Hollinger Likes Spurs to emerge in the West

[SenorSpur]

From the ESPN Insider, this is the yet another installment of ESPN's John Hollinger's team forecasts. By now, I'm sure everyone has seen his forecast on the Spurs.

The excerpt below is on the Mavs. For the sake of simplicity and space, I only captured the portion where he gives the outlook for the coming season. For what it's worth, I thought everyone would find this interesting.

Hollinger's Team Forecast: Dallas Mavericks

2006-07 OUTLOOK

The Mavs got so close to the le they could taste it, so there's a temptation to think they just need to take that final step this year. That logic overlooks one little problem: The Western Conference. Dallas barely made it alive out of its dogfight with San Antonio in the playoffs and will have to dial it up again to get past the Spurs this year (though, thankfully, that matchup would now happen as the conference championship, since the league changed its idiotic seeding system). Phoenix and Houston won't be doormats either, especially if their star players are at full capacity come playoff time.

That said, Dallas will be among the league's elite. Nowitzki is one of a handful of players with a realistic shot at winning the MVP award, while Harris could be a breakout player and the deep bench should let the team shrug off any bumps in the road during the regular season. The team's age is a bit of a concern, but again the depth should alleviate any problems. All in all, they have to be considered one of the two or three teams with the best shot at winning a championship. But if I had to put my chips on one side in the West, it would be the Spurs, not Dallas.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

We all know that.

[SpursWillOwn]

who would put their chips on us? besides potato chips or maybe fish'n'chips. we're old, we have no center, no dirk stopper, whiner, flopper, dirty player, a one dimensioned guard and back up points who would go out with strained hamstrings

[Dirk41MVP]

They said that last year as well... good riddance

[bdubya]

Hey, if Hollinger says it....then the math is probably beyond me.

[ZStomp]

These threads make me laugh because had he said the opposite- the sky would be falling!!