Dwight Howard Says Why He Didn’t Fit with the Houston Rockets

A former big man of the Rockets discussed with ESPN today why his stints with his previous teams did not work.

The Dwight Howard experiment in Houston certainly had its ups and downs. On the upside, he was able to make it to the Conference Finals in the tough Western Conference with the Rockets. He was an All-Star his first year in Houston and had some incredible games.

On the down side, he never really fit into the offensive system. He always wanted the ball in the post, even though he was not very efficient there. As a result, Dwight and James Harden often did not get along because both thought they were the first option on the team. In free agency last summer, Howard left the Rockets and signed with the Atlanta Hawks. Even there, though, he did not fit in well.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski wrote about an interview with Dwight. In the interview, Howard discussed why previous situations did not work for him. You can take a look at the full article here, but we will only be discussing the part about the Rockets.

Why the Dwight Howard Signing Ultimately Failed

Like I previously mentioned, Dwight believes that he is the first option. He wants the ball in the post, somewhere he has not been able to score from since his Orlando days. To this day, he still thinks he should be “the guy” on a team. Take a look at this quote from the interview:

"“I haven’t had a system where I can be who I am since I was in Orlando. The fact that I played with a Kobe [Bryant], a James [Harden], and they were ball-dominant, affected me. But I’ve been in this system before, and I know how dominant I can be. I think I’m smarter now, and that is going to allow me to use my quickness and explosiveness in a better way.”"

The problem for Dwight now is that he will be with another ball dominant guard in Kemba Walker. Obviously not as dominant as Harden or Kobe, but still a scoring point guard. Will he be able to succeed in Charlotte?

Dwight Howard could have been absolutely incredible for the Rockets if he would have bought into the system. Imagine having Dwight actually wanting to run pick and rolls with Harden. Pairing that with his fantastic defense and rim protection, and the Rockets would have had a much better version of Clint Capela! However, Howard still believes he is as good as he was in Orlando. After knee and back problems, that just is not possible.

Dwight Howard is looking to prove people wrong. pic.twitter.com/TqLMDWxcu4

— ESPN (@espn) August 18, 2017

Best of luck to you, Dwight, but you eventually will need to realize what you are best at doing on the court. We will see how he does in Charlotte next season.

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