The Texas showdowns are about to get more exciting. A little more drama and hatred will only bode well for the audience-drama that James Harden and Chandler Parsons are more than willing to oblige.

Free agency would not be complete with a little bitterness. The LeBron James departure saw a defaced mural but no burnt jerseys. The lack of drama was disappointing, and it can be taken both ways. The Heat fans are either classy or apathetic. There was also no strong reaction from Dwyane Wade who took no less than a $ 10 million pay cut for him.

The Sunshine state was a little too laid back, but the Lone Star state displayed some Texas pride. James Harden would not let the Houston Rockets appear to be the losers of the offseason. After striking out with all their luminous free agent targets but they were chided most for losing Chandler Parsons.

Dwight Howard had his borderline arrogant statement: "It won't affect us at all" in reference to the departure of Parsons, who was instrumental in bringing D12 to Houston.

Howard tries to explain, and ends up sounding more arrogant: "We have myself and James - the best center and the best two guard in the game on the same team." (Quotes from ESPN)

Which is almost true, although Howard is not the All-NBA first team center. Nevertheless, James Harden had to second the swagger. While he was in another country (Philippines) for a charity event, he made this inspiring comment to the Philippine Star:

"Dwight and I are the cornerstones of the Rockets. The rest of the guys are role players or pieces that complete our team. We've lost some pieces and added some pieces. I think we'll be fine next season."

It's obviously a veiled reference to Parsons, who was openly offended with Houston's reluctance to make him the third wheel in a Big Three. That was validated by Rockets GM Daryl Morey himself:

Harden, Howard, Parsons could have been good enough. I think Parsons is a tremendous player and is going to keep getting better.

"The question is, is it better with that core or is it better with Ariza plus the hundreds of moves that might be able to upgrade us in the other scenario. And there's really no moving -- that core was going to be the core that we had to have, because if we ever wanted to move off and go after the other stars, if we ever wanted to go after a different core, it wasn't going to be possible."

The diplomatic answer translated: Not that Parsons wasn't good enough, but we would rather have options.

To all that, Parsons has this cryptic tweet to show the giant chip on his shoulder:

Think before you speak.

— Chandler Parsons (@ChandlerParsons) July 24, 2014

Of course, he had a whole discourse on that, but this tweet seems to take the cake. Can't wait for the first Houtson Rockets-Dallas Mavericks match-up!