2.) Denver Nuggets While a lot of the teams in the West re-tooled, the Nuggets had their "next level" moment last season, when they acquired Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson. Billups brought a veteran presence and led Denver, always a talented but rudderless team, to its best record in franchise history (54-28). This offseason, their two main acquisitions were shooting guard Aaron Afflalo and rookie point guard Ty Lawson, from North Carolina. Coach George Karl told me before the Nuggets took on the Lakers at the San Diego Sports Arena that "not all change is good change." He’s hoping that his team can build on the chemistry it had last year in coming within two games of the NBA Finals. And with superstar Carmelo Anthony (25 years old), JR Smith (24) and Nene (27) ever-improving, Denver has the youngest core group of any competitive team, with the exception of… Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-10-27/sports/basketball/nba-season-preview-western-conference/comment-page-1#comment-17096#ixzz0VAa3qIfL