At the very beginning of the season, expectations are much higher for the Houston Rockets. With a combination of Dwight Howard and James Harden, almost every NBA enthusiast believed that this season the Rockets would be a contender, especially after their performance last regular season.
However, such expectation was not translated into a sweet reality, even after they have axed their head coach Kevin McHale, in the hopes of making some significant change. Despite having a new coach, the team has not exhibited a contender like performance in their past games. That is why clamours of Rockets fans have proliferated the social media. In a report published by Yibada, it cited a social media post detailing that;
"If Houston doesn't turn it around soon, they may decide it's a 'him or me' situation with Dwight and Harden, which is reportedly part of the problem already. So, obviously Houston picks Harden over Howard - he's younger, healthier, better contract, better player. But you ideally don't want to send Howard to a Western Conf team that's also vying for one of those tough playoff spots. So then our list is Eastern Conference playoff contenders that might need rim protection badly enough to offset the bad things Dwight brings."
True enough, with such expert like opinion cited by the report, rumors of Howard possibly being traded to the Atlanta Hawks are now being reported. According to yibada, "Despite being 30, Howard is not a slowpoke and can still run on an offense like the Atlanta Hawks. He may be the piece that the Hawks need to get from good to elite." In exchange for Howard's service, the report also suggested that a multi-player deal which would include Jeff Teague and Tiago Splitter could be a good step in exchange for Howard.
Though the speculated trade is far from being actualized, it still somehow makes sense especially that Howard's wish on his birthday is to win a championship. "That's the only thing I play for, is to win a championship. So, I'll be very thankful when that day happens," expressed Howard via realgm. And perhaps a transfer of team, any other contending team, could make such wish of Howard come true.
