Renck: Next year’s Nuggets could look a lot like this year’s. And that’s wasting Nikola Jokic’s prime

Josh Kroenke explained all the right things And his message was entirely wrong He hears the clock ticking on Nikola Jokic s prime But his plan to maximize his brilliance came across as tone deaf Kroenke is prepared to run it back He did not say those words exactly But make no mistake next year s Nuggets could look a lot like last year s They will never win another championship doing this Keeping this current roster together is the equivalent of working out on a stationary bike It feels good But you go nowhere The Nuggets received one of the greatest seasons ever from their three-time MVP Jokic averaged a triple-double and became a -point ace and they failed to unseat the annoying Oklahoma City Thunder Jokic wasn t buying that his band was close dismissing hollow praise for reaching a Tournament while admitting the Nuggets need more depth to compete with OKC and the Timberwolves Kroenke understands this calling the finish unacceptable But his answers Thursday painted the picture of an organization willing to trust internal answers over trading Jamal Murray Aaron Gordon or Michael Porter Jr That is either delusional naive or both As it happened with former coach Michael Malone the hope of another title rests on a now aging starting five and the ability of new coach David Adelman the interim tag is officially gone to form a reliable bench with Peyton Watson Julian Strawther Jalen Pickett and DaRon Holmes II and a random veteran or two That s if fingers crossed Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric decline their sportsman options It s repetitive boring and the truth Or more specifically the Booth As in Calvin We heard this same nonsense from the former GM about winning multiple titles in five-year windows And how the kids were so major to roster construction and cementing the practices Related Articles Does Josh Kroenke want to run it back with current Nuggets roster A lot of our answers are internal Nuggets hire David Adelman as head coach after playoff run as interim coach Nuggets offseason preview Will Denver make contract First group necessities new GM Nuggets general manager search Candidates Denver could consider to run basketball operations Nuggets Podcast What s next after Denver is eliminated by Oklahoma City Thunder This logic no longer fits The Nuggets are getting older and more frequently injured Gordon missed half the season with a calf concern Murray treats his offseason conditioning as a hobby leading to several forgettable performances or nights off in the first two months Porter while durable has well-documented back and shoulder issues And are we sure the Nuggets young players are any good Because there does not seem to be a Naz Reid Alex Caruso or Aaron Wiggins in the bunch Anyone who watched the Nuggets this season knows Jokic has never been more frustrated yet Kroenke was talking about striking a balance between sacrificing games in October and November for the crew to reach its feasible in April May and June It makes perfect sense if the Nuggets are aiming for another second-round exit But isn t any season without a title with Jokic a waste Whether it is fair or not it doesn t matter to me because if that guy is on your roster you have a chance to win it and you should be going for it We have been saying it for a long time even before he won his first MVP Kroenke reported I think now it s unavoidable how good he is Do I feel the weight of that I feel more weight than anybody And wringing out the best from the young guys and challenging veterans to have great offseasons is the answer Malone failed to create clarity on the draft picks by barely playing them and never trusting them Adelman will be better in this regard But that s the secret sauce A coach in sync with Kroenke and the future GM That s not an offseason That s Ambien It would have been better had Kroenke admitted the Nuggets are handcuffed by the second apron and paying Malone million-plus not to work for them leaving them counting on kids and internal promotions to improve The next one will be the GM because any veteran front office executive is not taking the job without being able to pick the coach The Nuggets are only two years removed from a championship and should be proud of their resilient playoff run after a seismic shakeup Before last season it was fair to argue that the Nuggets could win a title even without Kentavious Caldwell-Pope That does not apply anymore The Nuggets don t have enough talent to beat the Thunder or the Timberwolves and will have their hands full with the Lakers if they acquire a big man They require a move Or two Inevitably my inbox will scream that they have no flexibility to make a legitimate roster upgrade and what is the big deal anyway The NBA will crown its seventh different champion in seven years next month No one repeats Yeah well none of those teams has Jokic He is on track to go down as one of the top players of all time How multiple greats of that ilk have only one ring Kroenke loves basketball His passion is obvious But he is too close to this group to these players to be objective If the Nuggets are going to get back to the mountaintop they will have to get there without Murray Gordon or Porter They face a number of questions and it starts with Jokic Do you really want to get him another title If the answer is yes then get him specific help Because if you don t the Nuggets won t finish any better next summer Want more Nuggets news Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis