Going global NBA’s traveling call
Harden, coach are fine with interrupting camp to serve as ambassadors abroad
HONOLULU — Hours after opening their preseason with a romp past the Shanghai Sharks, the Rockets took off to begin the kind of travel itinerary that has become an increasingly familiar and challenging part of their October schedules.
They arrive in Honolulu in time to see the sun rise over the Pacific, spend a few days here with a game against the Los Angeles Clippers squeezed in and then head to Tokyo for two games against the Toronto Raptors, along with the usual Global Games practices, functions and ceremonies.
The Rockets anticipated that without complaint, such trips now a part of playing in the NBA,
the demands mitigated by the benefits of charter flight travel and luxury accommodations. With players routinely globe-hopping in the offseasons, in
cluding promotional trips in Asia that have become common since the Rockets first landed in China 15 years ago, another overseas trip was not viewed as too great an inconvenience, and even something of a reward.
Still, the challenge to make the most of valuable preseason preparation time remains amid demands far greater than running through mundane training camp drills enthusiastically.
“You can read into it, but we’re going to have a good time, enjoy Japan and try to have some chemistry stuff,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “But bouncing back is not a big deal. We travel really well. After a couple days, everybody’s back in a groove. It’s kind of overplayed a little bit.
“Going to Hawaii first helps. The time change is not so dramatic. We have a veteran team. We only have one guy (Russell Westbrook) to plug in. Everybody else is doing the exact same thing. Obviously, ideally, you wouldn’t do this. But we’ll go to
Japan, make the best of it. We’re good.”
There is evidence to suggest that flying halfway around the world for a pair of games and then back is a tough way to get ready for a season.
In the Rockets’ past four seasons with an Asia trip in the preseason, they won 47.5 percent of their first 10 games. Once getting past those initial 10 games, they won 63.9 percent of their remaining games in those seasons.
Even if considering the starts of those seasons as 20 games, the Rockets won 52.5 percent of their games though a quarter of the season after traveling to Asia. They won 62.4 percent of their games the rest of the way.
A four-season sample size can be considered too small to be definitive with other factors — injuries, schedule strength and an ability to improve as seasons progress — potentially accounting for some of the difference between how those seasons started and finished. But considering how players and teams seek every possible advantage, adding jet lag to the already-shortened preseason schedule is not ideal.
“Last year, we started bad,” D’Antoni countered, pointing to a preseason in which the Rockets had little travel. “We had a good training camp and played terrible. Who knows? There is no correct formula.”
The NBA and Players Association allow teams participating in Global Games to get a head start on training camps. But in the first weeks of the preseason, the Rockets will have three travel days and two days off to recuperate and readjust after returning from Japan.
The Rockets, however, have considered the trip and particularly the ambassador duties in Tokyo as an important part of the job, not unlike the promotional appearances that have become customary.
“I’m excited,” guard James Harden said. “I’ve never been. When I go overseas and I go to different countries, I embrace it because they don’t get an opportunity to see NBA players and NBA games as much, obviously, as in the States.
“It’s an opportunity to embrace my Japanese fans and show them how much I appreciate
them. The NBA has obviously taken this game global. We know how powerful this game is. We decided to take our entire organization to Japan and showcase our talents.”
There also is an argument often made that teams get closer on trips like these, a foundation that could be part of that improvement seen in the seasons that began with so much time together.
“I don’t like it because I miss my kids,” Westbrook said. “Other than that, it’s different for me. It’s good. I think it’s going to be big for our team to get a chance to bond more.
“When you’re on the road, I think it’s important to hang out, eat together, get a chance to get to know your teammates outside the court, which I think is most important, which is what I try to do. Get a chance to know where guys are from, their background and about their family, their upbringing that shows you a lot about a person … who they play for, why they play. That’s the most important part.”
Mostly, teams and players have come to welcome the idea
of spreading the word internationally. The NBA is much stronger internationally than when the Rockets brought Yao Ming home to Shanghai in 2004. There is a sense that trips like these are part of the reason.
“It’s important for the NBA that we’re open to this and … be good ambassadors for the game and promote the NBA,” D’Antoni said. “It’s good for everybody. It has grown unbelievably in the last 10 years. Hopefully, it will continue that way. And then, it’s good for us culturally. Experience something else, their ideas and how they do things.
“Living overseas helped me unbelievably. I know it’s a short time, but at the same time, some of these young guys it will be the first time to experience something like this. I hope they soak it all in and are better people for it.
“It’s a challenge. But you know, when February comes nobody remembers preseason anyway. We have a lot of work to get in. But at the same time, it should be fun for the team.”