With nucleus intact, Nuggets ready for another run

(Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups hope to the lead the Nuggets on another deep playoff run this season.)

DENVER (AP) -- While the top teams in the Western Conference bolstered their rosters by adding big name free agents, the Denver Nuggets largely stayed the course.
That's because they think the nucleus of a championship squad is already in place.
"We're good," Kenyon Martin said Friday. "I think other teams made moves after looking at where we were."
The Nuggets went on quite a journey last season as their band of misfits bonded together to reach the conference championships for the first time since 1985. They nearly made their first NBA Finals appearance before bowing out to Los Angeles in six games.
However, the memory of the series loss to the Lakers, not the playoff run, propelled Chauncey Billups & Co. in the offseason.
"I know the reality of it is we had a good year," Billups said. "But I think about the loss and losing to a team that was a great team, but a team like I felt we had a great chance to beat. I don't think we fought to the end like we should have."
And that's serving as motivation.
Nuggets coach George Karl sees a different mentality with his team as they enter training camp this weekend. They're not satisfied.
"Going into camp, we might have talked about winning a championship," Karl said. "I believe this team can win a championship."
The road through the West, though, definitely got more difficult. Some of the elite teams added big pieces to their roster. The defending champion Lakers acquired Ron Artest, while the San Antonio Spurs landed Richard Jefferson, Dallas got Shawn Marion in a four-team, eight-player trade and the Blazers brought in Andre Miller.
"There's a lot of teams that got better," Billups said.
So, where do the Nuggets stack up?
"Right up at the top," Billups said.
Over the offseason, the Nuggets lost defensive stalwart Dahntay Jones through free agency and long-range shooter Linas Kleiza, who took his game to Europe.
The team added Arron Afflalo to fill in for Jones and drafted Ty Lawson to help spell Billups in the backcourt.
However, Karl thinks the biggest reason his team will be a power in the West is the window of improvement open to players like Nene, Chris "Birdman" Andersen, J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony

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