On Tuesday, the Nuggets play the Philadelphia 76ers, who for a while there, looked like their team name would dubiously represent their loss total this season.

Shoot, No. 7 Villanova could maybe beat Philadelphia.

But you know what, unless things change here in Denver, I’d rather be a 76ers fan for the next five years than a Nuggets fan.

Philadelphia has a young nucleus of Michael Carter-Williams, Nerlens Noel, the injured Joel Embiid and, of course, a high pick in this summer’s NBA draft. Oh, and a Gregg Popovich disciple as coach.

RELATED: Brian Shaw suspects his players may be trying to lose

The Nuggets? They have a bunch of overpaid secondary players who have reached their ceilings, and while they have a Phil Jackson disciple as coach, second-year coach Brian Shaw can’t motivate the players consistently, or, really, connect to these guys. Jackson was the Zen Master; Shaw, for now anyway, is the Zilch Master.

The good news is, Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly said by phone Monday: “We’re very, very aggressive right now,” in regard to trying to alter the roster.

The Kroenke family has shown an ability to rebuild a basketball team, be it starting over with Carmelo Anthony in 2003 or adding Chauncey Billups in 2008 to go to the next level. They’re not naive to the current state of the team. Later on Monday night, team president Josh Kroenke said by phone, “while no one is happy with the status quo, we’re watching it like hawks and have a good idea of what we think the issues are with our team and how to address them. Tim and the rest of our staff are working their tails off. And I know exactly what they think and where everything stands with our coaches and players. From my chair, it’s just a matter of time when to make decisions (on possible moves). A good portion of deals is timing, and unfortunately our time frame has been drawn out due to different circumstances, mostly injuries. But I must say it again, our current state is not acceptable and our fans deserve better.”

Denver (19-29) has lost nine of its past 10 games. There’s no way this current nucleus can ever crack the top four in the Western Conference. It can’t win the close ones, losing games in that stretch by one, two and four points. And some of the games that aren’t as close? They’re mind-boggling blowouts, be it by 43 at Golden State, 30 at Memphis or the 18-point home loss to Charlotte, a game in which Denver scored 30 points in the first half. At home! Against Charlotte!

But should the Nuggets fire Shaw? If this passionless play keeps up this month, yeah, get rid of the guy. But if Denver’s front office feels confident it can give Shaw a fresh group of young players to mold, maybe it’s worth keeping him around. If the Nuggets continue to lose in the spectacular fashion they have been, then this coach is essentially saying — I can’t motivate guys to even compete, so how could I motivate a team next season that might need to learn through losing?

Right now, though, his front office has faith.

“Brian has been dealt a very difficult hand, but we’re an organization that’s process-oriented, we don’t make emotional decisions,” Connelly said. “Certainly none of us are happy with the lack of success we’ve had thus far. But we’re firmly behind Brian, and we are hopeful we can quickly get back on the right track.”

Really, my only hesitancy about Denver firing Shaw is this caveat. They say in sports, “You can’t fire the players,” meaning that if it comes down to it, a team should fire the coach — and hope the next guy can coach better. But, so to speak, Denver can fire the players. Management has shown some aggressiveness already, trading Timofey Mozgov for two first-round picks, while also trying to get Brooklyn to bite on JaVale McGee for the formidable but fragile Brook Lopez. The Nuggets will revamp this roster in the next eight months. They must. The only guy the Nuggets should keep is 20-year-old center Jusuf Nurkic. Trade ’em all. Get picks and prospects. Maybe consider keeping Ty Lawson — the 12th-best point guard in basketball, who some people still think is John Freaking Stockton — but you could probably get more out of him by trading him than keeping him.

Monday was Groundhog Day, but with the Nuggets, it seems like every day is. The team plays uninspired or inconsistent basketball, and then the old-school Shaw rips them to the media, trying to inspire them like it’s 1992, when players actually got fired up by a coach’s comment in the paper.

Shaw is a smart guy, yes, but even I know that having Kenneth Faried and J.J. Hickson play together down the stretch is a mistake — the eye test can tell you that, let alone the advanced stats. In this lost season, Denver might as well give Nurkic the most opportunity to learn on the job.

The quote that best captured the Nuggets was muttered by Lawson, following the home loss to Charlotte. Asked about his coach, Lawson said, “His spirit is getting lower and lower. Game in and game out, we’re just not executing the way that we want to and not executing the game plan. … I think he’s getting a little fed up.”

How did it get to this point? I say it’s on the players more than the coach. But Shaw clearly doesn’t get handed a free pass here, and if the Nuggets don’t start competing — ASAP — he should get handed a pink slip.

Benjamin Hochman: bhochman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/hochman