JUST THINK OF ALL THE POSSIBILITIES
Pairing of stars Harden, Paul opens door to more creativity for high-flying offense By Jonathan Feigen
When the Rockets acquired Chris Paul, the point guard of every mad basketball scientist’s dreams, coach Mike D’Antoni suddenly possessed options few had enjoyed before. In combination with James Harden, D’Antoni could not only have a Hall-ofFame-caliber playmaker on the floor at all times, as he and general manager Daryl Morey have often said, he will have roughly 28 minutes per game with both.
With Paul and Harden in the same backcourt, D’Antoni would have the opportunity to draw plays few had run before, to let his imagination flow, confident that anything he orders can be executed. Rewrite the playbook? Hardly. What playbook? D’Antoni has yet to draw up a play. Not one. Other than late-clock, out-ofbounds plays, he hopes to never call one. If things go as he hopes, opposing advance scouts need not bring pen and paper to Rockets games.
Instead, the Rockets have retooled their offense to be even more freeflowing, with more improvised options than even during their highscoring breakthrough last season.
“What we’re trying to do, whatever we run, a lot will be in a two-guard set, incorporate a lot of what we did last year, except in a different spot on the floor,” D’Antoni said. “We’re not going to change up. I just don’t want us to walk up the floor and call plays. I’m not going to call plays. No one is calling plays. We’re not going to have certain sets and here’s what we do. There could be 10 things out of each set.” Catching defenses off guard
The sets, however, will look different. The idea is that Harden and Paul will not necessarily be taking turns playing point guard with the other in catch-and-shoot position off the ball. There will be some possessions run that way. There will be many in which either can be in position to be the play- maker running the Rockets’ offense, sometimes on the same possession.
That will often mean that rather than have the guard off the ball sprint to the corner, as Pat Beverley did last season, he will be on top. Ryan Anderson will often move away from last season’s pick-and-pop position to be stationed in the corner far more often.
That does more than put the Rockets’ most accurate 3-point shooter (40.3 percent) in position to take the easier shot. (Anderson made 54.2 percent of his corner 3s last season but attempted an average of just one per game.) It also changes many of the actions to follow.
While possessions will often start with center Clint Capela setting a screen to run pick-and-roll with either Harden or Paul, possessions can move to a second screen, set by Anderson coming up from the corner for the point guard.
Defenses that last season were often built on surrounding and slowing Harden could find their best defenders and the rotations behind them taken out of the play when Harden sends the ball back to Paul, allowing one of the best pick-and-roll point guards ever to begin his attack around another screen.
“Man, it’s unbelievable to run down the court, get in the corner sometimes or get on the wing and just attack from different positions,” Paul said. “For me to get an opportunity to break guys off the dribble and kick it to him, it’s fun. It’s an adjustment … but it’s also a luxury. A lot of things are changing.”
When the Rockets run out of a “Horns” set, a common NBA set they used on occasion last season in which Paul has long excelled, rather than have big men stationed on either side of the free-throw line, they can run it with one of the guards in a screening position. More often, they will have it shifted to the side where Anderson will come up from his corner position.
They will run “drag” pick-and-rolls from either side of the floor. They will even change things up considerably with Harden or Paul, rather than a second big man, as one of the screeners in a “double drag screen.”
If teams rotate to cut off the center’s roll to the basket, the pass to the perimeter would then go to a guard dangerous as a playmaker or scorer, with few options remaining for defenses wanting to send help.
“A little bit of it is to be determined, how they play off each other,” D’Antoni said. “It’s still the same framework that we have. Normally, you have a one-guard dominated offense. Now, it’s going to be split between the one and two. From there, we’ll come up with different sets we can do that will incorporate their skills.” The quicker the shot, the better
Most of all, D’Antoni wants to push the pace even more than last season. While neither Harden nor especially Paul is known for driving high-speed fast breaks, both will pass ahead. Now, they can pass ahead to an equally accomplished playmaker. Last season, the Rockets got the ball to their point guard faster after missed shots or turnovers than any team, but just fifthfastest after made baskets. D’Antoni wants them to lead the league in both situations and believes they will now that they have two point guards to target.
More than that, he wants more shots taken in the first half of the shot clock, preferably in the first six seconds.
“We showed them a stat,” D’Antoni said. “In the first six seconds, we score 1.64 points per possession. Second six seconds, we’re about 1.4. That’s early offense. That’s busting it up the floor. We want to live there. If we live in these two, we’ll be the best offense ever. We’ll offensively blow away teams.
“If we live here (shooting 12 to 18 seconds into the shot clock), we’ll be really good but not the best. If we live down here (shooting from 18 to 24 seconds), we’ll be like everyone else. That’s why I want to push the pace. Without going crazy … if we push the pace and shoot (in the first 12 seconds), we’re pretty darn good.”
Some of that is not a change of style but pushing it to an extreme made possible by pairing Harden and Paul. They had long since dismissed others’ questions of how they will mesh. After six practices spread over four days, they have seen new possibilities with every tweak of the offense. And none of it will be scripted.
“I’ve had more catch-and-shoot opportunities, he has as well, in these four days of training camp than we’ve had in a few years,” Harden said. “It hasn’t been tough because we’re willing to share the ball … and make plays for our teammates and ourselves. I’m going to have that same mentality to score and create, but I don’t have to do it as much because we have another guy that can do it on a high level.
“It happens so naturally. We don’t even plan it. Coach puts us in our spots and we just play. We figure it out. One time it could be me. One time, it could be him. One time, it could be both of us. We just know we have one goal and that’s to win.”
That is the plan, even if D’Antoni won’t write the details down and give them a name.