We are probably facing the final days of the partnership between James Harden and Dwight Howard, and measured against typical expectations, it will be categorized as a disappointment. This is because it was never a partnership. Every Houston Rockets' game was Harden’s game to do with it what he pleased; Howard was just one of his teammates. 

This isn’t altogether unusual; when superstars team up one usually has to slide into the role of second banana. But the responsibility of understanding and incorporating how to utilize his teammates falls on the alpha dog. People enjoy poking fun at Howard, but plenty of his lack of success with Houston is on the shoulders of Harden.

Harden’s time with Houston has been an immediate showcase of his skills from his first game there. We know that he is one of the five best basketball players on the planet. We’ve seen how effective he can be. We are now starting to realize that he might be the trickiest player of his skill level to build a team around that the league has ever seen. He needs the ball in his hands to create. When he’s playing off the ball he can take himself out of the play to an embarrassing degree. He’s talented enough to beat good teams strictly through his isolation sets and pick and rolls, but there is really no alternative.

This season Howard has averaged 8.4 shots per game. To put that in context, Robin Lopez averaged 8.3 shots per game for the Knicks this season. Zaza Pachulia touched the ball considerably more for the Mavericks than Howard did for Houston in the first half of the season. There have been quarter stretches when Howard’s only touches come from offensive rebounds. A big man of his skill and potential dominance should be given at least a few opportunities to post up his defender or be treated like a realistic option out of the pick and roll. These complaints sound childish coming from Howard (he did choose to play with Harden, after all), but the simple truth is that it has to be miserable for a player like him to play with Harden.

And so he’ll opt-out of the final year of his contract with Houston if he wants to be utilized and keep whatever semblance of sanity he ever started out with. There are two questions to address once this takes place: a.) Where should he go? And b.) How will the Rockets address his absence?

The first question is a tough one because the Dwight Howard experiment hasn’t worked anywhere for very long. He sabotaged the situation that suited him best with Stan Van Gundy and the Orlando Magic. He didn’t fit the superstar role with the Lakers. He seems to have reached a point of acceptance that he will be perceived in a negative light in most contexts and teams willing to commit touches to an aging center are limited. What Howard likely wants is a big contract for a contender that will utilize him on offense in a big market without scapegoating him for every mistake. He can, as they say, join the club.

There is one franchise that comes the closest to checking off such criteria. The Dallas Mavericks need an athletic center on their roster more than any team in the league. Howard will actually benefit from the attention that defenders pay to Nowitzki who will happily share the scoring load. Chandler Parsons is dying to play with an athlete like Howard to run high pick-and-rolls with. Howard would see lobs on a regular basis. The Mavericks need defensive rim protection and rebounds badly, and Rick Carlisle would promise Howard post touches in exchange for such responsibilities.

The Mavericks wouldn’t be in the short list of title contenders with the addition of Howard, but they would be a team to reckon with. From a media standpoint, Howard would also have the option to hide behind Mark Cuban. That’s not to demean Howard, but Cuban has always had a knack for deflecting what he perceives as unfair criticisms of his players.

The Mavericks won’t offer Howard a max-contract strictly based on injury history, but they will likely make a semi-competitive offer. Howard nixed the Mavericks in favor of playing with another superstar in Harden. That superstar has clearly not been fun for Howard to play with. The most rational option for him in July will be in Dallas. The clock is ticking on his career, and he can’t afford another wrong decision.

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The Rockets have their guy, and they won’t use Howard’s failings with Houston as an indictment on Harden, or as evidence that he needs to change his game. They’ll likely look at things from the opposite perspective.

You aren’t going to sign a lot of talented big men who will thrive next to Harden. So the Rockets are basically incubating one. His name is Clint Capela. The second year big man was drafted at 19 years old with raw skills at best. Capela has pure athleticism and happy-to-be-here innocence reeking of potential. His development has been rapid. He is learning touch, nuance, and toughness.

“Playing against physicality [is where he has developed most],” Rockets coach JB Bickerstaff told me. “There was a time when guys that were bigger or stronger would bump him and hit him and he wasn’t able to make the plays through that contact. He’s learned how to use his quickness and athleticism and his intelligence to beat those guys.”

In order to succeed alongside Harden, a big man needs to do the little things: defend, rebound, screen defenders for Harden, and crash the offensive glass. It’s fair to chastise Howard for failing at any of these things, but he lives in a far different context than someone like Capela. Howard is aware of how effective he can be as a scoring threat. He is a former No. 1 overall draft pick who has successfully been a top option on an NBA Finals team. Games worth of evidence that he won’t be given the opportunity to contribute in that way would only naturally dig at his motivation to do the little things. 

The Rockets are the ones that drafted Capela 25th overall out of Switzerland so they are the ones who can decide what kind of player to shape him into. His abilities and confidence on the floor are only going to improve. As a young player, if he can get 36 minutes per game setting numerous screens for Harden in a single possession, attacking the offensive and defensive glass, and providing energy regardless of offensive touches, then Capela will do just that without voicing any complaints.

Harden’s immense talent gives the Rockets no choice but to go all in on him. Capela’s role on the Rockets will be completely tied to complementing Harden. If he does a good job of that, then it will be a very big role.