Welcome to the official HoopsHabit NBA season preview panel, where 32 of our writers got together to put their proverbial pens to paper, voting on the winners in each division, the conference winners, the NBA champs and each of the six major individual awards. We’ll be rolling out a new column each day throughout October to show the results of our voting and how we see the 2014-15 NBA season shaking out.
This panel covers the Southwest Division, home to the 2014 NBA world champion San Antonio Spurs. The fact that they’ve essentially returned their entire team makes them the overwhelming favorite to win the division. Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard won’t let coach Gregg Popovich down — you can bet on that.
The Dallas Mavericks had some moving parts, bringing in Chandler Parsons and a slew of veterans to pair with Dirk Nowitzki and Monta Ellis. They’ll be a dangerous squad — as they were late last season — and the only real question is if Rick Carlisle can put the pieces together and develop good chemistry with the new guys.
It wasn’t the best offseason for the Houston Rockets, as they missed out on Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony before losing Parsons. They brought in Trevor Ariza and have two of the best players at their position in James Harden and Dwight Howard, so we’d be foolish to count them out.
As always, the Memphis Grizzlies will be a tough matchup on a night-to-night basis. Mike Conley, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol and company brought in Vince Carter to help with bench scoring and will certainly return a tremendous defense. They haven’t been able to put it all together yet, but this starting lineup can stand up to any in the league.
The New Orleans Pelicans won’t be winning this division under any circumstances, but that’s not to say they aren’t on the rise. If they can get (and stay) healthy, they’ll boast one of the more dynamic lineups in the league, with good offensive perimeter players in Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday and Eric Gordon combined with a dominant defensive frontcourt in Omer Asik and Anthony Davis. If anything, they’ll provide some fun basketball to watch.
Our official winner, based on 32 votes:
Andrew Snyder talks about why he believes the Spurs will repeat as division champions:
"The beginning of the NBA season brings the same old narrative from fans and some media. It’s popular to say that age will finally catch up with the Spurs and that their run will be over. Every season they put that narrative to bed and continue their dominance of the Western Conference. Tony Parker, Manu Ginibli, and Tim Duncan will find the fountain of youth once again, winning the division and capturing the number 1 seed in the competitive west. Their floor spacing and ball movement is nothing short of clinical. With solid role players buying into their system like Danny Green, Patty Mills, Marco Belinelli, Tiago Splitter and Boris Diaw I see no reason why they will not keep up the same level of success they have been accustom to under Gregg Popovich. With Kawhi Leonard asserting himself as a budding star the Spurs should be able to replicate this level of play even after the retirement of Tim Duncan, whenever that may be."
Mauricio Putz agrees and looks towards the past to tell us why the Spurs will win this season:
"The San Antonio Spurs have won, at least, 60% of their games dating back to Gregg Popovich’s arrival in the 1997-98 season. Every team on the Southwest Division, except for the Houston Rockets, might’ve gotten a bit better during the Offseason. However, the Spurs had a 12-4 (0-4 vs. Rockets) record against their division during the 2013-14 season. They eventually marched into the NBA Finals and humiliated the defending back-to-back champion Miami Heat. It’s tough to bet against the Spurs when Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker show little to no signs of slowing down."