Denver Nuggets can strike gold outside draft's top 10

Been awhile -- you know: road trips, family reunions and all that lazy, crazy summer stuff -- but I thought I'd check in and offer some hope for the Denver Nuggets' fans out there who feel the upcoming NBA Draft will be an exercise in futility with their squad without a top-10 pick.
Yeah, sure, having a little lottery luck and a top-three pick never hurts, but there are gems to mined later in the draft. In fact, there are likely more than you think.
I examined the 20 NBA drafts from 1992 to 2011, and some quick and dirty research reveals that 37 players selected outside of the top 10 -- or not even drafted at all -- have either gone on to play in an All-Star Game or have been named to an All-NBA team. The list ranges from Marc Gasol (48th in  2007) to Ron Artest (16th in 1999) to Manu Ginobili (57th in '99) to Kobe Bryant (13th in 1996) to Steve Nash (15th in '96).
Six of those 37 --  including the likes of Ginobili, Rajon Rondo (21st overall in 2006), Tony Parker (28th in 2001) and Sam Cassell (24th in 1993) -- have even gone on to play significant roles in NBA title-winning seasons with the team which selected them or traded for their selection rights on draft day.
A future All-Star or All-NBA selection has been selected outside of the top 10 in 16 of those 20 drafts from '92 to '11, with '94, '97, '10 and '11 currently being the exceptions. You didn't need to have passed trigonometry to figure out that's nearly an average of two mid-to-late round finds per draft.
Even in the second round -- where the Nuggets slated to pick 41st and 56th this year -- there are future finds to be had with seven of the aforementioned 37 having been selected 41st or later.
So even if the Nuggets don't trade up or somehow swing a monster deal for Kevin Love, there are draft nuggets to be uncovered outside of the top 10.
Now it's up to GM Tim Connelly and Co. to find them.

Another NBA Finals & no Nuggets . . . so what's new?

So it's the Spurs and Heat in the NBA Finals.
No surprise. We've been there, seen that matchup before.
It is the NBA after all where the chalk and the same teams dominate the action seemingly season after season.
To wit: Over the last 30 seasons, including the current one, only eight franchises have hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy with five teams (the Spurs, Heat, Lakers, Pistons and Bulls) winning a whopping 24 of the 30 (80 percent) championships.
Only 18 franchises have made NBA Finals appearances during those three decades, and as you well know your Denver Nuggets -- who joined the NBA in 1976 -- ain't one of them.
The Nuggets, in fact, are missing the party for the 38th consecutive season as one of the the seven current NBA franchises who have never made it to the Finals. The others are the Los Angeles Clippers (who joined the NBA as the Buffalo Braves in 1970), New Orleans Pelicans/Hornets/Charlotte Hornets ('88), Minnesota Timberwolves ('89), Memphis/Vancouver Grizzlies ('95), Toronto Raptors ('95) and Charlotte Hornets/Bobcats ('04).
Expanding the view to include all four major U.S. pro sports leagues, the Nuggets are one of 17 current franchises (out of 122 total or 13.9 percent) never to have made it to their current league's championship series or game.
The others, outside of the aforementioned NBA seven, are as follows:

• NFL: Jacksonville Jaguars (joined in 1995), Houston Texans ('02).
• MLB: Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos ('69), Seattle Mariners ('77)
• NHL: Phoenix Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets ('79), San Jose Sharks ('91), Nashville Predators ('98), Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers ('99), Columbus Blue Jackets ('00), Minnesota Wild ('00)

A quick survey of those left-out 17 reveals that only the Nationals/Expos (45 years) and Clippers/Braves (44 years) have endured longer droughts than the Nuggets.

Sigh.