Houston Rockets Add Hakeem Olajuwon To Staff
By Mike Dyce
The Houston Rockets have added Dwight Howard and they want to help the newly re-named “Rocket-Man” be the best he can be. Hakeem Olajuwon has had NBA players flock to him for private coaching for a while. After losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, LeBron James reached out to Olajuwon to coach him so he could bolster his post game. There were reports that Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire of the New York Knicks are going to train with “the Dream.”
But when you have an asset like that affiliated with your organization and arguably the league’s best center, why not have them work together consistently. The Rockets think it’s a great idea and are trying to bring Hakeem Olajuwon on full-time.
“We are going to bring him in as full-time as is possible,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said Sunday. “It’s not done, but we have mutual interest to get it done, and we’ve had some early discussions.
“We want him to work with Dwight and Omer (Asik), and he wants to do that.”
Hakeem and Dwight have worked together in two offseasons.
“He has improved so much,” Olajuwon said. “I like with the Houston Rockets he will get a chance to show his true potential. That’s exciting. The last two years, he has not really been given that opportunity to really, really express his game, his comfort level and confidence. Here he has a team that is willing to do that. They want him to do that.
“I just tried to show what he is trying to accomplish basketball-wise, this is the best team for him. No question about that. That was very clear. You can see he is excited. He’s happy. The city is excited. This is a great choice. That’s why everybody can’t wait to start.”