The Houston Rockets were a very solid team in 2008-09, both from a real-life and Fantasy perspective. Houston finished second in the Southwest Conference with a record of 53-29, then knocked off the Portland Trail Blazers 4-2 in the first round of the playoffs. Though they weren’t given much chance against the powerful Los Angeles Lakers, the Rockets took the eventual champs to seven games before finally bowing out.

The 2008-09 season was business as usual for the Utah Jazz: Play inspired ball at home (33-8 record), putrid ball on the road (15-26), do enough to make it into the playoffs (third in the Northwest Division and eighth in conference), then take a playoff beating from a clearly superior team (lost to the Lakers 4-1). Such has been the history for the Jazz, which, despite earning a playoff berth 23 of the past 26 seasons, has yet to reach NBA pay dirt. Utah also has possibly the least appropriate nickname in sports; seriously, when was the last time you heard anyone gush about the smokin’ hot jazz scene in Salt Lake City, Ogden or Provo? Your days in the French Quarter are 30 years’ worth of over, fellows – what about updating the nick to something more Utah apropos? Such as…maybe…umm…ahhh…well, there has to be something better than Jazz, doesn’t there?

After their shocking finish atop the Southwest Division in 2007-08, the New Orleans Hornets took a rather pronounced step backward last season. While the team’s 49 wins was respectable enough, it was good for only fourth in the Southwest – and the 4-1 thrashing the Hornets suffered in the first round of the playoffs left a bitter taste indeed in the mouths of hoops fans all over the Big Easy. Even a cup of the Café Du Monde’s finest Joe couldn’t wash away the 58-point home-court drubbing the Denver Nuggets laid on the Hornets in Game Four of their series.

Once upon a time, the Atlanta Hawks were one of the NBA’s biggest doormats. The sad-sack 2004-05 version won just 13 games, then managed just 56 total victories over the next two campaigns. However, the team’s fortunes turned in the 2007-08 season, as the Hawks earned a playoff berth despite finishing below .500. No such luck was necessary last year, though, as Atlanta powered to 47 wins and a second-place finish in the NBA Southeast Division.