Dwight Howard opens up on frustrations with GM Daryl Morey, Magic breakup

The former All-Star was 'hurt' by what GM Daryl Morey told him about his touches

By Matt Moore

May 19, 2016 at 1:43 pm ET • 5 min read

In a wide-ranging interview with ESPN, Dwight Howard opened up on his past, present and future. He touched on why he wanted out of Orlando, what happened between himself and Kobe Bryant, and how his relationship with James Harden deteriorated.

In the interview, Howard comes off as he did in the TNT segment earlier this month: sympathetic, sensitive, earnest. He admitted to being "hurt" behind the scenes, and that after expressing his dissatisfaction with his role, he was told plainly by GM Daryl Morey that the Rockets did not want Howard in a larger role.

ESPN: You mentioned your season in Houston didn't end the way you wanted. You have also admitted you were "disinterested" during parts of the year. Why was that?
Howard: "There were times I was disinterested because of situations that happened behind the scenes that really hurt me. It left me thinking, 'This is not what I signed up for.'''
ESPN: What specifically are you referring to?
Howard: "I felt like my role was being reduced. I went to [Rockets general manager] Daryl [Morey] and said, 'I want to be more involved.' Daryl said, 'No, we don't want you to be.' My response was, 'Why not? Why am I here?' It was shocking to me that it came from him instead of our coach. So I said to him, 'No disrespect to what you do, but you've never played the game. I've been in this game a long time. I know what it takes to be effective.'''
ESPN: Some of your teammates in Houston didn't appreciate your "disinterest.'' Any regrets on how you handled it?
Howard: "My friends kept telling me, 'Even if you aren't getting shots, there are so many other things you can control while you are on the floor.' And they were right. I allowed not getting the ball to affect me. That's on me. As a big, someone who has been the focal point of the team, who is still young, who still has some great years in front of me, you run the floor, you sprint as hard as you can, you duck in, and still, you don't get the ball. It brings you down. It sucks the energy out of you. I had long conversations with people close to me who said, 'Dwight, this is going to make you look bad. Don't keep doing this.' So I listened to them.''

Source: TrueHoop Presents: Dwight Howard Q&A -- Superman returns?.

Let me boil this down really quick: Howard wants the ball in the post. He still believes he can be a productive player in the low block. He has maintained he needs the ball.

Here's the problem with that:

Season	Post-up percentile: Dwight Howard (league-wide -- Synergy Sports)
2012-2013	37%
2013-2014	29%
2014-2015	35%
2015-2016	45%

So Howard hasn't been in the top 50th percentile in the past four seasons since he left Orlando. Some of that is due to the low number of shots players take in the post, but if Howard were a good post player, he'd still be somewhere north of the 60th percentile.

So the Rockets didn't feed Howard in the post because he's not good at it. That said, there are two other situations where Howard simply didn't get the ball. Often in transition, even if Howard got a deep seal on his man, James Harden either attacked the basket to draw a foul, or the Rockets kicked for a transition 3-pointer. It's just how a. Harden is and b. how the offense works. Second, Howard was only used as a pick-and-roll man in 9.3 percent of his possessions via Synergy Sports. He was 73rd percentile in that set.

He's got a point there. Howard just didn't get the ball enough in screen-and-roll situations. Whether that's the ball-handler's inability to make the read or an unwillingness to give him the ball, Howard still makes an impact on that end.

Howard says in the interview he's not "ruling anything out" when it comes to returning to the Rockets. But with the team seriously considering Mike D'Antoni for their next coach -- a guy Howard openly clashed with in L.A. -- and his open frustration with James Harden, the writing is on the wall. Maybe Howard is doing these interviews to curry favor and restore his image, but he comes off as a sincere, and sympathetic, figure.

The one area where you just can't accept what he says, though, is this:

ESPN: If you could do it over, would you stay in Orlando?

Howard: "I loved Orlando. I loved the city, but at that time, I didn't feel winning was a priority. I really wanted to win. People will come back and say, 'Well, you were all over the place making movies.' Like I don't love the game or something. I love basketball. It is my passion. But, I've always thought if you just sit back and stay in one lane your whole life, I'll get old and be done with basketball, and I won't be able to do anything else because I wouldn't have planted any of those seeds in other places.''

Source: TrueHoop Presents: Dwight Howard Q&A -- Superman returns?

Howard had a team that had gone to the Finals three years before, and had made the playoffs every season over the last five. He had good teammates and while GM Otis Smith made some mistakes, that's going to happen. Howard could have stuck it out and might have had a much better chance at success than his leaving. There was no reason to think the Lakers or Rockets (or the Nets, another team on his list) were better than Orlando. He had it good there, and he blew it because he and his agent Dan Fegan wanted him in a bigger market. It's OK to want that, but if you make that decision, you have to be honest with it.

The Magic wanted to win, and the organization gave him his best chance to do so. If Howard is going to be this open about how he feels, he needs to be willing to accept the dissonance between what he perceives as reality and what actually happened.