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This is not a division. It is a gauntlet. A spiked, imperial gauntlet inhabited by minotaurs, pterodactyls, stone giants, warrior pygmy tribes, and other things that go bump in the night. There is no sense of "If we can just make it to .500" in this division. .500 means nothing. .500 is for the Central division.

The Southwest Division hosts two former MVPs, the MVP runner-up from last season, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, the reigning Coach of the Year, a bazillion All-Stars, elite shooters, elite defenders, elite scorers, and Ron freaking Artest. Yeesh.

There are not headlines here. There are omens, prophecies, and obituaries.

James Posey wanted to stay in Boston, but in the end he wanted to get paid even more: he signed a four-year, $25 million deal with the Hornets earlier today. From Marc Spears of the Boston Globe:

"We liked James and we wanted him back," Celtics general manager Danny Ainge said. "He got a good deal in New Orleans. We were unwilling to go four years."

By choosing N'awlins over Beantown, Posey will get more than one extra year of the MLE; as I mentioned yesterday, he'll also get a chance to compete for a starting job.

Posey is a natural small forward but can defend most of the league's two-guards, and if Byron Scott decides he wants to instill a bit more defensive grit to the starting lineup, Posey could supplant Morris Peterson, the incumbent starter who signed a four-year deal of his own last summer. Mo-Pete has been more consistent from long range over his career, but Posey has closed the gap in that regard, as well.

It'll be interesting to see how exactly the Celtics replace Posey, who was undeniably one of their most important reserves this past season. The number of viable free agent swingmen has been shrinking almost daily: James Jones has signed with the Heat, Jarvis Hayes with the Nets, and Carlos Delfino just defected for Moscow. The most likely candidates left on the market would require a minor miracle (Josh Childress) or a big leap of faith (CJ Miles).

Hornets brass announced they have reached an extension agreement with Byron Scott today, locking up the Coach of the Year through 2009-10. No dollars reported yet, but John Reid of the New Orleans Times-Picayune estimates roughly $6 million a year, based on previous demands. $6 million well spent, I'd say.

While some CotY winners reek of fluke (Doc Rivers, Sam Mitchell), Scott has evoked the sense of cornerstone. No one would've flinched had the extension been for four, five years; in fact, the brevity of the deal is a bit off-putting, considering my forthcoming theory. But it took only six days for the sides to reach an agreement, which indicates these guys really like each other.

So, could Scott turn into the next Gregg Popovich (who quietly got extended this week) or Jerry Sloan? Set aside the disciplinarian/angry-face comparisons and focus on the tenure -- the pair have been in their respective arenas so long they've become fabric of their franchises. Nowhere else in the modern NBA do you see that on the bench. Scott's young, and his team is young. Could you see him coaching a 32-year-old Chris Paul in 2018? The prospect's more likely than most others, with only Nate McMillan sitting in a similar sort of comfort as a young coach.

(Of course, this requires steady management from the team, something Hornets owner George Shinn's not exactly known for.)

FanHouse's Round Two previews will give you the critical points of every series, so you can talk to your friends like you've been following every team in the Association all season long. Or know what the hell an Udoka is.

Biggest Reason You Should Watch: Because Chris Paul v. Tony Parker is just like Chris Paul v. Jason Kidd, except this time CP3's opponent can shoot and play defense. Oh, and if you really ever wanted a "new - old" rivalry that you could wax all philosophical about by the water cooler, this is it. The Spurs have championships galore. The Hornets won the first divisional championship in the history of New Orleans this year. Plus, we're all a little sick of Manu at his point, no?

New Orleans Can Win If: Well, they can't, if you listen to most of the hating. Paul is going to be otherworldly. Peja Stojakovic has to do what he did last round, which is shoot lights out. It will be tougher this time against Bruce Bowen, who cheats plays hard nosed defense, but CP3 is so good at manipulating defenses that it's entirely possible. Tyson Chandler needs to come up with a little more offense (7.2 against Dallas) to take some of Tim Duncan's heat off of David West too.

San Antonio Can Win If: Tim Duncan can stop the X-man. West averaged 22 plus against Dallas and while Paul makes this team go, if they can't score in the post, it becomes a heck of a lot harder to hit from the perimeter. Duncan's defense is actually still pretty underrated, but then again so is West. Or is he overrated now? I can never remember. Whatever. This is the Spurs. They can't ever not win.

Video Clip to Get You Pumped: Well, I was going to use French disc jockey DJ Hornet (get it?) but I wasn't sure if it was safe for work, and well, frankly it sucked. Instead, a quite possibly irrelevant South Park clip about distinct styles. If Randy Marsh's wail at the end doesn't get you stoked, I don't know what will.

There's a slew of "new" versus "old" changing of the guard notions buried within the New Orleans Hornets -- Dallas Mavericks series that just ended. The one time perennial contender Maverick team is on the verge of being blown up and something -- something about a change in the league's best point guard.

But I don't know that I have the brain power to wax poetic about it right now, simply because I am in absolute awe of how freaking good Chris Paul is. Say whatever you want about this Dallas team quitting on Avery Johnson -- and they did, no doubt about it -- but this series wasn't about redemption for Dirk or Avery. That's because it was CP3's coming out party.

A report from the New Orleans Times-Picayune states that Byron Scott will be announced as the 2008 NBA Coach of the Year tomorrow. It is Scott's first time to win the award.

Scott guided the Hornets to one of the biggest turnarounds in the NBA this season, and the 2nd seed in the West. While the other finalists were considered mainly due to their management of unbelievably amazing rosters full of talent (Doc Rivers), playing above expectations (Maurice Cheeks), or weathering a storm of injuries (Rick Adelman), Scott managed an ensemble of challenges. He guided Chris Paul into being one of, if not the best point guard in the league. He turned David West and Tyson Chandler into household names and made the Hornets one of the most consistent teams in a hyper-competitive Western Conference on both sides of the ball. He did all of this with arguably one of the thinnest benches in the league.

Jerry Stackhouse recently stated, along with saying he'd like to fight him, that he didn't "think Byron Scott is the best coach." Well, Jerry, with your team on the brink of elimination, your starting spot revoked for Jason Terry, and Scott's Hornets in position to move to the next round, maybe you might want to rethink that. And even if Stack doesn't think Scott is the best coach, for this season, at least, Scott's peers disagreed.

For all those Mavericks fans who have pined for some player in Dallas blue to, um, "step up" and take the fight straight at New Orleans ... we have your man. In a radio interview documented by writer Jeff Kaplan for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's blog (via HoopsHype), Jerry Stackhouse hands out some vicious words on Hornets coach Byron Scott.

"I don't think Byron Scott is the best coach or I don't think he's the best guy to deal with -- you know what I'm sayin? -- from some things that I've heard from other players and just some dealings that I had with him earlier in the season. I was about ready to kick his ass -- you know what I'm sayin? He was sitting on the sideline and we just got into a little conversation or something and he was going to tell me, you know, 'Talk to me when you get a ring.' I was like, I told that fool, 'If I played with Magic and Worthy and Kareem I'd have a ring, too. So, you know, he's a sucker in my book, but that's a whole other story."

Saying Scott has a reputation as a hard-ass is one thing; talking about kicking his ass? Calling him a sucker? And come on: Scott was a starter on three title teams in the '80s. He isn't exactly Antoine Walker 2006 or Ira Newble/Brian Scalabrine 2008 Melvin Ely 2007.

But hey, whatever gets Stack fired up, right? 18 points in 53 playoff minutes on 31% shooting is boring, man. I'm just glad the league's at a place in which the Byron-Jason Kidd feud in New Jersey circa 2003 could spill into a Western Conference playoff battle in 2008.

In the fifth installment of handing out our end of the year awards, today's vote for Coach of the Year was by far the most wide open. A whopping seven legitimate candidates were featured on four of our experts' ballots, and here are the results:

1. Byron Scott
2. Rick Adelman, Mo Cheeks (tie)
4. Phil Jackson

The consensus here was ... that there really was no consensus. Byron Scott received two first place votes and one for second, but was left off the fourth ballot. Adelman and Cheeks each received a first place vote, but each were also left off of two of the ballots. Rounding out the voting were Doc Rivers, Jerry Sloan, and Nate McMillan, all of whom received one vote apiece.

My first place vote went to Adelman, because even though that streak thing (to me) isn't really all that impressive, the fact that he could keep this Rockets' team in the hunt for a top playoff seed out West after Yao Ming went down absolutely is.

To be honest, I'm a bit surprised that anyone would leave Byron Scott off of their ballot, given the job he's done in similarly keeping the Hornets near the top of the standings. But hey, I guess if people will vote for Doc Rivers, even though he's basically coaching a slimmed down version of the Eastern Conference All-Stars, I guess anything's possible.

Previously at FanHouse:

Who Is the NBA's Best Defensive Player?
Who Is the NBA's MVP?
Who Is the NBA's Best Sixth Man?
Who Is the NBA's Most Improved Player?

FanHouse will cover the NBA's 2008 All-Star Weekend wall to wall. Here are some predictions about the coming events.

MVP of All-Star Weekend: Chris Paul is the easy call. By virtue of being the dunk contest and the main event, Dwight Howard's in good position for the fan vote. But don't count out Rudy Gay, an awakened Shaquille O'Neal (on the sidelines) or everyone's favorite reluctant All-Star, Rasheed Wallace.

Best Cheerleader: Sheed gets love above precisely because of this category. Rip Hamilton's tramp ball will have plenty of rah-rah behind it. No word on whether Shaq will be on hand to help enspirit Diana Taurasi's halfcourt shots.

Major storyline: Based on NBA and NBA media demographics, it should and will be the incredible scope of progress still needed to rebuild Louisiana. Sure, the Hornets' return has been a bit of a financial disaster. But the effort the league (and all its visiting teams) has put in to helping the cause is vastly commendable.

Quick hit predictions after the jump.

There's an interesting article today from Tim Kawakami discussing the prospects of Baron Davis making this year's All-Star team. The starters were announced yesterday, and with Allen Iverson getting in over Tracy McGrady, that appears to be one less guard spot available for candidates like Davis. But according to Kawakami, it might not be the lack of roster spots that will leave Baron on the outside looking in. It could be his relationships with former coaches -- who vote on the reserves -- that end up costing him.

Remember, Davis feuded openly with Byron Scott when both were in New Orleans, and Davis and Denver's George Karl had zero relationship when Davis played (poorly) for Karl's Team USA in 2002. Remember, conference coaches pick the reserves and Scott and Karl make up 13 percent of the Western electorate.

I think Kawakami has a point here, but he's probably only half right. While it's very possible that Byron Scott still has some hard feelings over the way things went down when Baron was in New Orleans, I doubt that George Karl is holding a grudge from a relatively brief Team USA gig six years ago.

If Baron is omitted from the final roster, the depth of talent in the Western Conference will likely be the reason. Steve Nash and Chris Paul are virtual locks to get the two backup guard spots, leaving Davis to fight over just two wildcard positions with a laundry list of qualified candidates. Brandon Roy, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Josh Howard, Deron Williams -- and probably a couple of others -- are all vying for two spots. I don't think the coaches are going to leave off both Parker and Ginobili from a defending champion Spurs team, which would mean that realistically we're talking one spot. While I personally would vote for Baron, it's nearly impossible to predict what factors will come into play when the real voting takes place.

So while the "bitter coach" angle is intriguing, I don't think that alone is going to keep Baron off the team. But in a race this tight, I'm sure he'd like to have as many things as possible going for him, and it appears that this is at least one area where he might be at a slight disadvantage.