The Hoops Nerd, Pre-Season MIP Awards, Southwest Division

The Hoops Nerd gives MIP Awards to the most intriguing player in each team during the NBA pre-season. We have finally reached the Southwest Division, home of the NBA title finalists of last year, the San Antonio Spurs. There is a lot of positive and negative intrigue both in that division and we have contenders to the title also. The ghost of last finals, the one-shoed wonder Mike Miller also moved to Southwest Division when the Miami Heat ABANDONED HIM (assholes!). He signed with the Memphies Grizzlies, who badly needed a clutch old fart like him on their bench. So here are the most intiguing players in the Southwest Division.

The Dwecision : Celebrating Daryl Morey

Twelve months ago, the Houston Rockets were in no man's land. Their roster looked like a yard sale for NBA teams. An incongruous set of pieces, some interesting, some depressing, but nothing fitted together. The most important piece in the organization was hidden, away from the court, stashed in a three pieces suit. I'm talking about Daryl Morey, the general manager.

This man.

Along with my boy "Handsome" Rob Hennigan, over the last twelve months Morey has secured his spot as the top dog of NBA front offices. Masai Ujiri be damned, he is good but he's just the bronze medalist in this race. Let's examine Morey's brilliant wrap sheet of the last year, that lead to its culmination. The very deliberate and very foreseen (by him) signing of superstar free agent Dwight Howard.

Vacation Planning - Atlanta Hawks

Last Vacation Planning post, I promise. I'm interested to the Atlanta Hawks' off-season for a couple of reasons. First, I have a friend/reader in Atlanta who has become pretty cynical about his home team. Being a positive guy by nature, I took interest in monitoring their situation and speculating about how they can extract themselves from the no man's land they dug themselves in. Because that's where they somewhat always had been: they never really sucked, but they had never really been a threat to great teams. Somehow, I think this is worse than sucking.

Last year, the Hawks continued to be irrelevant, despite playing hard. Injuries and holes in the lineups have been brutal to them. New arrival, badass scorer Lou Williams got sidelined pretty quick with a season-ending knee injury and the Josh Smith situation has been a huge distraction to them. They also had depth issues, which is an absolute killer if you want to go far in the playoffs. You don't win championships with Shelvin Mack and Johan Petro coming off the bench. They have an interesting off-season ahead, since they have only 18 million dollars committed for next season's payroll and two first round picks. They have a lot of options. Here's what I think they should do.