Avs more likely than Nuggets to win title

It was louder than thunder, it sounded like hope and it shook the Pepsi Center all spring long, as the Avs and Nuggets made happy noise in the playoffs. But which one of these two Denver teams is closer to winning a championship?

It is the Avalanche. No doubt.

The reason? Well, it gives Avs front-office honcho Joe Sakic a huge advantage over Tim Connelly, his Nuggets counterpart, in constructing a championship roster.

Denver is a preferred hockey destination on the NHL map. No matter how much the Nuggets insist any NBA free agent who values winning should give Colorado a hard look, that sim

ply is not the reality (at least not yet … and maybe never).

With just shy of $40 million in salary cap space available, Sakic not only has flexibility but a sales pitch that can cause free agents throughout the league to lend an ear. While I’m not suggesting Artemi Panarin, the prize of this year’s market, will be wearing burgundy and blue anytime soon, Sakic can negotiate with morethan-credible scorers the ilk of Mats Zuccarello or Gustav

Nyquist, if he so chooses, without trying to bribe them to endure Colorado winters by paying significantly over market value.

If Sakic chooses to stand pat and basically run it back, it will be his decision. And that’s definitely not the freedom enjoyed by Connelly, who didn’t even have enough leverage to persuade forward Paul Millsap to give Denver a financial break.

Despite overpaying Millsap for two years, when push came to shove in a game of liar’s poker, Connelly blinked. Although the Nuggets had the power of a team option on the third year of Millsap’s deal, they capitulated in negotiations and handed $30 million to a veteran in decline for one more run in Denver.

There’s no arguing against Millsap as a consummate pro and a steady locker-room presence. And maybe he does ache to win a championship with the Nuggets. But Millsap obviously loves his money more. If not, wouldn’t have a 34year-old forward reworked his deal to give the team more opportunity to add talent?

I was lucky enough to be there, night after night, from Denver to San Jose to Portland, as the Nuggets and Avalanche advanced together to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in combined NBA/ NHL history of this dusty old cowtown.

If the eye test means anything, the Avalanche had a team with the look of a legit contender, while the Nuggets often seemed more than a bit overwhelmed by all the intensity and hoo-ha of postseason competition.

When the Avs were eliminated by San Jose, I recall captain Gabe Landeskog sitting at his locker, genuinely ticked Colorado didn’t advance to the Western Conference finals, because his teammates were hungry and ready for more. And by comparison? After the Nuggets got bounced by Portland, as I watched Nikola Jokic shuffle down a back hallway in the Pepsi Center, the big center who was required to carry far too much of the burden appeared as if he wanted to go home for a long nap.

Consider this: For the third act of his brilliant NBA career, Kevin Durant would much rather repair his torn Achilles and start draining jumpers again in Brooklyn rather than in Denver.

In recent years, the best the Nuggets have been able to do in free agency is overpay Millsap. He’s a Tier 3 NBA star, by any reasonable evaluation. That’s why Connelly explored a trade for Anthony Davis before the Lakers paid a ransom for him, because trade is probably the lone way Denver will obtain a true veteran superstar anytime in the near future.

We are lucky to have Nathan Mackinnon, who is simply the best hockey player on earth on more than a few nights when he laces up the skates, as well as Jokic — two legit superstars taking turns all winter long in the spotlight at the Pepsi Center.

But the man more likely to lead a victory parade through Denver?

That’s easy. It’s Mackinnon.