The front office of the Houston Rockets pushed for Clint Capela to receive more playing time last season over Dwight Howard.

The push added to the disharmony that played a big role in the Rockets' disappointing season.

J.B. Bickerstaff resisted complying with the wishes of general manager Daryl Morey and owner Leslie Alexander regarding a drastic reduction in Howard's playing time. 

Input from James Harden influenced Houston's desire to decrease the minutes of Howard but team sources insist Harden was never part of those discussions.

"There were times I was disinterested because of situations that happened behind the scenes that really hurt me," Howard said in a May interview with ESPN's Jackie MacMullan. "It left me thinking, 'This is not what I signed up for.'"

Asked to elaborate, Howard added: "I felt like my role was being reduced. I went to Daryl and said, 'I want to be more involved.' Daryl said, 'No, we don't want you to be.' My response was, 'Why not? Why am I here?' It was shocking to me that it came from him instead of our coach."

Howard learned of management's attempts to cut his minutes in midseason and shared a mutual interest with the Rockets front office to move him before the trade deadline. 

The Rockets anticipated that Howard would likely leave in free agency, making Capela's development critical to the franchise's future, and management felt that Capela's performance merited more minutes.