Upon the request of their star players, Dwight Howard and James Harden, it would appear that the Houston Rockets will be keeping their core of the team intact despite assumptions made outside the organization.
"The reality is James and Dwight want to play with Jeremy and Omer," GM Daryl Morey said Saturday after introducing Howard in a Houston news conference, referring to shooting guard James Harden, point guard Jeremy Lin and center Omer Asik. "I've been kicked down to assistant GM. They're going to be here."
Morey also addressed his expectations he'll have for Asik now with Howard in the fold.
"When we didn't have Omer out there last year, we [stunk]," Morey said, according to the Houston Chronicle. "I mean, we were terrible. That was where we lost games. When we had Omer out there, we were a top-10 defensive team. Now we have a defensive player of the year and Omer. That position is so important if you're going to have a solid defense. Now we have two of the best in the league. I'm very excited."
Howard himself said that the his vision of the Rockets future includes both Asik and Lin as he believes they'll be instrumental to the team's success in the coming years.
"Omer might not really see the total big picture right now, and I totally understand," Howard said, according to the Chronicle. "He's a young guy and he wants to really be respected. I would tell him when I see him, 'You've done a great job on this team. I'm going to help you and this team get better.'
"He's a big piece to us winning a championship if we're going to make that run. He and Jeremy Lin will be very good playing with me. I'm going to do whatever I can to make those guys' lives better. I realize how much they mean to this team."
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