NBA team previews Southwest Division

Wow the southwest. I think this is the deepest and by far the fiercest battle ground in the NBA. You look at the five teams and these are tough, tough teams. Now I'll try again to impart what positives and negatives I see in these teams. Shall we?

The Houston Rockets

2012-13 Record: 45-37
Key Additions: Marcus Camby and Dwight Howard
Key Losses: Carlos Delfino

Houston's wheeling and dealing that started 2 years ago finally paid off. The haggling for Harden? That hit the jackpot. It's the one that actually enticed Dwight to come (of course some of Chandler Parsons "friendly prodding" did help).

Houston created the almost perfect atmosphere to land Dwight Howard. in one hand an "In-his-prime" All-Star caliber player in James Harden, 2nd the familial atmosphere that the jovial giant missed (Kobe and the Lakers gave him the hard line do your job thing in LA and the fans just didn't gave the guy a chance), 3rd a solid cast around him to actually be able to contend and lastly coaches that can literally look Dwight and the eye and say we know your position very well.

Houston grabbed the biggest free agent this summer and thus allowing themselves a window of four years to do something about it. I don't think the Rockets are a finished product but they have heavily upgraded just by adding Howard up front.

The Dallas Mavericks

2012-13 Record: 41-41
Key Additions: DeJuan Blair, Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, Wayne Ellington, Monta Ellis and Devin Harris
Key Losses: Elton Brand, Chris Kaman, Darren Collison and O.J. Mayo

Losers for the second big free agency since breaking up their championship team, the Mavericks actually got intriguing pieces this summer.

The big target was Dwight Howard, they bombed. Dwight didn't even blink at them, Houston was the only Dwight ever looked, the only Texan team he ever looked. Chris Paul said no team need to bother him anymore.

Gone is prolific center Kaman and Dallas get offensively deficient, Samuel Dalembert. They also got undersized Dajuan Blair. Blair is actually the better of the 2 but at 6-8, 6-9 he's just too puny for the center position. Maybe a replacement for Elton Brand? That's just doing a downgrade. I mean Blair is young but can he get better with Rick Carlisle on the sidelines?

They also got Monta Ellis, a more high profile player who is actually is almost an OJ Mayo prototype so you're actually ridding yourself this lower paid player and getting a more luxurious one for the same type of game. Doesn't make sense.

The only real steal Dallas got is Jose Calderon, since losing Jason Kidd to New York Dallas sort of lost a quality point guard who could run an offense properly. For all the talk of him when he was a Hornet (now the Pelicans) seem to have left him as soon as he was shipped to Indiana. With Calderon they got a very good point guard almost in the same caliber of Jason Kidd (in his dog years) at least they got someone to help.

I am thinking for these Mavs to fly, they need more Dirk Nowitzki doing his thing and keeping him healthy all season is a must.

The Memphis Grizzlies

2012-13 Record: 56-26
Key Additions: Kosta Koufos and Mike Miller
Key Losses: Darrell Arthur

Runner-ups in the WCF, the Grizzlies actually did little to shake their roster up, but the big thing that they did let go is not a player but their coach Lionel Hollins. Easily their most successful coach to date with a record of 196-155 win-loss regular season slate, Hollins saw these young lads steady rise to Western Conference power.

While not taking anything away from new coach David Joerger, it is interesting to see how the Grizzlies react to a more analytical kind of coaching. Personally I believe the game is about instincts and breaks that you exploit as the games go on and what makes the game this exciting. It is interesting to watch if indeed this kind of new NBA thing will work just fine for the franchise or just make it worse.

The New Orleans Pelicans (formerly the Hornets)


012-13 Record: 27-55
Key Additions: Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday and Greg Stiemsma
Key Losses: Robin Lopez and Greivis Vasquez

New Orleans team decided to rename their franchise to something more endemic to their landscape and chose the Pelicans as their new franchise name.

To kick start the freshness the Pelicans acquired 2 important guards to their roster, Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday. These 2 guys are insurance in case Eric Gordon doesn't find his groove still as a member of the Pelicans. It also makes Gordon happy, both because of playing with former AAU friends and actually being surrounded by talent. Personally I think the Pelicans did a smart job with their roster keeping them young yet adding valuable athletic pieces to work on with Anthony Davis, last year's top Rook.

And based on their preseason games even if it don't mean a thing? Their coming and the NBA be better ready, and under coach Monty Williams watch they will be better definitely.

The San Antonio Spurs

2012-13 Record: 58-24
Key Additions: Marco Belinelli and Deshaun Thomas
Key Losses: Gary Neal

Fresh from losing a heart breaking NBA finals, The key moves for the San Antonio Spurs weren't additions or losses. Instead, they involved re-signing crucial players (Manu Ginobili and Tiago Splitter).

After that nada, they have no more money to pay Neal to stay so they got bargain Marco Belinelli who the thrifty (just being kind here) Bulls let go. Marco fits in perfectly with the Spurs by playing system defense and draining corner three-pointers.

The additional year for Tim Duncan and crew does not spell good for the Spurs, always their main concern and father time continues to creep in into this amazingly defiant Spurs I don't know how much time is still left though before it closes it's doors for the old guys of this team.

Well this is all for now, 'til next time continue reading. :)

Some remaining Free Agents the Bulls can target

We all know now what happened to the Dwight lottery. He's coming to Houston (somehow it has been preempted these past days that he would). And that makes Houston an automatic championship caliber team. And pieces continue to fall for Howard and company, just today I learned they caught Omri Casspi and locked him for 2 years.

Dwight has an opt out option in 2016, and with the way Houston continues to build it's team around Dwight that's a scary 3 years.

As for my Chicago Bulls, new has been barren, I read somewhere that they are targeting Mo Williams but other than that news is still scarce.

Here are possible free agent signings that I think can fit the Bulls and boost them further into contention vs. the best of the East.

1. Andrei Kirilenko

The prospect of adding Andrei boost the chance for the Bulls. Andrei can play all 5 positions on the court and is great defensively further solidifying the Bulls main strength. His addition can mean having the luxury of moving Jimmy Butler to SG and having an insurance if any player fall to injury. I think of all the remaining free agents Andrei makes the most sense for the Bulls because he has all the qualities of a Bull. He might not come cheap though but he's a very nice compliment.



2. Mickael Pietrus

Knowing the Bulls are too afraid going atop the salary cap, Mickael is a very good addition the guy is a very good competitor, nice defense and spaces the floor for the Bulls, not to mention Mickael was only receiving, last season, a salary under 1 million dollars. If Forman has his wits in him I'd tab this guy out.



3. Antawn Jamison

Are you kidding me, this guys is a must have for any team that wants to go deep into contention only a bad coach will not value this guy (Mike D'Antoni it's you). He's a very good stretch 4 and plays some SF as well although his defense is a little suspect the Bulls can help him fill the gap (I need to remind you the Bulls still have Boozer). If there's a guy I hope the Bulls nab it's this guy, and he also can accept a cheap contract after accepting less than a million in LA.


4. Byron Mullens

Guy is a rarity among center, I mean a center who can space the floor for you, yeah he seldom plays defense but he grabs rebounds. I think if there is something Mike Dunlap did good for Charlotte is showing some potential for this guy. With the Bulls locking Nazr to another 1 year contract, I think offering Mullens to a center cheap contact of 3 million don't hurt. Imagine the space he'll create for Boozer and Rose down there. I think this guy should receive some consideration.

5. Tyler Hansbrough
I don't care what you say about this guy but I like his activity, he's a hard worker and if you love all the quality that is Joakim Noah you have to appreciate this guy, I think he's one of the guys Tom Thibodeau will love having on his bench.


I know there are far more big names remaining but I think the five I selected best fits the Bulls identity, I believe Coach Thibs wouln't mind if one or all these guys become available on his bench for next season.

Comments are all very welcome.