The good news? The Denver Nuggets, for the first time since I can remember, got exactly what they paid for.

Actually, that's not entirely true. The team's woeful rebuilding year of 2002-03 -- a season that featured exactly two players making over $2.5 million a year and ending in only 17 wins -- was a pretty good reflection of the team's salary structure. But beyond that? Nothing.

Not when Bernie Bickerstaff was trying to cover a massive head wound with straw and cut grass and the signing of Sarunas Maciulionis before 1996-97. Not when Dan Issel ambled off of his radio station stool to take over as GM, decrying Tony Battie(notes) as "El Busto" while thinking, "you know who would be the best player, in his prime, to help lead these kids to the promised land? Nick Van Exel." That team won 14 games in 50 tries.

Not when Kiki Vandeweghe, after smartly deciding to rebuild after Issel's embarrassing turn, not entirely acutely bid against himself to sign and trade for Kenyon Martin(notes), tossing draft picks to the Nets and extra salary to Martin that no other team was going to come close to offering him. Unsurprisingly, Kiki works for the Nets, now.

And certainly not with Allen Iverson(notes) on board, and with three other Nuggets making eight figures a year.

Last summer, the Nugs got it. They knew that, as with most observations made by the national media, one thing wasn't as bad as people thought, and another wasn't as good as people assumed.

The Nuggets knew that the team's defense wasn't as porous as everyone made it out to be (at least, overall in 2007-08), and that Marcus Camby's(notes) defense wasn't as stellar as most made it out to be.

Yes, he blocked a bunch (well, three a game or something) of shots and produced gaudy rebounding totals, but he was an absolute sieve in the screen and roll game (a "game" that 98.9 of all NBA offenses more or less run all the time), and could be beaten in the post.

So, while they were stuck not getting what they paid for, they decided to pay a little less, and traded Camby for pure salary relief. Not salary cap relief, mind you, but some draft picks they'll never see and a trade exception they might get to use this summer.

Then the team took advantage of Detroit's new insistence on rebuilding, and upgraded Allen Iverson's expiring deal for Chauncey Billups(notes). Then Nene stayed healthy, the defense improved somewhat with Nene and Martin playing together, and the offense shot even farther up (something nobody talks about) with Billups and J.R. Smith(notes) taking Iverson's old shots.

They then won the hearts and minds of America, grew to become a viable championship threat before losing in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers, and ... that's about it.

When you trade for Billups like that, you're aware of his contract, and aware that he's on the other side of the hill. Still All-Star caliber, no doubt, but for how long?

And you know that you're going to be paying him, while he declines. About 25 million over the next two years for a player that, let's be honest, will gracefully ease closer and closer to the point that the Nuggets will either trade him in 2011 (because of Billups' unguaranteed contract in 2011-12), or decline to pick up the last year of his deal outright.

Martin, who makes even more, is untradeable. You wouldn't trade Carmelo Anthony(notes). You could trade Nene, perhaps (even that, with his eight-figure yearly salary, is dicey), but you'd have then traded your starting center. And this time, he's the underrated one.

The Nuggets are well over the cap. They're also about at the luxury tax threshold even with several rotation players to retain. They need Anthony Carter(notes), or a reasonable facsimile of Anthony Carter, to return at backup point guard. Perhaps a younger, better version. They can dream.

They want Chris Andersen(notes) back. They're still paying Antonio McDyess's(notes) buyout next year. Linas Kleiza(notes) is up for a contract extension, or he could play out the string for the qualifying offer. Dahntay Jones(notes) is a free agent.

Even declining to bring any of those guys back leaves the Nuggets with precious little room to work under the luxury tax. They're going to pay it. And for those who think owner Stan Kroenke owes the team to pay the tax because of all the revenue glommed from a three-series run in 2009, understand that this little burst of windom will only partially help cover the costs of all those first round losses from 2004 to 2008.

They're paying the tax, though. Even if the team decided that this was it, and completely tried to rebuild around Anthony (dealing everyone else away), the sheer fear of taking on new salary (or, in Dallas' case, bad salary) from 29 other teams will likely leave the Nuggies with no trading partners. This is their team, and they're paying the tax.

From there, what? Kleiza is chummy with the owner's son, so he'll find a way back with a new deal. Jones will probably be retained, I don't think any coach is keen to take him on after the way he nastied through the 2009 Playoffs. Andersen will be retained, and likely overpaid, just to avoid some nonsense on PTI from mid-January about how "we knew when the Nuggets let the Birdman go to the Mavericks that they lost their heart and soul," never knowing that the guy is 31 in July and relies solely on his legs.

Then there's that trade exception, it's for $10 million, and it can be broken up to use in a series of minor'ish deals meant to accrue depth. My issue is, what do the Nuggets need?

No, they didn't win the ring. They went out in the Conference finals, and they didn't even take it to seven games. But this team is pretty stacked, as is. And do you know what they're after? Parts that every other team is after.

They need a backup point guard who can compete with starting-quality talent. Who doesn't?

They need a big man who can score in the post, by himself. Join the club. Up until a week and a half ago, Orlando thought it still needed someone like that.

So maybe they can go all out. Dump it on Chicago for Kirk Hinrich(notes). Go after Mike Miller(notes). Split it up for Beno Udrih(notes). Go sign Marquis Daniels(notes). Go sign Rasho Nesterovic(notes). Minimum deals, while retaining the core.

Or, we can understand that sometimes you just have to take a team as is. Nugget fans? You wanted Kenyon Martin. You wanted Nene to stick around. You want the Birdman back. You want your franchise guy to be on a max deal. You loved the idea of trading for Chauncey Billups. You love this team.

And that's, sometimes, the price you pay. And if the Nuggets get a string of teams they match up well with this time next year, or someone gets hurt, or a stud becomes available for that trade exception (that I don't think they'll use and wouldn't blame them for not using), then we could see the team's first NBA championship.

Sometimes being "right there" is just right. Especially when it's not your money to spend.