08/09 NBA Preview: Southwest Division

Check out the Northwest and the East, as well.

Southwest Division

Memphis Grizzlies, 5th



God damn, it's hard to find a decent picture of this team. When it's all said and done, these guys could end up winning the Rickey Rubio Sweepstakes. Just about every player on the roster is unproven, with the excpetions of Marko Jaric, Darko Milicic and Antoine Walker, and we know what to expect out of that trio by now. Seriously, trading Antoine Walker has to be a joke among the GMs of horrible teams at this point. Even McHale is getting in on the action. "Sure we'll trade you O.J. Mayo for that white boy from UCLA, but you gotta take . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . Antoine Walker! Zing!"



The only hope for the Grizzlies (and by hope I mean not being the worst team in the league) is that either Hakim Warrick or Rudy Gay starts taking steroids because you can't play big guys that skinny right next to each other in this insane division. Mike Conley, Mayo and Kyle Lowry are all reasons to be optimistic about the Grizz's backcourt of the future, but as the worst team, by far, in the toughest division in the league, this is gonna be a long year in Memphis.

Dallas Mavericks, 4th



This squad will still qualify for playoffs, most likely, but someone's gotta be fourth in the Southwest. Sure, the team is still loaded with Dirk, Bowlpack Howard and Jason Terry, but Jason Kidd will be a liability for this team and he almost ensures that they won't get out of the first round of the playoffs. Probably more than half the point guards in the league can blow past him by this point. This is really the last season for the squad before they head to the lottery and blow up the team and build around Dirk or trade Dirk for some young dudes, cash and draft picks and just start from scratch. Their window has been closing ever since the second half of Game 3 of the 2006 NBA Finals and it slammed shut last spring. They could still win 50 games with all the ballers that they got, but the party's over in Dallas. You also have to question a franchise that spends over $25 million on DaSagana Diop.

San Antonio Spurs, 3rd



Their big three, Duncan, Parker and Ginobili, are still in their respective primes, but the rest of this squad is damn old. Like John McCain-old. Their front office has been on point for pretty much its entire existence, so one would think that would've addressed this glaring weakness in the offseason. Not so. Kurt Thomas and Michael Finley re-signed, Big Shot Rob is back, and beyond that, they just acquired a couple of role players in Salim Stoudamire and Roger Mason. Of course any team with Tim Duncan will compete for the title, but the Spurs aren't quite as frightening as they've been in year's past. Of course, that could all work to the advantage of these cagey veterans and if the squad's clicking come late April, they could make a nice run in the postseason.

Houston Rockets, 2nd



If these predictions had any kind of monetary equivalency, the Rockets would not be 2nd in the Southwest. How could they be with the injury histories of Yao and T-Mac and the crazy history of Ron Artest? Still, I'm gonna assume that all three will be healthy/sane for the year because it's more fun that way. Really, this trio is NBA Championship material; the unstoppable big man, the supernatural 2-guard, the defensive warrior. With Shane Battier, Luis Scola and Rafer, they got a tough defensive-minded rotation behind them and there's also Stevey Franchise and Dikembe Mutumbo hanging out in the wings. Chuck Hayes and Luther Head are also underrated and fearless, so this squad will never be short on ballers. Really, though, T-Mac and Yao are such freaks of nature, that as long they're hooping it up together in their primes, no matter how injury-prone they are and how many playoff series they lose, I'll still believe that the Rockets could go all the way. And with Ron-Ron on board, this year might be their best iteration.

New Orleans Hornets, 1st



If I were given the entire league to pick from and asked to choose the perfectly balanced starting 5 (without stacking it with Kobe, LeBron, etc., of course) I don't think I'd do much better than this squad. Chris Paul, Teaneck's finest David West, Peja, Tyson Chandler and now, most likely, James Posey; that will give you everything you need. With Bonzi, Mike James and Mo Pete bringing the pain from down the bench, not even Byron Scott could mess this team up. They do have a bit of a lack of depth up front, but Tyson's such a beast, that he can easily make up for this deficiency. Really, though, the key to this squad is Chris Paul.



He's on his way to being, quite possibly, the G.O.A.T. of little dudes running the point.



He won't be slowing down for the next decade or so, so he'll reach some pretty ridiculous heights this year and in many to come.