They do not have the same chance this season because now there is parity in the league like never was, a lot of great teams, Houston with Westbrook and harden, Lakers with Lebron and AD, clippers with PG13 and Kawhi, Warriors with Curry and Klay, Spurs with Derozan and LMA. I mean there must be other teams I am forgetting and that is just west side, not even mentioning teams from east because they are not going to finals anyway. I think Denver should keep focusing on improving their guys and implementing their system further with players that will be better, doing some trades or signing FA during off-season.
The west is much improve now with the facts you've mentioned.
Reason why Denver had a good standing in the past season is due to Warriors and Rockets struggling from the start but Denver remain consistent.
However, when these struggling teams were able to get back in shape in the later part to the off season, that's the time the Denver Nuggets face a good team and they lost against the Blazers.
We although cannot underestimate Denver Nuggets, but they are still young with lack of star players, Jokic maybe extraordinary, but who would fill his shoes in the event he gets injured, or who will he rely in the event he struggles in scoring.