In the spirit of this being NBA Draft week, and with so much uncertainty surrounding what the Rockets may do in their fourth straight NBA Lottery, it seems more interesting to discuss other recent NBA headlines.
Dwight Howard expresses regret joining the Rockets
Initially, I thought this can’t be accurate that Dwight Howard regrets joining the Rockets. If anything, it would seem the other way around.
But Howard did, in fact, express these sentiments on a recent edition of the “Above the Rim” podcast. I went back and listened myself.
For those who remember, then Rockets general manager Daryl Morey was obsessed with acquiring Howard. He offered everything he could to get him out of Orlando, but wasn’t successful in landing Howard until after one uneventful season in Los Angeles where it was obvious Howard wasn’t the player for Kobe Bryant.
Surely, pairing Howard with James Harden would produce an NBA Championship with the Rockets. Not. It didn’t happen during their three-year run together from 2013-16.
“It was really tough, man. It was really tough because I’m like here is a young James Harden and the situation in Houston.
“I’m like here’s a team with James, Jeremy Lin, Chandler Parsons, this young nucleus, and I have a chance to grow with them as a veteran.
“What really got to me was the fact that I was gonna be able to work with one of my favorite players of all-time: Hakeem Olajuwon. So I’m like I’ll be in Houston, there’s no state tax. Daryl Morey did a good job of convincing me.
“It was a difficult decision, man, and looking back on it, I made an emotional decision. That wasn’t good.”
Howard continued.
“That’s one thing that I wish I could go back and I could be like ‘let me make this decision wisely and weigh everything out.’
“Like, I don’t think I weighed my decision really, really well at the time. I think my emotions got the best of me because I was on this emotional low already from having to leave Orlando, then coming to the Lakers and us not succeeding.
“I sit back and look like dang. If I would’ve really cherished those moments with Kobe as a teammate, and what it could’ve been if we would’ve had two, three, four years together of playing basketball and how much better I would’ve gotten.
“All different types of things could’ve happened. I think it would’ve been a different story.”
Morey lured Howard with a four-year $88 million free agent deal, which was $30 million less than the Lakers could have offered.
But it’s the Rockets who should be crying “buyer’s remorse.” What they had to show for Morey’s efforts to finally land Howard was a first-round playoff exit in his first year, followed by a Western Conference Finals appearance in a season in which Howard missed half the year, and ending with the tumultuous 2015-16 season in which Kevin McHale was fired and clearly Harden and Howard were at odds.
Howard was still his double-double guy with the Rockets, but the decline was starting to show.
LeBron’s influence is unprecedented
One of the most interesting stories this NBA Draft cycle surprisingly wasn’t who will be picked first or even who the Rockets might take with the No.3 overall pick. The biggest conversation was about which team would select Bronny James, a player whose talents would not be draftable at all were it not for his name and father.
Call it the LeBron James influence.
The minute LeBron said his dream was to play on the same team as his son during his final playing years, speculation started about who would draft Junior. LeBron had made sure it would line up with this summer being a player-option year with the Lakers and his son being a ready-or-not one-and-done player at USC.
The pursuit began with the Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves and quietly Cleveland all lining up to take Bronny James as high as a late first-round selection, but more than likely a second-round pick.
We are talking about a 6-foot-2 player who lacks the skillset to play the position best suited for his stature, which is point guard.
But imagine the surprise of NBA brass this week when LeBron and Bronny’s agent, Rich Paul, made the revelation that it’s not a guarantee the team that drafts Bronny will also get his superstar father in tow.
Will Sam Cassell get a head coaching job?
Speaking of the influence of LeBron James. How about the Lakers’ bizarre hiring of JJ Redick, who had never coached a pee-wee basketball team, much less coached anywhere that suggests he’s deserving of one of the premiere NBA jobs.
But that is what happened last week. The Lakers pulled the trigger after swinging and missing on the UConn coach Danny Hurley and because they think hiring Redick is what is required to get LeBron James to opt back into his contract in L.A.
But what does this all have to do with Cassell, the man who won two NBA Championships with the Rockets? Well it is one more job Cassell deserved and didn’t get despite a killer resume that now includes an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics this season.
Cassell has spent 15 seasons sitting on the bench as an NBA assistant, and has been part of championship teams as a player and an assistant coach.
Redick is none of those things. In fact, his only claim to the throne is starting a podcast with LeBron and working as an NBA analyst since he retired from playing.
Every year there are at least five NBA jobs Cassell seems to be a candidate for, yet he hasn’t landed “not one” despite being one of the top NBA assistants.
What does Cassell have to do in order to get a job?
