OFFICIAL: Rockets land Dwight Howard!

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Burning questions: Southwest

What kind of impact realistically will Dwight Howard have on the Rockets' defense?

Signing Howard was the culmination of a several-year pursuit of a superstar for Houston, who carefully amassed assets and managed their salary cap to lay in wait for the right opportunity. Pairing him alongside James Harden, the Rockets have the framework and foundation for a title contending team for years to come. At the very least, they catapulted themselves from an entertaining team fighting for a playoff berth and a first-round knockout to a 50-win caliber outfit with playoff hopes that end beyond April 30.

One of the main areas of improvement for the Rockets was on the defensive end, where they were a below-average team in defensive rating (106.1 points per 100 possessions, 16th in NBA). Houston is one of the leading franchises in the league when it comes to incorporating data analysis into in-game strategy (something I like to call "Mathketball"). They did a superb job of executing that on the offensive end by avoiding low-efficiency shots in the midrange and maximizing attempts at the rim, from 3-point range (especially the corners) and getting to the free throw line.

Defensively, they tried to achieve the same principles in reverse (limit shots at the rim and 3-point line, force midrange shots), with mixed success. The Rockets allowed the seventh-fewest attempts at the rim (good) but the sixth-highest field goal percentage there (not so good). They also allowed the eighth-most corner 3-pointers and fourth-most above-the-break 3-pointers. Some of this is attributable to their pace, but it is also indicative of their weak perimeter defense. They struggled to guard any many guard-oriented motion offenses and dribble handoffs, and were a poor closeout team on shooters.

Houston actually already had one of the best defensive centers in the league in Omer Asik, and he wasn't able to correct these issues, so it's a bit of a stretch to think that Howard (who is a better defender than Asik, but not that much better) will miraculously cure all that ills Houston on the defensive end. Even playing Asik and Howard together, while it would improve rim protection, would not solve many of the issues that face them on the outside. Rather, any improvements must come on the perimeter: improved effort and focus from Harden and Chandler Parsons, more minutes for plus-defenders such as Patrick Beverley and Ronnie Brewer, etc.​

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>&quot;If he doesn't learn to shoot free throws, he's going to have the same problem Shaq had,&quot; Rick Barry on Dwight Howard.</p>&mdash; John Canzano (@JohnCanzanoBFT) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnCanzanoBFT/statuses/371013698527047680">August 23, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Jeanie Buss, clarifying her thoughts on Dwight Howard leaving and where her brother Jim didn't live up to how their father would've handled getting Dwight to stay:

"It's disappointing that Dwight isn't here. I feel like we failed him. This is the mother part of me. When you become a Laker, I feel I become your mama. Maybe I get to sentimental for the basketball side of things. But when we got Dwight my phone lit up with people wanting to see him play. I told them, 'If you're only going to come to one game, come in January' because I wasn't sure Dwight was going to play until then because of his back. I was so impressed that from Day One, he threw himself out there. He took the risk to play as many games as he could."

There are those in Dwight's camp who now say that was the Lakers' first mistake: playing him early and then not defending him from criticism when he didn't play as well as hoped or anticipated.

Rather, the Lakers joined the fray in questioning his effort. Jeanie also feels the Lakers did not spend enough time cultivating a relationship with Dwight over the course of the season: "I asked Dwight to visit my father at the end of September or early October. That was the only time they got to spend together. I know my dad would've spent a lot more time with him if he hadn't been sick. He was once the age of these players and he had to work his way up. My dad was able to do that and he could identify with them in that way. My dad's first job ever was as a teacher. He had a way to articulate and explain things in a way people could understand."

A source from Dwight's camp says "there wasn't a lot of communication" during the course of the season. In the Lakers' final meeting before Howard made his decision to go to Houston, Jim apparently acknowledged he did not spend as much time with Dwight as he would've liked but gave a very touching explanation attributing it to his struggles with his father's illness and ultimate passing.

All that aside, asked point-blank if she trusted her brother's decision-making, Jeanie said, "I trust that my dad set things up for us to be successful."

Jim, for his part, was more supportive of Jeanie: "I have 100 percent confidence in Jeanie. I communicate with my sister constantly. She's not privy to the daily operations of the basketball side but I keep her informed." ​

 

Ric Bucher:

Talks with various people close to the situation make it clear there were two prerequisites for Dwight Howard to remain a Laker:

Fire Mike D'Antoni and amnesty, or at the very least muzzle, Kobe Bryant. As audacious as that might sound, it doesn't come without precedent in Lakers' history. When Kobe re-upped in 2004, it coincided with Shaq being shipped to Miami and Phil Jackson being let go. Of course, Kobe didn't have to pressure the team braintrust -- Mitch Kupchak and Jerry and Jim Buss -- to make those moves, since Dr. Buss, in particular, was done with both Shaq and Phil at the time.

The Lakers apparently asked Dwight to be patient on both fronts for at least another season, telling him "hey, you're going to have to gut this out another year," a source said, although it sounds as if VP of basketball ops Jim Buss isn't ready to abandon Kobe anytime soon. "Dwight didn't want to play with Kobe for 2-3 more years," Buss said. "I'm going to stand behind Kobe because of his history with the franchise."

It would seem, then, with all that happened, the Lakers had the wherewithal to keep Howard if they had desired; they simply found the price too high.

...

I know you're tired of this story and I hope this is the last post on the Howard-Lakers subject but an important clarification from my previous item:

Howard, in the final conversations before leaving for Houston, didn't specifically tell the Lakers that if coach Mike D'Antoni was fired he'd stay and the Lakers never made the offer to do so if it would convince Howard to re-up. Did Dwight have issues with his role in Mike's offense? Yes. Was he enamored with playing for Phil Jackson? Apparently. But the fact is he's headed to the Rockets, who run -- or have run -- practically the same pick-and-roll offense that D'Antoni employs and, as Jeremy Lin insinuated recently and I've observed firsthand, Kevin McHale can be as publicly ascerbic as D'Antoni or any other coach assessing a player.

While there are those who insist the Lakers had the wherewithal to keep Howard, the feeling is not unanimous: some involved believe he never intended to stay. That, perhaps, is why it's difficult to put this story in the rearview mirror -- because the reasons that Howard is not a Laker are vital in defining both who he is and who the Lakers are in the wake of Dr. Buss' death. Those reasons remain a point of contention.

This is certainly not the first time that has happened in the wake of a star player changing addresses -- or even a star center leaving the Lakers, re: Shaq -- and maybe this is a subject better tackled by a marriage counselor or divorce lawyer, but if the parties involved can't agree on what prompted their split, maybe that's a sign that they weren't meant to be together.