Before we get into this, let’s take a little step back to when we saw the Houston Rockets as a threat to the NBA. Just last season people were wondering whether to pick James Harden or Stephen Curry as the league MVP. It was eventually Curry but Harden got the consolation prize of Players MVP.
After the Rockets made the Western Conference Finals last season I got caught up and genuinely thought that they would make the Conference Finals again. And then this season came around and I quickly realised that I was wrong.
They were dysfunctional, seemingly lazy. It looked as if they couldn’t be bothered to play as a team. They checked out way before the season ended.
Dwight Howard was a big proponent of the dysfunction. His relationships were strained, notably James Harden and general manager Daryl Morey. He is expected to opt out and become a free agent this offseason but he hasn’t shown much sway in any direction.
Dwight Howard has already been on ‘Inside The NBA’ bearing all and now he continues with a Q&A with ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan, talking firstly about his short-term future.
ESPN: Most people believe you will opt out of your contract with Houston on July 1. Are you leaning that way?
Howard: “To be honest, I have had some conversations with close friends on what would happen if I do opt out. But I haven’t really come out and said, ‘I’m going to opt out and do this and that.’ I just can’t focus on that right now. We didn’t have the kind of season we wanted, and I didn’t have the kind of season I wanted and it was really upsetting to me. So my thinking is, ‘I’m going to get in the gym, get my body right and when the playoffs are over take a look at everything.’ As much as it may seem crazy or unbelievable that I’m not thinking about it, every time I do think about it, my mind starts racing back and forth. I don’t need that kind of pressure right now. My agent (Perry Rogers) is smart. He’s done this for years. Let him worry about the teams and the [contract] numbers.”
As we go through some of these quotes you will realise that he looks to his ‘close friends’ a lot for advice or some type of guidance. He’s been in the league for 12 years, surely a supposed entourage is something you wouldn’t want at this point in your career. Just a thought. On to a little tiff he had with GM Daryl Morey.
ESPN: You mentioned your season in Houston didn’t end the way you wanted. You have also admitted you were “disinterested” during parts of the year. Why was that?
Howard: “There were times I was disinterested because of situations that happened behind the scenes that really hurt me. It left me thinking, ‘This is not what I signed up for.”’
ESPN: What specifically are you referring to?
Howard: “I felt like my role was being reduced. I went to [Rockets general manager] Daryl [Morey] and said, ‘I want to be more involved.’ Daryl said, ‘No, we don’t want you to be.’ My response was, ‘Why not? Why am I here?’ It was shocking to me that it came from him instead of our coach. So I said to him, ‘No disrespect to what you do, but you’ve never played the game. I’ve been in this game a long time. I know what it takes to be effective.”’
Morey declined comment.
Now that is not what I want to hear from a general manager. That kind of thing is for a coach to say, it’s not your place to put players in their place. Besides, what’s the point of saying “don’t do anything”? It was basically where Morey was coming from. No wonder Dwight couldn’t be bothered by seasons end.
Onto the last piece of the depressing puzzle, James Harden. This entire season people have been insinuating that there was friction between the two players. Here’s what Dwight Howard’s side.
ESPN: What is your relationship withJames Harden like?
Howard: “Before I got to Houston, I didn’t know him as a person. What made me really interested in James Harden was the way he attacked the basket when he was at OKC. He was the glue of the team, attacking, making plays, dunking. I was thinking, ‘Man, this guy could be special.’ When I hit free agency, I watched YouTube tapes of James for hours. I looked at us as a mini Shaq and Kobe. I was thinking, ‘Man, this could be a new life for both of us.’ And we had some good stretches together. Made it to the Conference finals last season.”
ESPN: Your relationship with Harden seems to have deteriorated along with the team’s performance this season. What happened?
Howard: “I don’t know. … I want to figure that out, too. I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around this season, what went wrong, and sometimes you can allow outside things to interrupt the circle. That probably happened with us.”
He doesn’t even know what happened? I’m inclined to think that he knows and will probably bare all when he retires and writes a biography but for now I feel like he isn’t telling us everything.
Which is fair enough. Him opting out will definitely tell us a lot about his relationships with the Rockets. But I’ll end with this. Dwight Howard may be hated for some reason or another, but the Rockets did nothing to help him. Morey didn’t help, Harden didn’t help, Dwight was pretty much on his own and got no support. Other than his ‘Close Friends’.
