Southwest Division NBA Preview 2020-2021

The NBA just came off its wildest season to date. Coming off the virtual draft, teams are excited and ready to go for the season. Training camp and preseason games are ongoing in the shortened offseason. Fans are ready to go to games for a somewhat normal season. The southwest division will be an interesting one. I believe that it will be a competitive division but the Mavericks will come out winners. Mavericks are -225 on winning that division on Barstool Sportsbook.

Dallas Mavericks: Luka Doncic has exploded into the NBA scene. As a MVP caliber player in the NBA will try to lead his team back into the playoffs for the second year in a row. The Mavericks were active in this offseason. They traded for Josh Richardson while trading Seth Curry to the 76’ers. They acquired forward James Johnson. They have brought in an edge to the team that it did not have last year. Also, Josh Richardson is a very good three-point shooter. The Mavericks should take a step forward as a team. My prediction is that they should be 45-27. They should get into the playoffs and be a team to look out for.

Houston Rockets: After the loss to the Lakers in the semifinal. Mike D’Antoni stepped down as Rockets coach. After that Daryl Morey, the Rockets general manager resigned stating “personal reasons” these were the first two dominos to fall in this short offseason for the Rockets. After the coach and the general manager left. The Rockets two best player James Harden and Russell Westbrook wanted out of the Rockets organization. They both requested a trade. The Rockets granted that request for Westbrook and traded him to the Washington Wizards for John Wall and a 2023 first round pick. The Rockets have not traded Harden yet and they held their breath as he did not show up for the first two days of training camp. He did arrive at training camp, but Harden has looked like he has not done a single workout since he left the bubble. Reports are stating that Harden is more interested in partying than being a professional basketball player. Harden does have a new star teammate in John Wall. He has been sidelined with injuries over the past two years. The Rockets did sign Wall’s college teammate DeMarcus Cousins. The rockets are looking to get the championship chemistry between Wall and cousins. I believe though that will not be enough, and the Rockets will be in the middle of the pack at best. I project their record to be 39-33.

Memphis Grizzles: Coming off a bubble play in loss. Ja Morant is explosive and could be a Derrick Rose 2.0. The Grizzles have a young core. Morant, Jackson, and Winslow. The only issue with that is the team did not get any great players in free agency. I believe they are trying to feel out the chemistry between Morant, Winslow, and Jackson. Winslow and Jackson are hurt. Winslow will come back early, but Jackson is out for a lot of the year. I do believe that the Grizzles will take a step back because of injury. I predict that they will go 35-37.

New Orleans Pelicans: This team is headlined by Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram. Both could be all-stars. The team acquired Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, and Steven Adams. This team has a new coach Steve Van Gundy. This organization is building something. They will be in the playoffs this year. Zion will blossom and become a top player in the NBA. I predict they will go 41-31.

San Antonio Spurs: This San Antonio Spurs team is not a great team in my opinion. They do not have very much shooting at all. They do not have much cap room to work with with LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan on the books. They have rookies that will have to grow this year for them to be even considered in playoff consideration. This is a .500 team at best and will struggle in the western conference. I predict that they will go 32-40.