All-Star Weekend Questions: Southwest Division

By Brett Goldman

Finally! All-Star weekend is here and that means we're halfway through the season. All of the contests and games will be this Sunday, and I'm excited to see them all. In the meantime, all we can do is speculate on what the second half of the season will look like. In this series, I'm asking one question that every NBA team must answer in the second half of the season. If you haven't seen my other articles in this series, check them out here.

Houston Rockets: How can we lose/win more games?

The Rockets are in a very weird position. On paper, their roster isn't that bad. Christian Wood was a top candidate for Most Improved Player before his injury, John Wall has looked good in his return from a multitude of injuries, and Victor Oladipo is a good player. Plus, PJ Tucker is one of the best defenders in the league and Jae'Sean Tate looks like a really solid find. Despite all of that, they are 11-23 and are third to last in the NBA standings. If Wood returns soon enough, the Rockets do have the talent to possibly make a run to the play-in game (granted they don't move Oladipo or Tucker. I think at least one of them is gone). However, if they want to keep their first round pick (they do), they need it to land inside the top 4. As much as Rockets fans may want the team to win, it's best for the future that they don't. The Rockets are better off fading for Cade.

New Orleans Pelicans: Can we play any defense?

The Pelicans face something that nobody would think a Stan Van Gundy-led team would ever face: poor defense. Van Gundy is an old-school defensive minded coach known for the late-2000s Magic teams anchored by Dwight Howard. However, this Pelicans team is AWFUL on defense. They have the second worst defensive rating in the league despite having good individual defenders in Lonzo Ball and Eric Bledsoe as well as the length and athleticism of Brandon Ingram and first-time all-star Zion Williamson. They even have Aquaman!. When you put the pieces together, it just doesn't seem to work out. This team is just 3 games back of the play-in game. Despite the fact that Zion is virtually unstoppable offensively, they will need to do something about their defense in order to climb up the standings. 

Memphis Grizzlies: When does Jaren Jackson Jr. come back?

Memphis is doing fine right now. They are .500 and led by young star Ja Morant and solid big man Jonas Valanciunas. That's good enough for the 10 seed and a spot in the play-in tournament. They can be even better once they get Jaren Jackson Jr back from injury. Jackson has been injury prone to start his career, as he hasn't played in more than 58 games in any of his first 3 seasons. He hasn't played a single minute this year due to a knee injury and Memphis has kept news of the injury very secret. Some speculated he could have come back in January or February, but it's March now and there hasn't been much news. Jackson is a talented shot blocker and 3 point shooter who can take the Grizzlies (and my fantasy team) to the next level on both ends. Making sure he comes back fully healthy is a necessity for the future of the franchise. 

Dallas Mavericks: What are we doing with Kristaps Porzingis?

Dallas came into the year with high expectations for their team. They came away from last year's playoffs with high hopes for the future after taking the Clippers to 6 games, most of which came without their second star Kristaps Porzingis. Dallas is 8th in the west right now, which is disappointing by their standards and by the standards people put on them for this year. Dallas isn't a great defensive team, as they rank 24th in defensive rating. They rely heavily on Luka Dončić to create offense, and he just isn't great defensively at this point in his career. The problem for the Mavs is bigger than any of that: while they have denied doing so, they have definitely looked into trading Porzingis and I'm just not sure what the market is for him. He's often injured and has a huge contract. That's usually a recipe for disaster in this league (e.g. Blake Griffin). The unicorn is uber-talented, but Luka is ready to win now. They can't keep waiting for Porzingis to maybe stay healthy for a full season.

San Antonio Spurs: How good can we truly be?

If someone who's not a Spurs fan says that they've been watching the Spurs a lot this season, they're lying. The Spurs are great this season, don't get me wrong. They're just extremely boring. That's not a bad thing, though! They're the 7 seed in the west and are 4 games above .500. Their style of play is working. DeMar DeRozan was considered an all-star snub by many, Dejounte Murray is making a case to be the most improved player, and Keldon Johnson looks like a nice young player. The best part about this team is that they play mistake-free basketball and play tough defense. They lead the NBA in assist to turnover ratio, Dejounte Murray is a pick-pocketing machine, and they rank inside the top 10 in defensive rating. They're playing extremely well even without LaMarcus Aldridge for a good part of the season. Can the Spurs continue their run in the second half of the season? My gut says they don't have enough star power, but nothing Coach Popovich's team accomplishes will surprise me. I will definitely try to watch more Spurs basketball in the second half of the season.

That's it for the questions for the Western Conference! Make sure to check out my thoughts on the other divisions here and be on the lookout for more over the next few days.