USA TODAY International Edition
Rockets hope for boost from Westbrook-Harden
It says something about the state of professional basketball when two AllNBA point guards get traded for each other and it registers only fourth among the balance-of-power shifting transactions that have taken place in the last month.
Mostly, it says the NBA has changed from a league where you need three superstars to win a title to one dominated by power couples. And it says the Rockets, who seemed to be contractually handcuffed to a guard in decline alongside James Harden, were desperate to find a way out.
The Rockets sent a boatload of future draft assets to Oklahoma City to swap the bad contract of Chris Paul for the less-bad contract of Russell Westbrook.
From a basketball standpoint, pairing a ball-dominant guard in Harden with a ball-dominant guard in Westbrook doesn’t make a lot of sense. From a chemistry standpoint, it would seem to hold the potential for disaster. Yet what other choice did the Rockets have?
With Harden’s window wide open at 29, this was the time to go for it. This was the time to dump 34-year-old Paul off on someone before 2021 and 2022 when he’ll make a combined $85.5 million as his physical decline accelerates.
Given reasonable health, Houston is a lock to win 50 games, even in the rugged Western Conference. But it’s undeniable that the Rockets have a playoff problem with Harden, whose shooting percentages have dipped from 44%45% in each of the last four regular seasons to 41% in the last four postseasons.
When so much of Houston’s offense relies on Harden to score one-on-one, make ridiculous step-back jumpers and draw fouls, it seems obvious he’s being forced to do too much. The issue going forward is whether Westbrook helps solve that problem or makes it worse.
Can Houston still be Harden’s team if he doesn’t have the ball in his hands for the majority of nearly every possession? Can Westbrook be as effective if he’s playing off the ball while knowing he won’t get it back? Will two stars with tunnel vision to score be able to coexist peacefully when their desires overlap?
Probably not. But for Houston there was no other choice but to try.