The NBA recently completed its GM survey before the season as it always does and included in it whom the general managers thought were the contenders for the NBA championship and the best player at each position.
This is a good gauge of where the movers and shakers in the league believe the season will play out and how they view the moves their peers made.
Unsurprisingly, the Spurs make off as the favorites to win the title, garnering 46.2 percent of votes from NBA general managers. LeBron James is the favorite player to start a franchise with and the MVP front-runner.
It does not take a genius to figure out that is how things might go.
What may take a little more thinking is combining their picks for the divisional and conference winners with whom they think is best at each position. The “All-GM” preseason team is Chris Paul at point guard, James Harden at shooting guard, LeBron James at small forward, LaMarcus Aldridge at power forward and Dwight Howard at center.
The easiest thing to notice is that only one set of teammates makes that list — the Rockets’ Howard and Harden. It is hard to argue that they do not deserve this lofty perch. Harden and Howard are perennial all stars and should be the foundation of a really good team. They were also overwhelmingly the selections at their respective positions — Harden garnered 63.0 percent of the votes and Howard 42.9 percent (down from 65.5 percent last year, but still a pretty large margin).
So when you have two of the best players at one of the five positions, you have to be pretty good right?
No one here is about to argue the Rockets will not make the Playoffs even in the stacked Western Conference. But win a championship? No one in the NBA seems about ready to argue that either.
The Spurs were the overwhelming favorites to win the title this year among the NBA general managers. The Cavaliers, Bulls, Clippers, Thunder and Warriors also received votes. In the Southwest Division, only 3.6 percent of the general managers picked the Rockets to win.
The Rockets have two of the best players at their respective decision, but no championship expectations? Photo by Andrew Richardson-USA TODAY Sports
Where is the love for Houston?
OK, some of it has to do with the Spurs being a ridiculously good team. And the Rockets, once again, gutted many of their role players — Jeremy Lin was traded, Chandler Parsons was allowed to leave in free agency, Omer Asik is gone too — in hopes of bringing in another star player. The team around Howard and Harden is pretty different.
Houston failed to get out of the first round last year and it was a huge disappointment. This is a team with championship talent (at least in the stars) and championship aspirations. A first round exit again will not do it.
Nobody is expecting the Rockets to take that sudden leap until they get better on the defensive end.
So as nice as it is having two of the best players at two positions, does it really matter if the team is not involved in the championship conversation? Personal accolades only get you so far.
