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Rockets will give free agent Howard a full-court press
Jonathan Feigen 06/29/2013 2:13 PM
After two years trying to land Dwight Howard to be the next in line of their franchise centers, the Rockets will sit down Sunday night for Dinner with Dwight.
The Rockets contingent, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting, will meet with Howard as soon as NBA rules allow, joining him and his representatives for dinner in Los Angeles, where the Rockets will hope to do more than make their case about their potential to compete for titles if he joins them.
That will be a major part of their pitch, perhaps the point they will emphasize. Rockets officials declined to comment about their plans, but they are expected to not only outline how Howard would be used but also how the team could grow, citing everything from their full collection of salary-cap exceptions and first-round draft picks in the coming years but also the young, talented assets who will improve or could be turned into veteran pieces.
Along with coach Kevin McHale and general manager Daryl Morey, they will bring Hakeem Olajuwon, who has worked with Howard in the offseason, to make their case, along with fellow Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler. Chandler Parsons and James Harden, who over the years have developed friendships with Howard, will be there. Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, president Tad Brown and executive vice president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas will take part.
The Rockets will make a pitch that will cover the potential of the team with Howard and describe how he would be used in an offense retooled around his strengths and McHale’s taste for inside play lacking on the Rockets’ roster in McHale’s two seasons.
There will be discussions about how McHale would work on Howard’s game.
But with the points they hope to make, they plan to keep the occasion as informal and easy as possible, calling it a chance to get to know one another. They will do that with the hope Howard, 27, will agree that of the teams he is considering, they are the best-equipped franchise to compete for a title.
Parsons has his ear
Parsons, who speaks often with Howard, said Howard often has described competing for championships to be his primary goal when selecting his next team, a sentiment Howard has expressed as well.
“This is my chance to choose my own destiny instead of letting someone else choose it,” Howard told the Orange County Register. “So I’m going to really sit down and think about what is best for me as far as basketball and what is going to make me happy.
“I will sit down with these teams and hear what they have to say, see if their plans and my plans fit and go with the best option that will help my game expand, and get to where I want to get to. “There’s nothing one team can say to sway me away from another team. It’s just going to be what’s best for me basketball-wise. That’s how I’m going to approach it.”
‘Great guys’
The Rockets will try to convince him they are best for him “basketball-wise.” But Parsons said he also has emphasized the atmosphere and chemistry with the team.
“We have great guys,” Parsons said. “We don’t have any egos. We don’t have any cocky, arrogant guys. We have guys with the same mindset and same attitude. We genuinely all like each other and enjoy playing together.
“All of us text back and forth pretty much every day. Whether it’s us joking around or us talking about what we’re doing to get better or trying to get together in the same city for group workouts, we’re always looking for ways to get better and stay in touch and keep that relationship most teams don’t have. We’re all friends. We’re all thinking about each other.”
Beyond that, he said they are ready to win, and particularly to win if Howard joins them, listing among other things similarities to Howard’s Finals team in Orlando, with the added benefit of a second top All-Star in Harden.
“We have a great coach that is a Hall-of-Fame center that he can work with every single day,” Parsons said. “We have me and James who are really good wings. Put him in pick-and-roll, make him roll hard and they can’t double because we’re out there. Jeremy (Lin) can push the ball and control our offense. You have Omer (Asik), who is like (Marcin) Gortat you had in Orlando, a really good center. You guys can push each other in practice every day.
“If you look at our roster and Orlando, you have him, you have Omer as Gortat, you have me as (Hedo) Turkoglu. We have a lot of pieces similar to that that can be successful. And we have the best shooting guard in the NBA.”
Team built for Howard
Somewhere between appetizers and steaks, the Rockets hope Howard will come to feel the same way, having long shaped their roster for the pursuit of a max-contract free agent, targeting Howard and bringing in Harden to lure him.
That has long been a theme of their plans, with Morey even changing the line on his Twitter account to a simple message: “Great players understand that you need to play with other great players to win the title.”
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Exactly. If it comes down to money they not gonna say "Uhh yea let's get rid of Durant and keep Westbrook and Ibaka....". 
