson forced Westhead out, who coached the bulls to their draft pick that they used to pick MJ? So, the original MJ directly lead to the Bulls drafting Mike?

I've been watching the 91 season, and am very pleased to have ran into this video. Great work, man!

The Enver Nuggets reference made me think of when the Suns had Antoni as coach...you know, the coach with no D. Same thing 😂

Great job adapting some Secret Base elements and making them your own. Looks like a winning formula to me!

They were like a 2020s team playing in the 1990s. The 91 Nuggets were that far ahead of their time.

Awesome video dude! Can’t wait for the next one

Awesome video, I've always been fascinated with this team and you did a great job putting them into context. I do think it's worth mentioning that Paul Westhead also won a WNBA championship with Phoenix in 2007 and had coached mid-major Loyola Marymount to 3 NCAA tournaments including a Regional Final before taking over the Nuggets. Obviously his approach tends to be on the extreme side and has been more miss than hit but it can work. Funny enough, the clash with Magic Johnson was because Westhead wanted to play through Kareem with a slower pace while Magic wanted to be more uptempo. Always wonder what the Lakers would have looked like using something closer to the style Westhead is famous for.

A Secret Base disciple!!!

Interesting fact - Paul Westhead coached U.ofOregon's Women's BBall at the same time Chip Kelly coached Oregon football. The two actuaIly had meetings together to discuss the philosophy of tempo in their respective athletic endeavors. Imagine both those two eating lunch together. Do u think they had races to see who could finish their plates first?

What a fantastic watch. You can really tell how much effort went into writing and creating this video.

great video! looking forward to more

Looks like a daily All-Star game.

Great video! It looks like you used Robert Pack's pic for Reggie Williams though.

Paul Westhead walked so Mike D’Antoni could run

I think I found a new candidate for best basketball coaching system ever.

Cmon man Orlando Woolridge was Jordan’s best teammate before Pippen and had many 20 pt seasons

Crazy presentation. Good job man

This video reminds me so much of sb nation, big fan of your presentation. Keep it up!

This was really well-written and put together. Might be the nest NBA video essay I've ever seen.

Thank you for sharing. 342 combined points were scored in an ABA game. Abdul Rauf is/was amazing.

I remember hearing about Grinnell almost a year ago from JmxHighRoller. He profiled Grinnell College and I have been a fan of the system ever since. I actually remember Paul Westhead for the system he ran at Loyola Marymount with Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers.

Thank you for this love letter to some of my favorite teams of all time, which ultimately made me the Nuggets fan I am today ❤

incredible video man, keep up the great work!

This sounds like every modern nba coach

You know what’s pretty crazy to think about now. This is pretty much how majority of NBA teams play in present. Lack of defense, chuck up as much as you can, especially from three, offensive dominated, and with skillsets now pretty fast pace. Back then it must’ve not worked, but Westhead was definitely on to something.

Im a minute in and blown awaybby the presentation and attention put into the video already. Reminds me of an early Jon Bois!

.....but ya gotta admit, the uniforms really rocked! The Denver skyline on a multicolor background! All that were missing were the Converse Break Dancing themed high tops, green on one side, purple on the other, and a red tongue.....

Dude, this is seriously one of the best produced videos I’ve seen in a while! Keep it up, you’ll blow up soon. Awesome content

Awesome content man keep going fr.

Looks like you guys only have 3 total videos at the moment, but I added the other 2 to my playlist based on the quality of this one! 🤘

Great video! The data, the presentation, the design, the info. Thanks!

Keep up the monthly uploads exited to see the next one

So this vid has me searching the KZfaqs for a '91 Nuggets game and found a '93 game where they were definitely pushing the pace. Then i started studying Adams one handed jay because i shoot one handed because of a frozen shoulder. Thank you for the rabbit hole

Excellent video! One minor mistake that’s a photo of Robert Pack and not Reggie Williams in the Nuggets points per game segment. 8:51

Michael Adams in 2005 would’ve averaged half of the league’s team average for threes per game. He would’ve been the three point leader in attempts per game in 2014. Today, he would be number 7 in three’s per game. The man played in 1991.

this channel is a hidden gem

This is the basketball I love. More of that, please!

Absolutely love your statistical presentations. So visually appealing. Great work

this channel got hell good graphics considering how early in development it is. good work!

I used to drive past Grinnell, most boring place you could possible imagine to put a college.

cmon man orlando woolridge is a hoop grids legend

Remember Westhead during the twilight sonic years

This is an incredibly well done video. Very impressed! Can’t wait to see more.

That Nov 10, 1990 game against PHX is still my favorite box score ever. If I said a team didn't make a single three and turned it over 27 times, you'd think they would've had a hard time scoring. If I said they also surrendered 143, you'd figure they would've lost by at least 30. But despite the turnovers and not making a single three, they still put up 173 points, with 50 in the first quarter and 57 in the second quarter. If PHX didn't put it on cruise control in the second half, they could've hit 190 pretty easily. I was a kid reading the sports section of USA Today and thinking that 173 points had to be a typo.

The script was well-written and well-researched. And the graphics and presentation were very good. But I was left disappointed that there wasn’t any Nuggets game footage.

Literally what the NBA is now

Really good production, more obscure historical teams please

They had the worst uniforms next to the old Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniforms, 80's and 90's Seahawks Home uniforms, and some of the off-colour MLB Road uniforms from the 80's.

Loved the video but your 1991 standings, you have Magic listed in the Western Conference. Just a heads up. Reminded me of the stat video. Good work, kid. One Love.

This is an excellent video. I’ve been a Jon Bois fan forever and see the inspiration here so it works for me.

I miss the early 90s nba thanks for doing a video on a truly unique team

defence doesn't exist anymore in the nba, so they'd be great now

7:05 I was hoping you would do that. Bravo.

8:50 a few issues, one that’s not Reggie “Russ” Williams, that’s Robert Pack. Russ had his best seasons with the Nuggets, he got traded to Denver after sitting on the bench in San Antonio… Averaged close to 15 I believe. 91-92 I knew he had his best statistical season.. • Reggie Williams played on the best High School team of all time (organic, same neighborhood, not today’s private school, sports academies, AAU influenced amateur circuit) ESPN did a 30 for 30.. great book, Welp, I’m from the same city, Baltimore, and was a hoops junkie before the NBA was popular, Baltimore has been an extremely underrated hoop haven for generations ~ High School basketball was legendary… Baltimore Dunbar High was and still is legendary, producing professional athletes, in both football and basketball. Dozens of college players. But Russ was my favorite on those great Dunbar teams that featured Mugsy Bogues, David Wingate, Reggie Lewis.. Modeled my game after him, versatile SF… he’d be a 3&D guy in today’s game. And I have an issue with saying Orlando Woolridge, Mamhoud Abdul-Rauf , who was still Chris Jackson weren’t players of note. Lol. Heck, I remember Michael Adams, as a great college player at Boston College! I remember when he broke out for the Bullets… the defacto local team, got to watch them on local television back when the NBA wasn’t on television 7 days a week. lol. The disrespect of those players… sheesh. Same attitude with the younger generation, highly dismissive of past generations players stories, those guys of note, accomplished a lot in their careers… Except for Todd Lichti 😂😂😂 nah, his name made me not like him. Nah. He had a solid college career, tons of misfortune early in his career, only played like 5 seasons…

4. Most of the craziness were early in the season. In the opener, the Nuggets lost 158-162 to the Run TMC Warriors, highest scoring regulation game ever. The Phoenix game was the 6th. After 7 games, Denver averaged 137 PPG. But stood at 0-7 as the opponents averaged 153. If we only take the 2nd half of the season, they're not the worst D ever (though close to it). 5. Preseason was even worst. 155-173 to the Celtics, 123-186 to the Suns in a precursor of the record game, and the crown jewel, 166-194(!!!) to the Hawks. It was only 77-78 at halftime. Atlanta scored 116 in the 2nd half including 64 in the 4th.

Wonderful video and analysis! Incredible stat presentation as well…would love to see more game footage. You have a new subscriber!

one of the best nba analysis videos ive seen in a minute 🙌🙌

Westhead's biggest change to the Nuggets was shape-shifting Reggie Williams into Robert Pack (8:50).

This channel deserves more attention

As a record afficionado, that's a nice vid about a unique team, but it's missing a few details that could have improved it. 1. Between Westhead's tenures with the Bulls and the Nuggets, he spent some years in college, and had better luck employing the same run-and-gun strategy with Loyola Marymount, setting numerous NCAA D1 records, such as 186 and 181 point games, or scoring 149 over the ingoing champs Michigan in the NCAA tournament. One has to wonder how this wild experiment would fare with a more talented chore, such as English, Lever and co. 2. The game vs the Suns deserves a few more words. Phoenix tied the then-record for 1st quarter points with 50, then scored 57 more in the 2nd, one shy of the record for *any* quarter. *It was 107-67 at halftime.* Needless to say, the only 100 point half in NBA history. The 2nd most for a 1st half was 90, set a few days earlier by the Nuggets themselves, improved since to 92 by GS (in Klay's 14 threes game). The Suns had 33 assists by halftime, another record (finished with 50, three shy of the all time mark). In the end, the Suns' 173 points "only" tied the regulation record, set by Boston in 1959 (which was 146 before that game). 3. If we're talking assists, Scott Skiles was then the point guard of a pretty bad Magic team. Guess who were the rivals when he passed for 30 in one game?

This channel deserves wayyyy more views

Meanwhile Orlando Woolridge: Am i a joke to you???

Not talking about Loyola Marymount in a video like this is a bizarre decision.

Y’know, I’d pegged you as a Jon Bois clone, but 7:08… that’s clever.

Internet said it's okay to have a little extra Chart Party, as a treat.

Mutombo holding a toddler's jacket

Buckets ✅ Defense 🚫…..sounds like the NBA today 😂

I never forget this team averaged 120 and allowed 131...that's crazy. No wonder Scott Skiles still have the record of 30 assists.

91 nuggets were ahead of there time because they said screw defense🤣

My fault. They played in the Midwest division for the 1990-1991 season. Wow. Learn something new every day.

My Grandpa though Magic was a Prima Donna Coach Killer for getting Westhead fired. Lol

Spiritual successor of Jon bois! Love this video

I think you mixed up Reggie Williams with Robert Pack.

You just earned a subscription with that hiding of the stupid little dot

How this has so few views is crazy, keep it up

Fun Fact about that game they gave up 173 to the Phoenix Suns, Suns had 107 by halftime 😂

As a life long Nuggets fan, it wasn't a whole lot different than the Doug Moe teams

Im soo glad someone did a video on this team

You would leave the arena with a giant blue card with a yellow three on it.

7:01 was a goddamn fantastic plot twist. Dude, this whole video was amazing!

For some strange reason I thought the Showtime Lakers led the league in pace all those years

The graphics is beautiful, you got me as a sub!

Winning Time made me hate Paul Westhead lol

Great work ,really well done

The quality on this is absurd

How did you make the animations? Great vid

Great visuals and animations

I know there were other… issues that led to changing the name of the Washington Bullets, but that logo where the Ls are hands and there’s a basketball above them makes it look like Is instead of Ls and I kinda like it. What I’m saying is that before they settled on Wizards, they should’ve considered Buiiets. They could’ve even trademarked the word, because it isn’t a word.

Really well made respect bro

would've been cool to see some actual clips of the team being described. neat infographics though