Basketball’s northwest is scattered with promising teams, all in different stages of the rebuilding process that follows a star’s departure. Portland surprised everyone by making the playoffs after LaMarcus Aldridge left town, and went all-in this summer, investing heavily to build around the backcourt tandem of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Utah has finished reaping the rewards of the Deron Williams trade, and appear ready to make their leap this season. It took Minnesota nearly a decade to finally nail some draft picks, but their core’s collective potential has the entire league’s attention. As for OKC, they might have to start the cycle over once again if Russell Westbrook decides he wants to leave town.

That leaves Denver, a promising blend of youth, veteran assets, and cap space. They traded away Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups five seasons ago, and never went into a full-on rebuild. Instead, then-GM Masai Ujiri deftly acquired immediate contributors along with future picks from New York.

Ujiri leveraged the Nets’ interest in Anthony perfectly, and was able to recoup Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, Kosta Koufos, an unprotected first rounder and a pick swap as a return for his expiring superstar. Ujiri kept Denver a passable contender following the Anthony trade, and hedged even further towards winning now when he nabbed Andre Iguodala on the fringes of the Dwight Howard blockbuster.

Winning 57 games in 2013 was huge for the franchise, even considering their first-round exit in the playoffs. Denver cast aside aspersions that having a true ‘star’ was a prerequisite for contention, running teams ragged with their geographic home-court advantage en route to a top-five net rating in the league.

The Nuggets’ depth was slashed the following summer. Iguodala jumped to Golden State, and an ACL tear that Gallinari suffered in the regular season would keep him out all of 2013-2014. Masai went north of the border to rebuild Toronto, leaving the front office in a state of upheaval. A week after Ujiri’s departure, incumbent coach George Karl was fired.

Amidst roster overhaul and a coaching change, Denver suddenly found themselves in an unfamiliar state -- rebuild. They responded by making wry moves on the edges, and following the Spurs-ian mantra of “no bad contracts.” While it's easy to look at the Nuggets’ current roster and fawn over their asset collection, just getting here was an arduous process. There was no Nets’ trade to fill the coffers with unprotected firsts, and the Carmelo deal surrendered its last goodie this summer.

Denver dug themselves a hole to begin their rebuild. Finding value like Rudy Gobert at 27 can alter the trajectory of a franchise, but the Nuggets jettisoned the massive Frenchman to Utah for the no. 46 pick and cash. The next summer, they traded Evan Fournier for Arron Afflalo on draft night in a bizarre attempt to improve in the short-term.

Those missteps should not cloud the full picture, such as their ingenious swap of pick no. 11 for picks no. 16 & 19 on 2014 draft night (the same night as the Fournier trade). They nailed Gary Harris at 19, and got perhaps the best player in the draft with the 41st pick, Nikola Jokic. Every asset was swapped for something better. Koufos was traded for Darrell Arthur and Joffrey Lauvergne. Mozgov yielded two first-round picks. Afflalo was rerouted to Portland, who sent back Will Barton and their 2016 first-rounder. Ty Lawson, a poisonous locker-room presence that Denver would have paid to get rid of, netted an unprotected first from Houston.

Now their payroll is spotless, with every contract serving as a positive asset should a trade offer come by -- and they will. Denver can go any number of ways from here. If they want to win now, they have youth to spare, and have the assets go toe-to-toe with Boston and Philadelphia for any star that hits the trade block. Conversely, they could pivot toward the future and trade their established players for prospects and picks that fit a more distant timeline.