Nuggets won’t be nearly as good this season

There is an expression used for many good teams across sports, that they are greater than the sum of their parts. It applies to scrappy squads that achieve beyond what seems possible on paper before enshrinement in Disney films and talented groups that elevate to elite levels.

Then, there are the Denver Nuggets.

Yes, they won 50 games last season in a hyper-competitive Western Conference, but overall was a dysfunctional team worse than the sum of its parts.

And when the playoffs rolled around, they crumbled like perfectly cooked bacon. This year. . . . they’ll be dangerous in an “any given night” sort of way, but aren’t close to contenders.