Texas Notes: Bickerstaff, Howard, Parsons

Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff says his team must use the All-Star break to try to come together as a cohesive unit, which is not currently the case in Houston, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com relays. “We’re broken,” Bickerstaff said. “It’s that simple. We’re a broken team, and we all need to use this break to figure out how we’re going to impact change. If we don’t want to impact change, then we need to be made aware of that, too, and we’ll go in a different direction. We can’t continue to go out and play this way. It’s easy to see it’s a fragmented bunch. You can’t win that way.” When asked what about the team is broken, center Dwight Howard said, “I’m not going to talk about what’s broken. It’s all we do is we talk about the issues that we have. Nobody is being positive.”

Jason Terry also complained about the team’s lack of rapport, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle relays (Twitter links). “The chemistry is not where you like it. I’ve seen worse. It’s not functioning as a unit. Do we like to play with each other?” The shooting guard did note that the players and coaches should be able to make the necessary changes and Terry wasn’t sure if there would be any roster changes made prior to next week’s trade deadline, Feigen adds. Terry was overheard walking through the team’s media room on Wednesday night saying, “No chemistry with that group. [Expletive] horrible,” Watkins tweets.

Here’s the latest from the Lone Star state:

• Howard said he did not ask the Rockets to trade him, seconding what his agent Dan Fegan said earlier today, Marc Stein of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link) relays. “Dan’s statement is true. I have not asked the Rockets to trade me,” said Howard. “Nor have I talked about right trades. I want to win. I want this situation to work. I chose this team. And I’m not running because we have been faced with some adversity.“
• Despite the Mavericks‘ lack of depth at point guard, Dallas should consider trading Raymond Felton and his expiring contract to a team looking to clear payroll for next season, Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports opines in his deadline primer for the Mavs. Felton, 31, is averaging 9.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 27.1 minutes per contest on the season.
• The return to form by Chandler Parsons has the Mavericks optimistic about their chances of becoming a factor in the West after the All-Star break, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News writes. “I’m feeling great,” Parsons told Sefko. “It’s some of the best basketball I’ve ever played in my career. My body feels great. I’m as confident as I’ve ever been. And I’m in a good place. Coach is getting me the ball in good spots. But it’s not really about me. It’s about the team and getting the highest possible seed we can and be playing as well as we can at the end.”