Daryl Morey has positioned the Rockets for a blockbuster move after amnestying Luis Scola and selecting Jeremy Lamb, Royce White and Terrence Jones with the Nos. 12, 16 and 18 picks of last month’s draft.

Beyond Lamb, White and Jones, the Rockets could use a combination of 2011 draft picks Marcus Morris, Donatas Motiejunas and Chandler Parsons in a potential trade for Dwight Howard or Andrew Bynum.

“It’s very similar to what Boston did,” Morey said in reference to the Celtics’ 2008 trade for Kevin Garnett. “Hopefully, it will yield the same result.”

Houston is likely to have at least one lottery pick next summer, and could have another from Toronto as well.

“We’ll be very well set up in a year,” Morey said.

The Rockets encouraged Jon Diebler to play a second overseas because they have an abundance of wing players.

"(Rockets general manager) Daryl Morey told me they can see him on their roster in the future but this year is not the best time," Diebler’s agent, Lance Young said.

"Jon said he's going to go back to Europe this year and become a better player, and he'll go to training camp with the Rockets next year and make their roster. If he doesn't, he'll become a free agent."

Diebler signed a one-year deal with Pinar Karsiyaka, a team in Izmir, Turkey.

Carmelo Anthony dismissed the notion that he helped run Jeremy Lin out of New York, saying "believe it or not I've been one of the true supporters of Jeremy Lin.

“Money talks at the end of the day. I said this in Vegas, Houston threw something out there that he couldn’t refuse ... I’m proud of him, happy for him. I wish him all the best.”

Anthony communicated with Lin during the free agency process and maintains that he hoped the third-year point guard would remain in New York.

“It’s not something I brag about or broadcast,” Anthony said. “But I’ve been one of his supporters along the way. After he signed with Houston I talked to him. He texted me. I’ll keep that disclosed what we talked about it. But it was a great text. What he sent me really meant a lot.”

Orlando Magic General Manager Rob Hennigan met with the franchise’s disenchanted superstar Dwight Howard on Wednesday in Los Angeles, sources have confirmed to RealGM.

Hennigan traveled to Los Angeles to have a face-to-face discussion with Howard with the hopes of persuading him to back off his trade request and allow the organization more time to build a championship contender. Hennigan, however, was unsuccessful in his pitch as Howard reiterated his desire to leave Orlando as soon as possible, according to sources.

Hennigan’s pitch to Howard had a heavy focus on the two men developing a relationship that would be valuable to the Magic moving forward. He expressed a sincere interest in getting to know the six-time All-Star and working with him to improve the team. Howard, however, was expecting an outline of how the team planned to improve and get back to a championship-contending level, something he didn’t receive during the hour-long meeting, according to sources.

Howard was staunch in his stance and again made it clear to Hennigan that he has no desire to return to Orlando. He told the 30-year-old general manager that he would “never sign another contract with the Magic,” according to sources that spoke with RealGM.

During the meeting, Howard informed Hennigan that he would be willing to re-sign with the Lakers at the end of the 12-13 season if the two teams were able to complete a trade.

The scenarios Howard was open to during the meeting were: An immediate trade to the Lakers, a January trade to the Brooklyn Nets or a clean break at the end of the 2012-13 season. But he was clear that he would not return to the Magic, choosing to leave as a free agent after the season, sources told RealGM.

Hennigan informed Howard that he didn’t have any deals in the works and wasn’t quite sure how to respond to what he was told, according to sources. Hennigan was noncommittal on any of the discussed scenarios as the meeting ended.

Hennigan’s noncommittal approach has only frustrated Howard more as it’s believed that several acceptable offers have been presented to the Magic only to be turned down due to a lack of a true intent to trade him, sources said.

There is now a belief that Hennigan and the Magic have half-heartedly entered into trade talks, resulting in frustration among the many teams rumored to have been included in the ongoing negotiations.

Trading Howard, however, is a process the Magic won’t rush as they understand his value on and off the court and aren’t willing, at this point, to lose him without acceptable compensation.

Daryl Morey is banking on the limited displays of potential Omer Asik flashed as a reserve with the Bulls.

"They've been the best defensive team in the league the past couple of years," Morey said of the Bulls. "They've been at their best defensively with Omer in the middle, better than with their other bigs on the team. Obviously he's going against non-starter players often. That said, when he played against starters he played great, and in those limited minutes, even when you adjust for maybe some of the backups he was going against, he was still elite, elite."

Houston landed Asik after the Bulls chose not to match Morey’s offer sheet for the restricted free agent.

"We think that's where you can find opportunity in this league," Morey said. "In free agency it's very hard to find players to add and that have a fit in the overall structure of what we're trying to do to get back to being a championship contender. One way to do it is to find a guy who hasn't played much who we really believe in, and then add him to our team.

"Anytime you can get a defensive presence like him - 7-footer; long; probably the best paint-rim protector short of one or two players in the league the last couple of years; superior rebounder - that's always a good thing to add no matter what your roster looks like.

"We think he's a 10-plus a night rebound guy (and) one of the best defensive bigs in the league. Obviously not many people have seen him play because he did have a limited role there, and time will tell if our scouting that we believe in is right. But we believe in Omer and he believes in himself."

The following 36 NBA players are currently under contract for the 12-13 season and are on their respective country's Olympic rosters:

Atlanta Hawks - no players

Boston Celtics - no players

Brooklyn Nets - Deron Williams (USA)

Charlotte Bobcats - no players

Chicago Bulls - Luol Deng (Great Britain)

Cleveland Cavaliers - Anderson Varejao (Brazil)

Dallas Mavericks - no players

Denver Nuggets - Timofey Mozgov (Russia)

Detroit Pistons - no players

Golden State Warriors - no players

Houston Rockets - no players

Indiana Pacers - no players

Los Angeles Clippers - Chris Paul (USA)

Los Angeles Lakers - Kobe Bryant (USA), Pau Gasol (Spain)

Memphis Grizzlies - Marc Gasol (Spain) 

Miami Heat - LeBron James (USA)

Milwaukee Bucks - no players

Minnesota Timberwolves - Kevin Love (USA), Alexey Shved (Russia)

New Orleans Hornets - Anthony Davis (USA), Al-Farouq Aminu (Nigeria)

New York Knicks - Carmelo Anthony (USA), Tyson Chandler (USA), Pablo Prigioni (Argentina)

Oklahoma City Thunder - Kevin Durant (USA), Russell Westbrook (USA), James Harden (USA), Serge Ibaka (Spain)

Orlando Magic - no players

Philadelphia 76ers - Andre Iguodala (USA)

Phoenix Suns - Luis Scola (Argentina)

Portland Trail Blazers - Nicolas Batum (France), Victor Claver (Spain), Joel Freeland (Great Britain)

Sacramento Kings - no players

San Antonio Spurs - Tony Parker (France), Manu Ginobili (Argentina), Boris Diaw (France), Tiago Splitter (Brazil), Patty Mills (Australia), Nando De Colo (France)

Toronto Raptors - Jose Calderon (Spain), Jonas Valanciunas (Lithuania), Linas Klezia (Lithuania)

Utah Jazz - no players

Washington Wizards - Nene (Brazil), Kevin Seraphin (France)

• Click here to view the full Olympic rosters.

The Bulls will officially decline to match Omer Asik's three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet from the Rockets, according to a report.

Asik’s departure will clear the way for Chicago to sign Kirk Hinrich, who is expected to start at point guard while Derrick Rose recovers from knee surgery.

Both Marco Belinelli and Nazr Mohammed are expected to sign short-term deals with the Bulls this week.

Jon Diebler is close to signing a contract with Pinar Karsiyaka, of the Turkish Basketball League.

Diebler spent last season with Greek team Panionios.

Houston recently acquired the rights to Diebler from Portland as as part of a three-team trade that sent Courtney Lee to the Celtics.

The Magic have told executives with other teams that they may not trade Dwight Howard, according to sources.

Orlando has told other executives that they will only trade Howard in a deal that is great for the franchise.

Another executive who has been in touch with the Magic front office believes they may wait until the February trade deadline to complete a trade of Howard.

Both the Lakers and Rockets are interested in trading for Howard, but both teams don't believe the Magic are prepared to trade him at this point.

The Nets could reemerge as a trade possibility if the Magic wait until January 15th to execute a trade for Howard. Brook Lopez becomes eligible to be traded on that date.

Neither the Nets or Lakers, the two destinations Howard has told confidantes he would sign with long-term with, have sufficient cap space to sign him outright next offseason.