The southwest division is by far the deepest division in the NBA. Four of the five teams will mostly likely make the playoffs. Starting with the aging Spurs, can they squeeze out one more championship? The Hornets are on the rise with Chris Paul leading the way. Houston traded for Ron Artest, can he behave and bring a third ring to H-town? Dallas is in limbo with a new system, but can't be taken lightly. Lastly, Memphis is in rebuilding mode and has some nice young pieces to build around.
San Antonio Spurs- One healthy Ginobili from going to the finals? That may be true, but no need to look in the past. The Spurs are no longer the cream of the crop in the west. Ginobili is out till mid-December, the Spurs are getting close to ancient. Tony Parker(26) will continue to develop into a superstar point guard. Tim Duncan will still be solid on a nightly basis. Outside of that it's up in the air. The Spurs have almost the same team coming back. The new addition happen to be relatively young. Starting with Roger Mason(28) he will be expected with Finley to pick up the slack till Ginobili comes back. Rookie George Hill( 22,IUPUI) can he be a sufficient backup for Parker? With all that said the Spurs are very capable of bring a ring back to the Alamo city. But this is the last chance with this group. Expect a huge youth movement next summer.
New Orleans Hornets- Chris Paul will be in the running for MVP. David West is a great sidekick to Paul. Tyson Chandler is a great defensive presence. The addition of James Posey will help more than we know. The bench is a little thin especially for the front line. Peja Stojavokic and Mo Peterson will have the green light to shoot. This team is ready for the next step. Except that next step isn't the NBA Finals. Hornets are one year away from being in a title. They need to tune up their bench for that to happen.
Houston Rockets- Ron Artest makes the Rockets contenders. He brings defense, depth and size. Pair him with Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming and you have very dangerous trio. Not to mention utility man Luis Scola and a maturing Rafer Alston. Also a solid bench that includes Shane Battier, Carl Landry, and Brent Barry. This is considering the fact that Yao and T-mac stay healthy and Ron doesn't go loony. If that happens it will be the biggest choke in clutch city.
Dallas Mavericks- How long can Jason Kidd be able to hold up? Will Josh Howard behave and not say stupid things he will regret? Will Dirk Nowitzki regain his MVP form? A lot of question to answer. With new coach Rick Carisle the Mavs will run more and abandon their defensive approach. Jason Terry should come off the bench for a little punch. Brandon Bass should get ample time to continue his development. Dallas has a nice center tag team in DeSagana Diop and Erick Dampier. Overall this team team is good enough to make the playoffs and that's about it. Expect Mark Cuban to move players if things go sour in Big D.
Memphis Grizzlies- Memphis has a promising group of youngsters. Starting with Rudy Gay a All- Star in the making. Rookie O.J. Mayo(USC) is a gunner and smart player. Mike Conley has a year under is belt and should improve. Rookie Marc Gasol(Spain) Pau Gasol's younger brother has a lot of promise at the 5. The bench is almost not worth mention. Harrick Warrick should get more playing time. Marc Iavaroni has his work cut out for him. This season should get ugly in the lost column. But it will be a year that this young team can grow together. With a couple of moves to fill some voids. This team could be on the rise before you know it.
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