If you have 40 minutes to kill, listen to Part II of Bill Simmons latest podcast with ESPN NBA "experts" Ric Bucher and Marc Stein. At around the 29:30 mark, Simmons says that 2009-10 will be the Nuggets "bad season" and Bucher pines in by emphatically stating: "Denver is done." All this after they spend most of their time debating the Lakers, Spurs and Mavericks chances in the West as if the Nuggets no longer exist.

This is precisely the type of naysaying that the Nuggets need to put together two good seasons in a row for the first time in over 25 years.