Howard takes beef regarding reduced role to GM

Center says Morey lent unsympathetic ear to his situation

For the second week in a row, Rockets center Dwight Howard got a lot off his chest in a candid interview.

This time it was in a Q&A with ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan that was released Thursday morning.

In the interview, Howard said he went to general manager Daryl Morey and asked to be more involved after his role seemed reduced with the team.

According to Howard, Morey’s answer was “No.”

“There were times I was disinterested because of situations that happened behind the scenes that really hurt me,” Howard said. “It left me thinking, ‘This is not what I signed up for.’

“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. So I said to him, ‘No disrespect to what you do, but you’ve never played the game. I’ve been in this game a long time. I know what it takes to be effective.’ ”

Morey declined comment to ESPN for the article.

Rockets veteran guard Jason Terry joined Nick Wright on Fox

Sports Radio’s “The Herd” on Thursday and said Morey’s comments were known around the team, but he also clarified the situation.

“Definitely. It was something that was openly spoken about throughout the season,” Terry said. “I have a great relationship with Dwight and he and I talk all the time because my job, again, is to keep these guys locked in and stay the course, and that was one of the things that was hurtful to him and he couldn’t understand it.

“But I said ‘Dwight, listen, at some point in your career, you are going to have to decide do you want to become a champion? If becoming a champion means set more screens, roll harder to the basket, run the floor more, then that’s what you have to do. You can’t worry about if I’m getting touches in the post. It doesn’t matter. It’s whatever your team needs you to do on that particular night to get the win.’

“So, Daryl Morey didn’t say we aren’t going to give you the ball. We’re just not going to give it to you in the post because that’s not our style of play. I think Dwight — it took him awhile to understand — but as the playoffs came, he took it on the chin and he became the force they wanted him to be. He was a walking double-double. And I thought that was big of him and showed a lot of maturity.”

The ESPN interview comes on the heels of Howard opening up on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” last week.

Howard, who has yet to say if he will opt in and remain with the Rockets, told ESPN he isn’t sure what the future holds.

“You never know what will happen,” Howard said. “I’m not ready to rule anything out. But, no matter what the situation (is), I have to be true to myself, both on and off the floor. I can’t alienate myself by letting my frustration get the best of me.

“A lot of the situations I’ve dealt with the past couple of seasons have made me realize some things about myself. These situations I’ve dealt with have made me stronger. You could say I’ve hit the ‘reset’ button.’’

Howard believes it’s ridiculous that people think he doesn’t care about basketball enough, and he cries when he tries to watch the NBA Finals.

“If I didn’t care enough, I wouldn’t be working out in May when the season has just ended, like I am right now,” he said. “I can’t even watch the Finals, because when I see someone else playing, it makes me cry. I want to be in that moment.”

Howard also revealed he has worked on outside shots a lot, but he doesn’t attempt them in games because he fears he will miss.

“I used to shoot 1,000 shots a day,” he said. “I called Kobe (Bryant) when I was still playing in Orlando and asked him what I should do. He’s the one who told me to take 1,000 a day.

“So I’d practice and practice them, but then I’d be so afraid to take them in a game because I was so worried I would miss. I hate messing up. I hate failure.”