The Houston Rockets have been a complete and utter disaster this season. Expectations were high for them when they made it all the way to the Conference Finals with a depleted roster last year. These expectations only grew when they acquired Ty Lawson.
The Lawson signing obviously didn’t work out, and Houston bought him out. This team has taken a huge step back, and holds a .500 record with just 12 games to go.
Head coach Kevin McHale was fired. There have been increasing concerns about James Harden and Dwight Howard’s ability to cooperate. Basically, everything has gone wrong for this team. However, Dwight Howard spoke with USA Today’s Sam Amick, and was optimistic.
From Amick:
“Regardless of how our season is going so far, regardless of the fact that we haven’t played up to our expectations, I really believe that we have a championship caliber team,” Howard said. “Nobody else has to believe it, and that’s fine. The whole world can be against us. But if those 15 guys in the locker room believe that we can win, then we will win. There’s no doubt about it. We had a great season last year, and the reason why we were able to come in the playoffs and do what we did is because we believed.”
That’s a bold prediction from Howard. I will say this: If this team can sort out its chemistry issues, nobody is going to want to face the Rockets in the first round.
Howard also spoke about the conception that he and Harden have issues:
“People feel … like we hate each other,” Howard said. “I have no hate in my blood for this man, you know? For what? He came from nothing. We both came from nothing. And we’re doing something that we love. We grew up playing this game for fun, and we had big dreams of making it to the NBA. So I would never hate this man because I know what it took for me to get here, and he made it. So I want him to succeed. I want us to succeed. I just – before coming here – I watched endless hours of YouTube videos on James Harden, before he had the beard. I watched all that stuff, because I’m like, ‘Dang, this boy, he’s got so much talent.’
“I know where he’s at, because I’ve been there, as far as everybody looking at you and they expect so much from you. And you’re one of the best players in the league. All that stuff, I’ve been there, you know what I’m saying?”
…
“We both have to figure out how we’re going to make this thing work,” Howard said. “It’s on us. We’ve got the rest of the season, and the playoffs, and we can do it. It’s a mindset. It’s a mentality. And the whole team will fall in line when me and him are on that same page and the team sees that we’re strong together.”
“If we just come together like we’re supposed to – and it takes time, you know. It takes time. If we can just come together like we’re supposed to and like we want to, then I’m telling you, we can win a championship.”
Well, if the Rockets have a good attitude and aren’t counting themselves out, I won’t count them out either. I don’t agree with Howard that they can win a championship — Golden State and San Antonio are just too good — but perhaps they can make a bit of a splash.
