Knowing Dwight Howard’s personality, I think signing with the Rockets would be the correct move for him. The Lakers are a storied franchise in one of the greatest cities in the world, but Dwight isn’t built for LA.
He wants to act like a kid and be coddled in a city where basketball is secondary. Texas is a great place for that. Plus the Rockets have a nice young team, to take the responsibility off Dwight Howard to be great. James Harden is the star and Howard can be the secondary clown act. That is the role he prefers.
I am a little surprised Magic Johnson came to the same conclusion, considering his affiliations with the Lakers, but here is what he had to say.
“I think Dwight Howard probably will make the best decision possible for him,” Johnson said Wednesday. “I would say that he probably would enjoy playing for (Rockets coach) Kevin McHale because coach McHale was a Hall of Fame player and, I feel, with Tim Duncan, the best power forward that has ever played the game.”
Johnson said the combination of Johnson with James Harden — “an emerging superstar and a guy who you can definitely play with,” Johnson said — plus a team that would include Omer Asik, Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons is “right there” as a contender.
“With Dwight Howard, (Houston) would take the next step as being one of the elite teams — I would say one of the best four or five teams in the league — and definitely would give themselves a chance to win a championship,” Johnson said.
I don’t know if I agree they would be a Championship caliber team right off the bat, but they would compete at a higher level than just struggling to make the playoffs.
The Lakers say they have backup plans in place if Dwight leaves, hope they are ready to implement them.