Rockets coach Silas confident Harden ‘all in’ this season.
Silas says he’s confident Harden will be ‘all-in’
Having gone through a career’s worth of offseason drama and uncertainty before his first game as Rockets coach, or at least enough off-court commotion for it to feel that way, Stephen Silas believes it will at last be behind him when team practices begin Sunday.
In case his confidence was not clear, he took on as directly as possible the question of whether star guard James Harden will want to stick around.
“I’m confident that he will be all-in,” Silas said, “I’ve given him the space to do his thing, but I’m confident he’ll be here when we get started.”
Silas said the same could be said of his entire roster
after the first days of COVID-19 testing and customary preseason physicals.
While Silas expects every member of his 20-player roster to be available when team workouts begin, the need to get together could be especially pressing for the Rockets after an offseason filled with reports Harden wanted to be traded to the Brooklyn Nets and Wednesday’s trade of Russell Westbrook to the Washington Wizards.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty prior to the roster being set, but nowthat the roster is set, I think there’s more excitement than anything else,” Silas said. “Everybody is excited about the possibilities that we have … about us having multiple ways to play on both ends of the floor and having the talent of DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall and Christian Wood to meld with the previous guys on the team.
“There definitely were moments of you don’t really know what’s going on. But that’s the nature of the business. That’s howit’s been in the NBA forever. During that time of free agency and draft time and roster flux, you’re kind of looking around and kind of trying to figure everything out as a player and as a coach and as a management group and ownership. But now that the roster set and we’re moving toward the first day of training camp, it seems like everybody’s in a positive place.”
Asmuch as Silas had said he was excited about his first head coaching position because of the chance to coach Harden and Westbrook — on Thursday, he credited Westbrook’s recommendation for his landing the job— much of his optimism flows from the changes to the roster since.
He said he began making plans as soon as he got the job. Those plans have not changed, even if many of the names have.
“Most of the stuff that I wrote on my board stayed up there because they really fit into theway that Iwanted to play,” Silas said. “I wanted to have multiple ways to play, and those guys allow me to do so. To have John Wall pushing the ball up the floor and either passing ahead to a running wing or keeping it and getting the ball into the paint, making all the great passes that he’s made over his career, that is … the way that I want to play: five out with space and allowing guys to get into the paint and do their thing.
“To have Christian Wood trailing the play and be able to roll and pop and play in a very similar way that I had (Kristaps) Porzingis playing when I was offensive coordinator in Dallas, I see that as a positive and another kind of way and an option for us to play. And then to have Cuz out there … we’re not necessarily going to be in small ball quite as much. We can play big ball, and he can be out there, showing all of the gifts that he has. He looks really good on the basketball floor.”
Silas said he has not gotten reports on Wall’s readiness to return to the court after missing almost two years with a variety of injuries and surgeries, leaving that to the Rockets’ “performance team.” But he cited eight seasons as a Charlotte assistant trying to gameplan against Wall four times a season, and he pointed to how the Rockets’ increased offensive spacing and defensive switching style fits with Wall’s strengths.
Fitting in Wall’s abilities, and those of the other newcomers, will need to happen quickly. Silas said it won’t be a crash course on a revised system. Much of what the Rockets have done will remain. But with all that has happened and has been said, it’s time to be about basketball again.
“My job is to establish something new,” Silas said. “We’re not really looking to the past asmuch, especially with all the new guys that we have and the newcoaching staff. So for me, it’s establishing a culture and establishing camaraderie The way that we’re going to do that is by work and practice and spending time with each other and going through the ups and downs of a training campand making sure that we’re learning and everybody’s being pushed and pulled in the … same direction.
“I’m looking forward to (Harden) coming, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the team looks like with everybody on the floor. These individual workouts are great, but I’m looking forward to the whole group being on the floor together.”