JAMES HARDEN TALKS ABOUT RECORD DEAL.
‘Everything is going to happen in Houston,’ star says after successful start to summer
James Harden considered the recruiting pitch he had so often used on his peers, the argument that had convinced Chris Paul and P.J. Tucker to join him with the Rockets and that he had heard himself sharing many times before.
No one, he soon realized, was more convinced than he was.
It helped that he had been offered a contract extension that would add to the two years left on his contract to pay him $228 million over six seasons, the richest contract in NBA history. But Harden knew he was getting more in the deal.
“It’s rare that you feel so welcome, that you feel like you’re at home and feel like every single day you wake up to go to work and have people around you to motivate you, that push you to be better, that you love to be around,” Harden said. “That’s another reason I signed the extension.
“I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t want to deal with free agency. I know where home is. I know where I want to be. I know where I want to retire ultimately. And I know where I want to win a championship. Everything is going to happen in Houston.”
Harden spoke of the way he had been entrusted to help build the team around him, a partnership Rockets general manager Daryl Morey described as “the modern way” to empower a franchise star and improve a roster. The relationship, however, had grown deeper than a way to influence free agents to join him.
He cited not just Morey or Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, but he described Rockets president Tad Brown as “kind of a father.”
“He helps me get through every single day with struggles that I have,” Harden said. “Any questions about anything, he’s there for me.
“It’s more than I ever could have ever imagined — the city, the fans, my teammates, these guys right here — Mr. Alexander, Tad, Daryl, even Rafael (Stone, the Rockets’ general counsel) in the back. There’s constant communication. I talk to these people more than my mom, more than my family and friends. It’s a family. I’m not exaggerating.
“I think it’s definitely unique. I know how special it is to feel welcome, to feel loved.” Retooled backcourt
Much of that communication has been about how to retool the Rockets this season with the addition of Paul to share the ball and the backcourt. Harden led the charge for Paul, convincing him to make the move to Houston before the team could even negotiate.
“The relationship we have here in terms of him pushing me to make the team better and his ability to recruit all these players … is the modern way I think teams are going to be built,” Morey said. “To get a cornerstone player like James and have him bring everybody to the party in Houston. We think next year is going to be the best team we’ve had, and it’s all thanks to this guy.”
There will be adjustments to be made, but Harden said the changes should not be about having to share the ball, but finally getting to.
“The last 13 years, he’s had to dominate the ball so much because he didn’t have somebody to help create plays for him,” Harden said. “I know how I felt the last five years the same way, having to dominate the ball. It feels good to get a catch-andshoot opportunity or to just run the floor and not have to worry about having to make a play every possession.
“It’s going to be fun. There’s no point guard, no shooting guard. We just go out there and make plays and make our team better.” Money secondary to title
Paul has never been beyond the playoffs’ second round. Harden’s second round last season ended with a 39-point demolition at home to the San Antonio Spurs, a defeat marked most by Harden’s collapse.
“That motivates me,” Harden said. “Of course, it didn’t end when we wanted it to end, how I wanted it to end. That’s what life’s about. You’re going to get tested. Things aren’t going to happen the way you would like them. You have to sit back and see how you can get better.”
The Rockets lost no faith in the face of their franchise, rewarding him with a contract bigger than anyone had received, nearly three times what Alexander paid for the team nearly 24 years earlier.
“The only thing at this point in my career is winning,” Harden said. “Money is cool. It doesn’t mean anything without holding that championship (trophy) up. I won’t stop until I get it.”