Division title winner five times, Denver Nuggets was founded in 1967 and is currently based in Denver, Colorado. The team’s colors are powder blue, gold, and blue. They were originally lined up to play in Kansas City, Missouri before they decided to move to Denver.

 

In the 1980s, the team would score over 115 points per game. They also made it to the Western Conference finals in that decade but they unfortunately lost to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Denver Nuggets is the first 8th seeded team to defeat a first seeded team in the history of the NBA playoff during the 1990s. They had difficult seasons in the 1990s and early 2000s as they continuously change their players and some of their key players were injured. During the 2002-2003 season, the team tied for the worst record in NBA with the Cavaliers. With the selection of Carmelo Anthony, the Nuggets had slowly progressed in their games and were able to record more wins than they had in 2002-2003 season, a victory that also led to the recognition of Allen Iverson signed Spalding indoor/outdoor basketball.

 

It was in the 2005-2006 season when the team has amazingly won the Northwest division title which put them in the third seed of the Western Conference playoffs that also led to the making of Allen Iverson signed Spalding indoor/outdoor basketball as a significant item. The Nuggets had drafted Ivan McFarlin and Allen Iverson on December 19, 2006 and the two players had definitely helped the team in improving their ranking in the league. 

 

Decorate your home with the memorable sports items of the Denver Nuggets just like the Allen Iverson signed Spalding indoor/outdoor basketball, autographed Spalding indoor/outdoor basketball, jersey, and photos which can be purchased here. The team’s name can sometimes be misspelled as Dinver Naggets, Denvir Nugets, Denever Noggets, Donver Neggets, Denveer Nagets, Danver Nuggits, and Danever Nhugets. 

 

Interview by : Stefan Tesoriero, CEO of Sportsmemorabilia.com

Interview with : Alan Switzer, Nuggetshoop.com

 

Stefan : Really, I wanted to first of all thank you for giving me the opportunity here to ask you some questions about your site .

 

Alan : Yeah, you bet. It is fun for me too. I enjoy this side of things.

 

Stefan : Great! Well, as I said in my email and thanks for the article here, it does answer some of the questions here concerning just how to got into it and stuff. If you can just elaborate a little bit on it…

 

Alan : You bet!

 

Stefan : But what was the inspiration. Obviously, you’re a huge fan of the team. That really inspired most of us in terms of what we do but …

 

Alan : I want to express that passion a constructive way

 

Stefan : Exactly…

 

Alan : You know, I started this back in 1995. Just like ahead of the curve and you know, long before blogs and that sort of thing. The main thing back then was I had become a fan of the Nuggets back in 1992 and then it really reached the peak in that playoffs period they had back in 1994 when they were the first team, the first number 8 seat to knock off the number 1 seat when they beat the SuperSonics. And you know, that just really brought it to a peak for me and then at the same time, I was just starting to become aware of web development and web design. I’ve got a computer science background. So I was a programmer and so it was a natural fit for me to try and get in to web design, building it on and I kind of use Nuggetshoops, well back then it was not called Nuggetshoops, but I used my Nuggets fan site as a way to teach myself web design at the same time.   

 

Stefan : Okay.

 

Alan : So that was another reason I poured so much time into it because of my love of the Nuggets but also because I will teach myself web design and I was getting excited about web design. So I ended up launching that into a side business that I have been running now with my wife for the past nine years. We do web design and web hosting and that sort of thing.  I kinda thank Nuggetshoops for that business opportunity because it kind of got me to where I needed to be, to be able to do that. 

 

Stefan : Sure, sure. Excellent. In terms of Nuggetshoops.com, how big is your… do you have any idea in terms of how many people read the site.

 

Alan : Yeah. 

 

Stefan : Is this on a daily basis, annual basis, etc?

 

Alan : Yeah, I keep some primitive hit logs and I am trying to do more stuff that follow like the blog itself you know, to see how many times our articles are read, that sort of thing. 

 

Stefan : Sure

 

Alan : But the basic level is that it gets anywhere from twenty five hundred to five thousand hits a month. And it is much higher usually during the season or when there some kind of big news. The site is definitely, you know, much more popular in the last week with Allen Iverson coming over, as you might expect.

 

Stefan : Sure. 

 

Alan : And I would say about 80% of those hits are unique and some of them are repeats coming back during the week which I can’t say…it really varies pretty widely. And it also varies on how much time I am putting into it. I have noticed that I haven’t had much time for it this season compared with last season so if I am not putting up as much fresh content I notice that the readership just isn’t that large. 

 

Stefan : Sure, sure. That absolutely makes sense. 

 

Alan : Yeah. You got to keep the content fresh in order to keep them coming back.

 

Stefan :  Absolutely. Now it is obviously becoming quite a fun time for the Nuggets and to be a Nuggets fan, you know …

 

Alan : Very exciting.

 

Stefan : …a unique situation. [laughs] You have one of the top 5 really young talents in the lead. Has that, in terms of how it relates to where I am coming from, how have you seen that translating to kind of the demand from Nuggets fans for Carmelo Anthony signed jerseys or signed basketballs or Carmelo Anthony memorabilia in general. Have you seen the fans really passionate and wanted to get their hands on as much Carmelo stuff for now. Obviously now, I can imagine first but then address the whole AI phenomenon that is going to occur.

 

Alan : Right. There is an article just in the papers today here at Denver Post about how next to zero AI terms are not over yet because of the delay due to the storm we had last week, they’re still recovering from that and so like their shipments still haven’t arrive, it should have been here by now. So there is a huge pent up demand already for AI jerseys. I think we are suppose to get 600 in by this weekend but I am sure that it is going to be snatched up you know, within couple of hours then gone again. So, yeah, you know, definitely there’s a lot more passion and discussion and people asking questions since Carmelo came in the last you know, four years. He definitely has caused a huge spike. But you know, we have been doing it for long enough, you know, eleven years, I have seen other spikes at other times and it has been that kind of fun to see though you know, when it wasn’t about the team being as good you know, there are still other reasons you know, people frequent the site, or asks questions or react in the forum. You know, there has been fan favorites over the years. There is always something, you know, even when the team has been horrible and well out of playoff contention. There is always some kind of personality each year. And I am sure, most NBA teams have. You know, maybe not all of them but the Nuggets have been fortunate that they always have some excitement, something to build around. [laughs]

 

Stefan : Yeah. Denver is, well not being one of the traditional top 3 to 5 stakes for medium market, has always consistently fielded pretty competitive teams in every sport. I mean, the Broncos are consistent, the Denver Broncos are consistently towards at the ASD if not, the NFL. The Colorado Avalanche [laughs]

 

Alan : Yeah, you are right.

 

Stefan :  And then we move on to the Rockies, I guess they are the only guys that are kinda, they were playoff contenders for a while and now they are …

 

Alan : [laughs] Playoff contenders and they seem to struggle. You are right, I mean we are really fortunate sports fans here and we are definitely very passionate sports fans with Denver because we are really a small market compared to some of the markets. We’ve had some great teams and almost all our major sports, you know, we’ve got good owners for most part who are willing to put money into the team and make them competitive. And then the fans, even though we are small town, the fans do a good job of always coming out and supporting the teams even in the down years, things like that.

 

Stefan :  Sure. Now what do you see as the evolution for Nuggetshoops.com say, you know, short term to 6 months to a year?

 

Alan : Where we are heading, that sort of thing?

 

Stefan : Yeah.

 

Alan : Yeah, I would like to get back to where I can get a little more free time in my life and do more with it. I definitely you know, some of the things I do to keep it current, I write game summaries and I write articles and a blog and I’ve had next to zero time to do either one of those. I try to find people out there from time to time that are willing to come in and get talkers and I’ve had a few  people who have done that and they usually disappear, move on to some great sports writing gig somewhere else because I am not paying them. They are usually doing it first as an experience and then they move on. But I would love to get back on getting fresh content on my site whether some myself, finding some more time or you know, finding a couple of other young who want to be writers that would be interested in writing for the site. I think that is a big part of it. You know, you’ve got to have that fresh content on there. And I think you know, one of the reasons people frequent Nuggetshoops in the past is because I offered, when I was writing more consistent game summaries, people would come often and read those because it gives them a different perspective from the typical AP game summary. They’re all kind of the same and they’re neutral and it is kind of fun to read a game summary from a [laughs] passionate fan’s perspective.

 

Stefan : Sure. 

 

Alan : But I would like to grow this site. I am always interested in adding new features. There’s another fan website that I really admire and try to you know, obtain similar levels, but I’ve got a long way to go. And that’s the existing Rockets fan site called Clutchfans? Have you ever seen Clutchfans.net? It is an incredible site. I mean, the guy must put a ton of time into it. Because he has got all kinds of incredible features, he’s got a game by game breakdown on the site, you know, not linking off to an ESPN site or something. On his site, he tracks that data for every single player they currently have on the Rockets roster along with tracking all the old players so you can actually go back and look at players who played for the Rockets over the years. He has been running his site for at least ten or more years or so. 

 

Stefan : wow!

 

Alan : And I’d like to add to more features like that. I mean I have an archive section where I kinda take pride in that you can go back and read game summaries from ten years ago that I wrote. And you can look at what the roster was. Because I don’t think you can even find some of that data from the official Nuggets website. So myself, I like having access to going back and reading about the past and I think other people do too. So I’d like to add some more detailed sections on players you know, that are currently on the team and players that have been on the team in the past so you can go and you can read about it and see pictures, that sort of thing. So I’d like to just keep adding new features and be back adding more consistent fresh content.

 

Stefan : Sure. And do you know what kind of the universe is in terms of Nuggets fan sites? Are you one of ten, one of five, one of a hundred? [laughs]

 

Alan : Yeah, I guess it has changed a lot in the last two or three years. Before two to three years ago, I was really the only site. I used to actively search and there was a couple other sites and like they would be there for a year and then no one would update them anymore. It will be out there but no fresh content, you know, for years and years. But in the last couple years, definitely there’s Carmelo and consistency in the playoffs. I have seen four or five really good blogs, top up in the last couple years. And they’ve all kind of come through Nuggetshoops as like forum writers or forum contributors, some of them have wrote articles for me in the past and they went off and started their own blogs. So, I am excited to see it. I am not jealous in any way. I wish them all success. You know, I don’t feel like you know, my success is necessarily impacted by their success or failures of other blogs. In fact I enjoy reading the other blogs that are out there because it is for the same reason that I am writing mine, and I love reading other fresh perspective and what the Nuggets are doing. Yeah, just like in the last couple of years, there’s four or five really good ones out there that I think I have linked to most of them on my links page. There’s a section that specifically serves Nuggets fan site and blogs and you’ve got there and there’s links to it. There’s one other guy that I have known for years and years and he goes by the nickname of Rock and I think he is actually from Michigan. He has always been a huge Nuggets fan, not a Pistons fan for whatever reason and he always have, not actually a website, but he actually has a forum and his forum is huge. I mean, he’s got thousands of registered users and very, very active forum. But my forum, I like to keep a little bit more friendly and it kinda reflects me and how I’d like to run my site and I have been able to avoid what you call the bad apples and the people to come out there just complain and whine and all that stuff. I’d like to keep my forum, you know, mostly it is just die hard fans but mostly talkative and do not tend to attack each other, that sort of thing. I have been fortunate to avoid that because this forum is definitely frequented by those types of people. 

 

Stefan : Sure, sure. [laughs] Well, you know, I do not need to tell you which sports get extremely passionate. [laughs]

 

Alan : Oh yeah.

 

Stefan : I mean sports is really the one thing that can get people so enthralled and so passionate that they feel everybody is an owner. You know, for each of the teams, there’s million of owners. [laughs]

 

Alan : Yeah, that’s right. [laughs]

 

Stefan : Let me ask you this, in terms of differentiating you know, your site from other fan sites in general from other Nuggets sites, potentially offering something unique to your readers, etc. In the future, do you see, because I have noticed that you have a section for the Nuggets posters where you, I am sure, are monetizing that but in the future would you be interested in perhaps being able to offer discount for certain Nuggets memorabilia through say, a site like Sportsmemorabilia.com?

 

Alan : Yeah, definitely! 

 

Stefan : I am just trying to get an understanding of the types of you know, because it is really, from what I gather in speaking with people is, a lot of people are vying for the same attention from the same person and trying to figure out what people are doing in terms of trying to differentiate themselves and make their site unique. Because at the baseline level, it seems, and correct me if I am wrong, at the baseline level it seems that fan sites and blogs fulfill kind of the same purpose. They report on games, they report on hot stove and you know, potential trades during off season and during the season, rumor mills, etc. They provide some type of historical content but then from that point, it has kinda like okay, and as well as providing a forum for the fans to voice their opinion. From that point of, it is kinda like okay, well where do we go from here? So we are all not just carbon copies of each other. 

 

Alan : Right. I think mine is unique because of my background and I think it will continue to be unique. In most of the other sites that have cropped up in the last couple years, theirs is pure blog. You know, they’re set up by the site owner that creates blogs these days. Whereas mine is really a custom hand built site and it has a blog incorporated within it. But it is very customized and so it just kinda fits within the flow of sites so I am able to offer a lot more features and unique types of things that I think, none of the other fan sites out there, in Nuggets land at least, are providing right now. And you know I have been doing some fun things in the past couple years. I do something they call fan site challenge and when I do it is when a team is coming up that I know there’s another fans site out there, forum that I am in communication with. I will basically set up a challenge okay where my team plays with the Knicks and Knicksonline.com, which is a guy I know out in New York, I will basically demonstrate a bet on that game. If my site, if my team wins then he has to display a banner on his site that I create for him that you know…

 

Stefan : [laughs]

 

Alan : people from my site can flaunt it back that the Nuggets beat the Knicks. Those are kinda fun. You can find it in the left side bar and I actually have basically all the banners that I’ve won over the last few years from the different teams there. And you know, the other blogs just can’t do those types of features. I keep a schedule of games for each year and you know, other things so it is much more, Nuggetshoops is much more than just blogs and articles.

 

Stefan : Sure. And I think one of the competitive advantage you have is your history and you have been doing this for a long time. It is partly Carmelo generation here where “oh we’re excited now so let’s store some stuff up.” [laughs]

 

Alan : [laughs] Join the bandwagon. 

 

Stefan : Sure, sure, sure. Well, excellent. Well Alan, I really appreciate you discussing with me kinda where you came from, what you are doing, what you are looking to doing in the future and how it kinda impacts Sportsmemorabilia and obviously the two big guns are Carmelo and Allen Iverson and their memorabilia. I just, I know right now I have been getting calls on my end for an Allen Iverson signed Nuggets jerseys or Allen Iverson signed basketballs, etc. because it is so hard to get the Iverson Nuggets stuff right now. I mean the photos are just being taken. I mean, what is it, three games, so the photos haven’t even been printed yet. But it has shown a significant difference in terms of Allen Iverson signed basketballs which can be very generic. And now the Iverson signed basketballs, okay we can grab this because it doesn’t matter what uniform he was in when he signed it, we can just buy it up now so…

 

Alan :   I guess fans will buy it. Nuggets fans will buy it.

 

Stefan : Exactly. One other thing I wanted to ask you, in terms of the old Carmelo versus the LeBron James comparison, is that one of your most highly contested you know, discussed subjects on a week to week basis? It seems like no matter what, they will be compared the entire length of their career because they came from the same class. 

 

Alan : Right, right. Yeah, it definitely is. It is funny, there was an article that a co-author wrote for me back in March 19th of this year and he basically put the provocative title on there “ Carmelo Anthony is better than LeBron James”

 

Stefan : [laughs]

 

Alan : And it has been one of the pinpointed articles, you know for the last year and most commented and it has definitely brought up passion in people you know, arguing both ways. His point was, look, I do not know if he is really better but I just put the title in there for fun. He was saying at that time that Carmelo had to his name already six or seven game winners and at that point, LeBron still has none to his name. And so, he was just arguing on the fact that Carmelo was getting it done at the end of the games and LeBron still hasn’t really shown or proven that he can do that. But, I don’t know, I think for me it is a fun thing because for me, I definitely feel like, you know, LeBron gets more attention than Carmelo and and it’s been fun to see that Carmelo that we led the Nuggets to the playoff is featured here everyday where it took couple of years before LeBron can accomplish that. Yeah, it is a frequent topic and it died down a little bit. It used to be really fun to go to those Cleveland Nuggets game in the first couple of years when they were both in the league and seem to go head to head. 

 

Stefan : yeah.

 

Alan : But it still definitely a topic. 

 

Allen Iverson Carmelo Anthony