CAMP BEGINS
Even with Harden and Westbrook not yet in Orlando, atmosphere resembles the beginning of training camp
Team expects Harden and Westbrook in “three or four days.”
After four months of waiting for Saturday, when the Rockets could finally reconvene on a basketball court, waiting another three or four days for James Harden and Russell Westbrook to join them did not seem so bad.
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni on Saturday confirmed that his star backcourt was not with the team on the Disney campus for the restart of the NBA season, but he said he expected them in “a couple days, three or four days.”
“I hope it’ll be sooner than later,” D’Antoni said. “I don’t think it will be too many days, so it’ll work itself out. Some things you can’t control totally, but in a few days they’ll be here. And you know what, we can get good work in, and these are all veterans. I mean obviously they’re going to miss a couple practices. It’s not ideal. But it’s going to be good. We’ll be ready. It won’t set us back.”
Players who did not travel with their teams but either flew on a private charter or drove to the Florida campus must have two negative COVID-19 tests and quarantine for two days before joining their teams.
The Rockets, however, did not seem overly concerned with having three players — Harden, Westbrook and recently signed Luc Mbah a Moute — miss the start of the summer training camp. They were too enthused about ending the unprecedented hiatus with something as familiar as a training camp practice.
After so long apart, with even training in Houston limited to individual workouts, guard Ben McLemore said being together against was “awesome, amazing.”
“Today we had our first day of practice and it was amazing,” McLemore said. “Everybody is ready to get back out there on the court.
“We’re looking good today. It’s not shocking. I know … all our guys stayed in shape and made sure … they stayed active.”
D’Antoni likewise praised the players’ conditioning. But as always with training camp, and especially with the unusual circumstances of living and training on a campus with so many health and safety protocols, he said maintaining a high level of enthusiasm will be essential.
“From the looks of today, good,” he said of his players’ fitness. “I have to see how they wake up tomorrow and see if they can sustain it.
“Every day we’ll adjust our practices to how the guys are feeling. But the biggest thing is (how) are they mentally and are their hearts into it. Today they showed us, yes, they are. We’ll just try to keep it going.”
Most of the Rockets’ first restart practice was to assess fitness and go over principles, starting with a video session, before “we just drilled them,” D’Antoni said. He said closeouts and boxouts will be daily points of emphasis, along with stressing the need to play with pace.
“It’s great to be back with them and to be with them. The enthusiasm is great. These are good guys (who) work hard. We just went over the basics today and tried to touch everything that we were preaching before and then just drill it today. We’ll get into five-onfive as we go forward. Right, now we’re assessing … where they are athletically or where they are shape-wise. It’s pretty good.”
Rockets center P.J. Tucker said the session was similar to the first day of most training camps.
There is more relevant video since this camp comes after 64 regular-season games were played. Other than that, he said it was “same old, same old.”
“It was exactly how we always practice,” Tucker said. “Watched a little film, watched some things we did good, bad, some we can work on.”
Tucker said he was “super excited” about restarting a season and made himself at home in his room at the Grand Floridan Resort, installing an 85-inch television and bringing so many shoes from his celebrated collection that he could not guess a number, but he said he left little room for anything else.
Even the testing and safety protocols drew praise.
“The NBA did a great job,” McLemore said. “They’ve done a great job since we’ve been here, the testing as far as organizing everything.
“I’m just ready to get back and start the season. I think everybody was. I kind of expected this was what was going to happen. This is what we agreed to. But I was just looking forward to getting back on the court. That’s why I was so happy to see my teammates and be around them.”
The absences did not quell enthusiasm. If anything, the Rockets spoke of their hopes with the familiar, even traditional training camp optimism, displaying no concern that they won’t soon be whole.
“Obviously everybody’s optimistic right now, but I think we have a good shot at it,” D’Antoni said. “We play differently than everybody else. Enthusiasm’s great. It’s the first day of a great journey we want to go on. We have some of the best players in the league, so why not? Why not us?”
With that, he offered Westbrook’s motto, with hopes Westbrook — along with Harden — would be there soon to deliver it himself.