Houston Rockets

[ray321]

Dwight Howard isn't happy with the Rockets, He'll be out soon

[Guiness]

Rockets sought frontline player, first-rounder for Dwight Howard

The Houston Rockets didn't end up dealing Dwight Howard before Thursday's NBA trade deadline, but they did have some opportunities.

 

League sources told ESPN.com that the Rockets engaged in trade talks with numerous teams once they began aggressively shopping Howard right before the start of the All-Star break.

 

Sources said that in recent days, the Rockets talked about potential Howard deals with a list of teams including Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Miami and, most recently, Milwaukee. Sources say Houston, however, told several teams that it wasn't prepared to trade Howard without receiving at least one frontline player and a future first-round draft pick in return.

 

The Rockets took a similar approach with young power forward Donatas Motiejunas and managed to extricate a first-round pick from the Detroit Pistons for Motiejunas in the one trade they did complete on deadline day.

 

But interested teams were unwilling to pay such a premium for Howard, at least in part because Howard, who turned 30 in December, can become a free agent July 1.

 

"Many teams called expressing great interest in trading for Dwight," Howard's agent, Dan Fegan, told ESPN.com on Thursday night. "The obvious stumbling block to a trade was how could a team justify giving up important assets for a player who was about to become a free agent in a few short months?

 

"Not surprisingly, as the deadline approached, several teams called stating they had worked out the trade parameters with Houston for a Dwight deal but were not prepared to give up their assets unless Dwight agreed to opt in to the last year of his contract and forego free agency. Dwight declined."

 

Howard, who reiterated he had never made any trade demands, said Thursday that he was moving forward and would focus on helping the Rockets get into the playoffs.

 

"It doesn't matter. I know who I am," Howard said. "I know what I have done in my career; no need to focus on anything negative. I have a great life, blessed beyond measure. Doesn't matter. People can talk as much as they want, but I know how hard I've worked to get to where I am today, and I'm grateful for that."

 

Fegan refused to discuss specific teams that made pitches for Howard, but sources told ESPN.com that the Bucks were one of those teams.

 

The Bucks and Rockets did exchange some trade proposals, sources said, but Milwaukee made it clear that it wouldn't go through with any deal for Howard unless he opted into the final season of his contract, which is scheduled to pay him $23.3 million in 2016-17.

Howard earns $22.3 million this season in the third year of his four-year, $88 million contract with the Rockets and has made it clear he intends to bypass Year 4 to return to the open market.

 

"It was going to have to take something significant to make us look at anything, and even then we probably wouldn't have [traded Howard]," Rockets general manager Daryl Morey told the Houston Chronicle on Thursday night.

"Part of my job is I have to explore everything."

 

In reference to recent reports of growing friction between Howard and James Harden, Morey told the Chronicle: "We believe in James and Dwight together."

 

Expounding more on the Harden/Howard pairing in an interview with The Vertical website, Morey said: "This is a group that we would be very reluctant to split up. Obviously there was a lot of interest in [Howard] -- I think there was a lot of noise about that -- but that [duo] was something we were going to be very reluctant to break up. As part of my job, I do have to listen to everything, but nothing got close and we weren't going to split that up unless it was something significant."

Howard has averaged 14.6 points, 12.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 44 games this season after injuries limited him to 41 games in 2014-15.

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14803300/houston-rockets-wanted-big-haul-dwight-howard

[Royale007]

I like Houston Rockets since Dwight Howard Join B-)

[J121212]

I have a feeling harden gets moved this summer.. rebuilding na rockets since they are never going to contend with this line up

[Guiness]

[Air Jordan]

Better Luck again next season but it was a good series with the warriors

[akotakot]

hoping for a big revamp of the line up and a really good, strict coach that will instill discipline.

[Mad Damian]

Bye Bye Dwight

[Guiness]

Dwight Howard Opts Out of Rockets Contract By Mike Chiari , Featured Columnist

Jun 21, 2016

 

After three up-and-down seasons with the Houston Rockets, center Dwight Howard opted out of his contract Tuesday, making him an unrestricted free agent, according to The Vertical's Shams Charania.

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle confirmed the news and added Howard has "not ruled out" a return to the Rockets.

According to Spotrac, the 30-year-old big man left a salary of over $23 million on the table for 2016-17 in favor of testing the free-agent market.

 

Howard signed with the Rockets in 2013 and enjoyed a strong debut season with them, averaging 18.3 points and 12.2 rebounds per game, but the past two campaigns have been a struggle. He missed half of the 2014-15 season due to a balky right knee and experienced his worst offensive output since his rookie year last season with 13.7 points per contest.

Above all else, there were constant reports regarding turmoil in the Rockets' locker room, particularly between Howard and superstar guard James Harden. A team source described the chemistry between Howard and Harden as "cordially bad," per ESPN.com's Calvin Watkins.

Despite that, Harden suggested after the Rockets' first-round playoff exit against the Golden State Warriors that he wanted Howard back in the fold, according to Feigen: "Ultimately, he makes the decision. But obviously, we love Big Fella here. He has to go back with his family and figure it out."

 

Howard's opting in seemed unlikely considering how poorly the 2015-16 season went for him and the Rockets as a whole. As Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders pointed out, the organization didn't roll out the red carpet for him to return based on its choice of a new head coach:

 

Howard and Mike D'Antoni didn't mesh whatsoever during the eight-time All-Star's one-year stint with the Los Angeles Lakers, which was presumably a deciding factor in his departure from L.A., per ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin.

 

Howard now appears to be on track to join his fourth team in six years. He has struggled to regain the form he showed during his eight-year stint with the Orlando Magic, and it is fair to say he is no longer viewed as elite after missing out on the All-Star Game in consecutive seasons.

 

Howard can still be a productive player, however, as evidenced by his 11.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game this past season to go with his career-best shooting percentage of 62 percent.

 

The biggest issue with Howard may be intangible, as he has struggled to mesh with alpha dogs such as Kobe Bryant and Harden since leaving a Magic team on which he was the clear No. 1 option.

 

He was never going to ascend to that level in Houston with Harden on the roster. While he figures to garner plenty of interest on the open market, he may be hard-pressed to find a team willing to make him its face of the franchise.

[Guiness]

Would you sign Dwight Howard?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEKg_6zVon0

[akotakot]

hay salamat at lumayas na yan si drama queen howard. now that houston has a big salary cap that can signed a real star player that can shoot and run.

[Guiness]

with these draft picks of the rockets you can definitely say that they are moving on without Dwight

 

Rockets select Onuaku and Zhou in 2nd round of NBA draft

HOUSTON (AP) -- The Houston Rockets added a pair of big men in the second round of the NBA draft on Thursday night in Louisville's Chinanu Onuaku and Chinese center Zhou Qi.

 

The 6-foot-10 Onuaku was selected 37th overall and Zhou was selected 43rd on a night where Houston didn't have a first-round pick because of a past trade.

 

The Rockets will need some depth at center with Dwight Howard likely to opt out of the last year of his contract and become a free agent this summer. But draft analyses of these players indicates that it would be unlikely for them to be ready to contribute in meaningful ways as rookies.

 

The 19-year-old Onuaku, who played two seasons at Louisville, averaged 9.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and two blocks a game last season to earn a spot on the All-ACC Defensive team.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj938g6pHSw

[Guiness]

James Harden takes a swipe at Kevin Durant’s Warriors in letter to Rockets fans

By Des Bieler July 11

 

James Harden will be a member of the Rockets for years to come after agreeing to a four-year, $118 million contract extension over the weekend. This means that, barring a trade, he will be competing against the Warriors also for years to come, and in a letter to Houston fans Monday, Harden took a swipe at those rivals, who famously added Kevin Durant last week.

 

“We are not a ‘super-team’ but just a group of guys that want to work hard to be the very best and our work begins immediately,” Harden, a former teammate of Durant’s on the Thunder, wrote. Durant has taken some criticism for leaving Oklahoma City, which coughed up a 3-1 lead over the Warriors in the Western Conference finals, to join Golden State, which already had the reigning NBA MVP in Steph Curry and two other all-stars in Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

 

Meanwhile, Harden’s Rockets struggled to a 41-41 record last season followed by a quick playoff exit, then lost one of their prominent players, Dwight Howard, in free agency and added Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon and Nene. “I can assure you our Team will work hard together, grow together, build together, compete together, and pursue our ultimate goal — another Championship for H-Town — together!” Harden wrote.

 

Harden knows his squad has its work cut out, even if the loss of Howard, who did not mesh well with the high-scoring guard, amounts to addition by subtraction. Anderson and Gordon (if the latter can stay healthy) should give the Rockets some much-needed secondary scoring, but will do little to help Houston stop opponents, particularly the Durant-Curry tandem, from rolling up points.

 

Houston was ousted in the first round, 4-1, by none other than Golden State, which has already won the West two years in a row and set a record last season with 73 regular season wins only to now appear even stronger. But rather than get intimidated or dispirited by the prospect of an unstoppable juggernaut in his conference, Harden apparently wants his teammates to feel like plucky underdogs who can triumph by outworking their overconfident foes.

 

That may seem like a tactic far more easily enunciated than executed, but perhaps the Rockets don’t have many other reasons to feel super about their chances in the upcoming season.

[callboys0812]

James harden is a beast. 50p 10r 12a

[JFK]

Calvin Murphy !