Are the Nuggets on a serious championship quest or a sentimental journey to nowhere?

They ran it back with a team that got run out of the NBA playoffs.

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And that might be the worst indictment of the overrated talent surrounding the best player in the world.

While the Celtics graciously bestowed Jaylen Brown to LeBron James as a farewell gift that will give the King a shot at his fifth championship ring, could it be Denver kept its core together because the rest of the league isn’t as hopelessly smitten with Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun as the Nuggets seem to be?

It’s optimism that makes the lights burn bright on opening night of each NBA team’s season. Or is that glass of Colorado Kool-Aid already half empty before the opening tip?

“If you don’t have (championship) expectations, this league is daunting,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said earlier this week. “But I would say our expectation is trying to get in the top six.…