In fact, if Denver intends

to win an NBA championship, count on some painful

breakups.

Here are three players who could help the Nuggets be serious title contenders:

Ron Artest: The 6-foot-7 shutdown defender and

combustible personality from Houston is a free agent who

figures to cost in excess of

$8 million per year. But he could give the Nuggets an unbeatable backcourt.

David Lee: This 26-year-old New York Knicks power forward could give Denver reliable scoring and allow Kenyon Martin to become the best sixth man in the game.

Raymond Felton: Don't know if Charlotte would let him get away, but Felton is precisely the type of young point guard who could add years to the career of Chauncey Billups.

Artest, Lee and Felton have been on Denver's wish list in the past. Any of them would look good in a Nuggets uniform.

But let's be honest: Getting even one big deal done for any of them could prove extremely difficult.

What's more, Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke would have to again agree to deficit spending, less than a year after his demands forced the team to take great pains to reduce its payroll.

If Denver wants to keep pace with up-and-coming Portland or avoid getting kicked by the ornery old San Antonio Spurs, much less seriously challenge the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Kobe Bryant scowls his way to success, the Nuggets will have to make another move as bold as the one that landed them Billups in trade.

"In all honesty, if we're not thinking a championship, then we shouldn't be here," Nuggets vice president of player personnel Rex Chapman said.

Improving the team won't be easy, unless Kroenke approves a payroll of at least

$75 million. Standing pat, however, would be a mistake for the Nuggets .

Chris "Birdman" Andersen, Dahntay Jones, Anthony Carter and Linas Kleiza gave the Nuggets cheap thrills that got the team rolling and the home crowd on its feet. Denver paid these four key role players a total of $5 million, a steal by NBA standards. All these men want, and probably deserve, a raise.

But as much as there is sentiment to keep the team together, all might have to go if the Nuggets want to get better.

While the Birdman rose from the ashes of a drug suspension, the shot-blocking prowess that made him a cult hero did not stop Lakers big men Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom from averaging a combined 36.8 points per game on 52 percent shooting during the Western Conference finals.

And now you know why Nuggets coach George Karl begged and pleaded his front-

office execs to get size at the trade deadline, only to see Sacramento veteran Brad Miller go in a deal to Chicago.

"I think I know what it takes to win," Billups said. If a championship is what the Nuggets want, he insists the No. 1 goal for the team should be to finish with the top regular-season record in the conference.

And it would be naive, if not downright foolish, to believe the Nuggets can do it without adding talent to a roster that won 54 games and two playoff series before having its playoff inexperience, inability to defend the post and lack of depth at point guard exposed against the Lakers.

Before declaring the Nuggets the next big thing in the NBA, please take into account the one statistic that really matters.

Although this season might have created more lasting memories than any time since Denver joined the league in 1976, please remember: The Nuggets were closer to missing the playoffs than winning the West.

Denver finished 11 games behind the top-seeded Lakers in the final standings and eight games ahead of Steve Nash, Shaquille O'Neal and the Phoenix Suns, whose noses were pressed against the cold side of the glass when postseason action heated up.

"We know the West is awfully brutal," Chapman said. "There's nothing guaranteed in this conference."

For the Nuggets to keep rising, the creative thinking of the front office cannot end here.

There's work to be done.

Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com