“Houston, we have lift off!”
The Houston Rockets lifted its roster into the atmosphere by pulling off one of the most impactful deals in free agency. Amidst rumors of turmoil between Chris Paul and James Harden, the Rockets sent Paul and draft picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for former MVP Russell Westbrook.
Once news of this blockbuster deal spread across all social media platforms, the NBA world — fans and players alike — went into a frenzy. Many thought that having two former MVPs on the roster meant the Rockets were back in the business of winning an NBA championship, which has alluded the franchise for the past two seasons. After the initial excitement about the trade, calmer heads checked the advanced statistics and began to question if Harden and Westbrook can play together in a well functioning team.
Can two high usage players function in a D’Antoni offense?
In the 2018-19 season, Harden led the league in usage percentage (40.5%), and Westbrook was tenth (30.9%). Usually, two ball-dominant guards in a Mike D’Antoni led offense will lead many to believe that it won’t work. After all, did it work when Paul and Harden were teamed together in Houston?
Depends on how the term “success” is defined. Last season was a failure by all means, but in the prior season, the Rockets were a healthy Chris Paul away from appearing in the NBA Finals. Any conclusion formed is conjecture at best because who knows what would have happened if Paul stayed healthy. For all we know, the Rockets may have lifted the Larry O’Brien trophy or still fall to the Golden State Warriors in seven games. Maybe the Rockets would have lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the finals.
Therefore, is it fair to automatically assume that Westbrook and Harden won’t play well together in Houston? Not so fast!
Harden and Westbrook have to adjust their game to make the dream work
Of course, all parties involved will indeed have to make some adjustments. Harden and Westbrook can’t play the same way they played last year with their respective teams and expect smooth sailing. Likewise, D’Antoni can’t have Harden or Westbrook be a spot-up shooter while the other dances and prances with the ball on the majority of possessions. For this pairing to work, Harden, Westbrook, and D’Antoni will have to make compromises — and they will.
In his introductory news conference, Westbrook spoke glowingly of his friendship with Harden via ESPN:
“We’ve been friends for many, many years,” Westbrook said of Harden. “Since I was 10, actually. So we’ve played with each other in Oklahoma City, and to be able to win something, you’ve got to be willing to sacrifice some parts of your game, and we both understand that.”
Westbrook then talked about being able to make sacrifices for the team:
“We both understand that we have one common goal and that’s to win a championship. We understand what we have to do. I’m not worried about it, and I know James isn’t worried about it. I can play off the ball; I don’t have to touch the ball to impact the game. That’s the best way for me to come in and impact this team. I can do other things on the floor to make sure we have a better chance to win.”
What many fail to realize is that Harden and Westbrook haven’t always been extremely high usage players. During their years in OKC, Westbrook and Harden had to share the ball with another dominant superstar in Kevin Durant. That OKC team made it to the finals where they ran into the buzzsaw that was LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and the Miami Heat in 2012.
Westbrook has to control the fast break
Today, Harden and Westbrook have to adapt some of those off-ball principles in their OKC days and translate it into D’Antoni’s offense. For starters, D’Antoni loves to play fast, and now, he has the perfect guard in Westbrook to continuously rebound the ball and push the pace. Playing at a high pace will solve half the conundrum of the Westbrook and Harden pairing. With Westbrook adding explosiveness to Houston’s fast break, this will open up more opportunities for Harden to take open threes or finish in the lane. Likewise, as a team, the Rockets will have more opportunities to launch open threes at will.
Harden has to control the half-court
On fast breaks, the ball has to be in Westbrook’s hands since he’s the more explosive player in the open court. In half-court sets, Harden has to be the ball-dominant guard. His ability to take his defender off the dribble, shoot the three, and find the open man off the high pick-and-roll is what makes D’Antoni’s offense ticks. Now, that doesn’t mean the offense will continue to run like clockwork in the half-court. One of the main issues D’Antoni will have to figure out is how to utilize Westbrook off the ball.
Last season, Westbrook struggled shooting. He shot an unimpressive 43% from the field and 29% from three-point range. Knowing this, it’s not hard to conceive that teams may sag off of Westbrook, adding another player to clog the paint and prevent easy baskets. If D’Antoni wants to earn his paycheck, solving this problem will deem him more than worthy of it.
D’Antoni has to move Westbrook around on half-court sets to make his offense work
Typically, D’Antoni loves to spread the floor and have his point-guard run a high pick-and-roll to create a 5-on-4 opportunity (assuming the opposing point-guard is picked off). Afterward, the point guard has the option to take the open jumper, hit the big man rolling to the rim, drive to the basket, or drive and kick out to an open shooter. With Westbrook off the ball, D’Antoni has to create sets where he is moving as opposed to standing still. With Westbrook in motion, Harden has the court vision to hit him on a back cut, if open. Also, Harden can use the extra space Westbrook creates by his movement to operate and make a quick decision.
In conclusion, is the Harden and Westbrook pairing a match made in heaven? Probably not, but don’t underestimate the power of friendship between two great players in union with a head coach who’s known as an offensive mastermind.
The Rockets might shock the NBA world with their play and their pregame dance routines.
