{"id":637234,"date":"2026-03-03T19:39:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T19:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/637234\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T19:39:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T19:39:23","slug":"spurs-never-won-back-to-back-calvin-booth-defends-nuggets-patient-path-to-dynasty-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/637234\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSpurs never won back-to-back\u201d \u2013 Calvin Booth defends Nuggets\u2019 patient path to dynasty talk"},"content":{"rendered":"

It will be almost three seasons since the Denver Nuggets<\/a> captured the first title in franchise history on the back of fantastic performances from Nikola Jokic<\/a> and Jamal Murray. Looking back, the Colorado-based team looked destined to become the next NBA dynasty.<\/p>\n

Jokic, Murray, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. were all in their 20s and it seemed like they were just scratching the surface of the potential that was expected to explode in the years to come. Fast forward to today \u2013 Porter Jr. is gone, and both Michael Malone<\/a> and Calvin Booth<\/a> have been let go.<\/p>\n

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With several other departures from that championship squad, the team is now looking different. After two losses in the second round of the West in Game 7, talk of the Nuggets as a high-flying, dynasty-caliber team has quieted, but their former general manager still sees hope while comparing them to the San Antonio Spurs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“You talk about my studying the history \u2014 the San Antonio Spurs never won back-to-back championships. So in an idealistic way, when we’re talking and having conversations, I think it was an alignment in these conversations. I think Coach Malone was on board with it. But when you start to get realistic, you’re feeling like your life or job’s on the line,” Booth said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Will Booth’s vision eventually pay off for the Nuggets?<\/p>\n

Booth left Denver in an unusual move when he and Malone were both dismissed just days before the end of last season, despite the team still actively competing for second place in the West.<\/p>\n

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The Kroenke family, owners of the Nuggets, decided to end long-standing tensions between the duo who built the Nuggets’ first championship. Many Nuggets fans felt Booth was unfairly given credit for the title, since he had practically gotten a finished roster in his hands.<\/p>\n

You could say there’s some truth to that, even though from today’s perspective, Booth made some logical suggestions. Jeff Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are far from their 2023 Nuggets form, while Christian Braun and Peyton Watson have emerged as key players for the team. Julian Strawther has shown potential as a solid role player off the bench.<\/p>\n

Booth’s vision of developing young talent conflicted with Malone’s plan to immediately chase a second title with the veterans who helped win the first. Also, the former Nuggets GM believes many in Denver underestimate how difficult it is to win a championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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“It’s almost like the championship isn’t real in Denver. They never talk about it. All they do is talk about the next one,” he said on the “The Kevin O’Connor Show”. “I don’t think some people outside of the organization really realize how hard it is to win. I think it just happened too easily, and a lot of people in that community take it for granted.”<\/p>\n

“I felt like the best way to go about it would have probably been like, ‘Oh man, we’re in the Finals. Let’s win it.’ Not going into the season like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to make the Finals. We’re going to repeat.’ I feel like we never win the championship in that scenario if we approach it that way,” Booth added.<\/p>\n

Related: Statistical inflation is quietly devaluing greatness in today\u2019s NBA<\/a><\/p>\n

Denver is still in the mix for the Larry O’Brien trophy<\/p>\n

Considering that Jokic recently turned 31 and that during his unprecedented dominance, Denver hasn’t advanced past the second round since winning the title, it’s logical to conclude that Booth’s vision hasn’t fully materialized yet. However, in the coming seasons, if Denver wins another title, it could very well come to fruition.<\/p>\n

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Fifteen years. That’s exactly how long it took from the Spurs’ first to their fifth title under Gregg Popovich. From David Robinson to Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan, with whom many compare Jokic, won multiple titles but never became back-to-back champions.<\/p>\n

In an era of unprecedented parity in the league, where we’ve had seven different champions in seven consecutive seasons, Denver is still very much in the mix for one, if not two, titles. Then, and only then, can we start talking about them as a dynasty.<\/p>\n

Related: Nikola Jokic expects his coach to be brutally honest with the Denver Nuggets: “That’s how it’s supposed to be”<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on Mar 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It will be almost three seasons since the Denver Nuggets captured the first title in franchise history on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[877,7,4187,561,301,187,3943,762,10569,763,529,865,4231,562,6,253,302,1146,474,1674],"class_list":["post-637234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-nuggets","tag-aaron-gordon","tag-basketball","tag-calvin-booth","tag-christian-braun","tag-denver","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-denvernuggets","tag-jamal-murray","tag-jeff-green","tag-julian-strawther","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-kentavious-caldwell-pope","tag-michael-malone","tag-michael-porter-jr","tag-nba","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-nuggets","tag-peyton-watson","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-tim-duncan"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116166941990602760","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}