The NBA is as depressing as a flight home from Vegas. Stink and get a marquee player in the draft — what do you get? Seven full seasons of Carmelo Anthony, one first-round playoff series win. Build through young, eager, versatile players — what do you get? Wishing you could at least get to the playoffs and lose, like Carmelo so often did.

The Nuggets are run by smart men — also young, eager and versatile — and they’ve made some savvy moves and came close on other attempts. One draft ago, Denver nearly nabbed a top-five pick. And last week the Nuggets dealt an unproven kid, Evan Fournier, for a dude who averaged 18.2 points per game last season. You can’t knock the math of the move — Arron Afflalo will be an upgrade.

But there we were Monday at the Pepsi Center, the pomp-and-circumstance of a news conference, with the jersey-holding and clicking cameras and smiles as forced as similes in a sports column. Every team ever, if gauged by news conference quotes, has the chance to be the best team ever. But as you sit back and listen to everyone say the right thing, you think — what’s the point?

Denver is playing blackjack by the book, but the dealer is in charge. The house generally wins.

The NBA is depressing. The Nuggets should be healthy and bouncy and fun, but unless they can pull off some big move, nabbing a superstar who doesn’t want to be here, the organization’s plan is to see through this nucleus under contract for the next two seasons. You can understand where the Nuggets are coming from. They’ve invested so much money and time in Ty Lawson, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, JaVale McGee and coach Brian Shaw, the Nuggets need to see it all through.

So, yeah. A healthy Denver team nabs the fourth or fifth playoff seed in the Western Conference next spring and maybe gets bounced in the second round. A year from today, NBA people are saying the Nuggets are the next team to make the next step. Are you cool with that? If so, you might as well look at the past season as the start of the mosaic, declare that you’re on board and actually show up to the Pepsi Center to be a part of this.

But I suspect many Nuggets fans are depressed. You know “NBA Cares,” the league’s big promotion? Mine is “NBA Wears.” It wears on you.

The house always wins, and if your house isn’t in a major market, your team will probably bust. Yes, you’re screaming: “San Antonio! Oklahoma City!” I get it. They’re not major markets. And there’s no question — the Spurs’ R.C. Buford and his protégé Sam Presti, now running the Thunder, have done wonderful work. But each franchise drafted a Hall of Famer high, be it Tim Duncan No. 1 or Kevin Durant No. 2. You can’t conveniently overlook this fact.

In the past four seasons, there have been 16 slots in the NBA’s final four. The Heat made four trips to the final four, the Thunder and Spurs made three trips apiece and the Pacers made two. Four other teams made one appearance, with only the Mavericks among them advancing to the NBA Finals.

Pretty encouraging, huh?

And no league’s success hinges more on a star-studded nucleus than our beloved NBA. Since 1980, only nine franchises have won an NBA title. Nine. That’s it. And two of them, Dallas and Philadelphia, only won one.

Afflalo says the Nuggets are playing for a championship. You have to love this guy’s makeup — unwaveringly devoted and determined. But the Nuggets are not playing for an NBA championship. With Oklahoma City and possibly Portland, they’re not even playing for a Northwest Division championship. They’re playing out the contracts, playing with what they have. They’re playing for fourth place in the Western Conference next season.

In a depressing NBA, with a code so hard to crack, maybe fourth place can feel like an accomplishment.

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

Denver’s roster appears to be set

The Nuggets already have 13 players signed to guaranteed contracts and don’t have the salary cap space, or playing time, to add more players. The Nuggets entered the offseason with one clear desire — improving their perimeter defense. They believe they took care of that on draft day when they traded for Orlando Magic guard Arron Afflalo. During the draft, they acquired Bosnian center Jusuf Nurkic and Michigan State guard Gary Harris in the first round.