Houston Rockets Confident After Meeting With Dwight Howard

Despite getting beaten to the punch, the Houston Rockets emerged from their Sunday night dinner meeting with free agent center Dwight Howard feeling good about their chances to land the superstar. The Rockets had their legends take part in the meeting (in person and online), and tried to convince Howard that Houston offers him the best shot at competing for NBA championships. Per the Houston Chronicle: “The Rockets did not get an answer from Dwight Howard and none was expected. They did, however, get just the questions that they hoped to receive. After more than 2 ½ hours meeting with Howard and his representatives at the Bel-Air Hotel, the Rockets were encouraged by many things, but mostly that Howard’s interest seemed to be about the potential to win championships with the Rockets. According to a person with knowledge of the conversations, ‘about 90 percent’ of Howard’s questions were about the team, its potential and how he would fit. The Rockets have hoped that Howard would base his free agency decision on which team would give him the best chance to win championships, a criteria they believe would make them ‘the obvious choice,’ according to a person familiar with the presentation. […] Much of the conversation on Sunday was about how Howard would fit with the current Rockets, with the Rockets citing how he generally plays best with attacking guards, making him a good fit with Jeremy Lin, the advantage of having another quality center on the roster in Omer Asik and the continued growth of forward Chandler Parsons. ‘It went well,’ said Parsons, who is friends with Howard since their days in Orlando. ‘He wants to win and we’re a great fit.’ […] Parsons and James Harden attended the meeting with Kevin McHale handling many of the questions about the team’s potential and how Howard would be used in a retooled offense. Rockets general manager Daryl Morey discussed not only the plans going forward, but was also asked about how the Rockets were built to position themselves to be able to offer a second max contract. Howard is scheduled to meet with the Hawks and Warriors today and with the Mavericks and Lakers on Tuesday. According to a person familiar with the Rockets meeting, the delegation left feeling that it went well, but that Howard wanted to take his time to consider the options, unlike the rushed, trade deadline decision to remain under contract, rather than to become a free agent last summer.”