So long as Westbrook knows he’s No. 2, this just may work
The best offensive player in basketball is part of yet another experiment.
Since James Harden arrived in Houston in 2012, the Rockets have built around him. It makes perfect sense.
Some of the experimental pairings have worked — see Mike D’Antoni. Others have not — calling Carmelo Anthony.
But the Rockets haven’t stopped trying.
They have a player in Harden who is doing things in the game that no one else has. And while he has excelled and elevated the team with him, they are still missing that coveted
championship.
So this year, the Rockets will try again — this time with another offensive genius in Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook and Harden are familiar with each other. They played together in Oklahoma City for Harden’s first three seasons from 2009-12. They’ve gone headto-head several times since, splitting a pair of first-round playoff series.
They know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and seem to have a mutual respect and friendship.
Maybe it will work. Maybe Westbrook will be the missing piece.
He will have to come into the situation understanding that he’s a piece to complement Harden, though.
The first argument in the case for Westbrook and Harden existing is perfect harmony is that they’ve played together before.
That’s not enough to go on. That was seven years ago and they were different players. Harden was a sixth man (the best one in the league, in fact). The two were playing alongside Kevin Durant, who was a lot better than both of them at the time.
When the two guards take the court together again, there likely will be some muscle memory. Some things will fall back into place. Others will take time. With Chris Paul, we learned that two ball-dominant guards can work together on the court. Say what you will about Paul, but he accepted his role — a starter who was subbed out early and then ran the second unit. The Rockets were at their best in the 2017-18 season when Paul was healthy and the Rockets had
either him or Harden running their offense at all times.
If Westbrook can accept a similar role, the Rockets will benefit from that. But if Westbrook is expecting the same Harden from OKC — the one who came off the bench — they will clash.
Harden has worked fine with almost every player general manager Daryl Morey brought in to play with him.
Dwight Howard didn’t work out in the end, but the two were fine early on. They took the team to the Western Conference finals together in 2014-15. But when Howard wanted the ball more and wanted a bigger role in the offense, it didn’t work.
Paul, too, worked with Harden really well initially. But when the second unit changed and he didn’t have as much to work with, his production went down.
With Anthony, there was little time to make anything work. He only played 10 games with the Rockets. With Paul and Harden on the team, Anthony’s time with the ball in his hands was next to nothing.
Westbrook has been the man for Oklahoma City for 11 seasons. He has averaged triple-doubles, carried the team on his back, set the Thunder’s identity.
He doesn’t need to do that in Houston. He doesn’t have to be everything for the Rockets. They already have Harden. If Westbrook comes in understanding that this is Harden’s team, this experiment can work and the Rockets can be really, really good.
If he expects Oklahoma City, part two, things could go terribly wrong from the start.
Westbrook can play with another star. He proved it last year as his teammate Paul George pieced together a season that put him in the running for MVP.
There’s no harm in trying Westbrook out here. Any time you can add one of the best players in the league to your team, you should. And that’s what the Rockets did.
They already have the best offensive star in place. Now it’s up to the Rockets and Westbrook to help Harden shine even brighter.