Editor's note: ESPN Insider's Chad Ford breaks down what last season's NBA lottery teams need to do to get to the playoffs. ESPN.com's "Fixer-Upper" series continues with the Denver Nuggets.

Depending on who you listen to around the league, Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe is either a visionary or a mad man. In the space of one year, he has rid the Nuggets of all the sins and triumphs of the dark Dan Issel era. Vandeweghe didn't just clean house. He nuked the Pepsi Center and the guilty and the innocent -- Vandeweghe spared no one.

Vandeweghe found ways to trade untradeable players like Nick Van Exel and Tariq Abdul-Wahad. He also found teams who were willing to take stars like Antonio McDyess and Raef LaFrentz off his hands for little more than prospects and cap room.

	Rookie forward Nikoloz Tskitishvili will get plenty of playing time with the Nuggets this season.

Can you even name three players on the Nuggets team this year? When this season tips off in October, the Nuggets will have exactly three players left from their 2000-01 roster -- George McCloud, James Posey and Ryan Bowen. By the time Vandeweghe is done this summer, Posey and McCloud could be gone as well. When the dust settles on this season (and Juwan Howard comes off the books), the Nuggets are looking at over $20 million in cap room next summer. . . and about 70 losses.

With the Clippers suddenly in a period of unheralded prosperity, it looks like the Nuggets will take their place as the floor mat of the NBA. How bad have things gotten in Denver? Three NBA assistant coaches have withdrawn their name from consideration for the Nuggets' open head coaching position. When was the last time any NBA assistant coach passed up a chance to run his own show?

Not that everything is bad in Denver. Vandeweghe has a plan. Like Clippers GM Elgin Baylor, he believes the best way to build his team is through the draft. You stockpile as much young talent as you can grab, and then start doling it out in return for proven stars. Vandeweghe got the ball rolling in June when he drafted two young international players that have the potential to be superstars in the league. Nikoloz Tskitishvili, a 7-foot forward from the republic of Georgia, normally gets compared to Dirk Nowitzki or Pau Gasol, but he has a different game. He's a better shooter and more athletic than either player. Once he bulks up and learns how to play NBA defense, he should be awesome. Nene Hilario is a 6-foot-10 Ben Wallace clone. He's raw offensively but has the strength and court demeanor to make an immediate impact on the defensive end. Put them together with Marcus Camby and you have the makings of a huge, athletic frontcourt. Ultimately, the Nuggets will be better. It will just take more time and patience.

The problem, of course, is that Denver fans are out of patience. On a popularity scale, the Nuggets rank somewhere below curling in Denver. A survey of ESPN.com users in Denver found that only 4 percent of sports fans in that city rank the Nuggets as their favorite local team. Vandeweghe hopes to make a big splash next summer, but cap room doesn't buy what it used to. Free agents don't like to sign with teams that have little hope of competition in the future. The new economic realities in the NBA may change things a bit, but can you really see top-flight players like Jason Kidd or Tim Duncan flocking to Denver?

Exactly how long will it take the Nuggets to get back to playoff form? ESPN.com poured over depth charts, trade rumors, salary-cap information and even sought the advice of a few NBA GMs to give you the five things the Nuggets must do to get into the playoffs in two years.

	Wells

Step 1: Bite the bullet and sign one major free agent on the cheap.
The Nuggets need backcourt help in the worst way and there are several intriguing two-guards who would be nice fits. At the top of the list is the Blazers' Bonzi Wells. The Blazers are low-balling Wells and some in the front office don't really want him back. If the Nuggets can't land him with the mid-level exception, a sign-and-trade is never out of the question when you're dealing with a GM named Trader Bob. Even if the Nuggets were to give Wells a deal starting at $6 million per, they would still have plenty of room under the cap to throw the max in someone's direction. The team is also looking at Ricky Davis and Michael Redd, but Wells is the only player that has superstar potential.

	Posey

Step 2: Trade James Posey for more young talent.
The Wizards have been trying to pry away Posey for the last two months, but their offer of Tyronn Lue and a future first-round pick isn't blowing Denver away. There may be a better option for the Nuggets. The Pistons have been quietly looking around for a young, athletic defensive stopper to play the three. They weren't impressed with Rodney White in the Orlando Summer League, and he has very little chance of actually seeing any playing time again this season. His defensive effort is poor and he is just too inexperienced to play on a team that sees itself as a contender for the Eastern Conference championship. Drafting Tayshaun Prince and signing Chauncey Billups takes away some of the sting in losing White. Posey is the type of tough-nosed defender that coach Rick Carlisle loves. That effort, however, will be lost on the Nuggets this year. White would give the Nuggets another raw but ultra-talented player who can play as many as three positions on the floor. Again, the idea is to stockpile as much young talent as you can get your hands on. The Nuggets have the time to let him make mistakes on the court and hope things work out.

	Alston

Step 3: Take a chance on a young, talented point guard.
Kenny Satterfield isn't going to get it done. Mark Jackson would be a better fit as coach of the Nuggets than their point guard which is why the Nuggets will likely buy out the last year of his contract and let him play somewhere else for a contender. Like the Heat, the Nuggets are reluctant to offer anyone anything more than a one-year deal. They want to keep their options open for next season. What they need is a young point guard with some upside who's willing to sign a one-year deal, like Jacque Vaughn did in Orlando. There aren't a lot of those type of players out there. I think the best possible fit would be Bucks free agent Rafer Alston. While Alston isn't a big name to casual NBA fans, he's practically a cult figure among those in the know. He's comes from a long line of New York playground legends. The kid's game has sizzle. Coach George Karl couldn't stand him because he couldn't completely sap the showtime out of his game. The Nuggets are young, brash, athletic and should just turn him loose for a year and see what happens. If he bombs, nothing is lost. If he lives up to his potential, they'll have another steal on their hands.

	Harris

Step 4: Hire a coach already.
Another day, another coach drops out of the Nuggets' marathon of a coaching search. Has Vandeweghe been watching too much "Survivor"? Perhaps he's looking for the last coach standing? Jazz assistant Phil Johnson was the third and most recent candidate to withdraw his name from consideration. He follows the Nets' Eddie Jordan and the Mavs' Donnie Nelson Jr. It looks like Mavs assistant and former Lakers headman Del Harris is the frontrunner, but a few other coaches, like Kentucky's Tubby Smith and former Suns head man John Macleod, are in the mix. What the Nuggets need is someone who is less concerned about winning and more concerned about developing the team's young talent. College coaches won't work (see Tim Floyd). They're too sensitive about their record to endure the next two seasons of miserable learning. The team should stick with its instincts and hire Harris. He's a good teacher and is laid back enough that he won't take every loss personally.

Those moves would give the Nuggets this opening-day roster: