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Rockets’ Struggles Point To James Harden

By Travis Oquin

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Mar 11, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Houston Rockets forward Donatas Motiejunas (20) shoots the ball over Portland Trail Blazers center Robin Lopez (42) and forward Nicolas Batum (88) during the second quarter at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports

The changes this offseason essentially were, Josh Smith out Ty Lawson in.  A couple other bench players out, Marcus Thornton in.  Clint Capela and Montrezl Harrell have had to step into larger roles quickly with Donatas Motiejunas absence.

Thornton has played well in his role.  Capela has been tremendous, honestly, for this point in his career.  And for a 2nd round rookie, Harrell has looked strong in moments for the role he’s expected to play.  That leaves:

  1. D-Mo’s absence.

There is no denying that D-Mo was a huge part of the 56-win team last year.  And although injured and not in the playoffs, he was the 2nd best offensive player on the team when he did play.  He is easily their best low post offensive threat.  But all they can do is wait for him.  Not likely what Jason Terry is referring to.

  1. Ty Lawson in, Josh Smith out –

Nov 18, 2015; Houston, TX, USA;Houston Rockets guard Ty Lawson (3) shoots while Portland Trail Blazers forward Allen Crabbe (23) watches in the first half at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports

Josh Smith had some big moments for the Rockets in the playoffs, no doubt, and a few in the regular season, but clearly the Rockets didn’t think enough to even bring him back on a relatively small contract.

Yes, Ty Lawson has struggled to fit in.  But has it been all on him?  One of the complaints about Coach Kevin McHale for years has been that there is no structure, seemingly no real plan on defense or offense other than to isolate Harden.  That can make it very difficult to fit in if you’re a player not trying to rock the boat and mess up what the team did so well last year.  Lawson has commented when McHale was still here that McHale would call a play and the team wouldn’t run it.

Thus far Ty Lawson has said all the right things.  He’ll do whatever it takes.  He’ll come off the bench. He doesn’t care about his role.  And it should be noted that as Lawson’s minutes have declined the team has fared no better than it did when he played more.

Reports are the Rockets are willing to trade him now as well.  But is Ty Lawson really the problem?  One new player struggles to fit in and doesn’t play well and it’s enough to turn a Western Conference finalist into a lottery team???  I doubt it.

  1. James Harden

This is most likely what Jason Terry is referring to.

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Instead of spending the summer learning from Coach K and Tom Thibodeau, James Harden spent the summer in Los Angeles apparently partying and reportedly showed up to camp as much as 15 pounds overweight.

The defensive improvement that we saw last year has largely disappeared and the talking heads are already showing daily clips of Harden and his zero-effort defense.

Unless there is an unknown influence of Ty Lawson on James Harden, this problem feels a lot more like it’s on Harden than anyone else, because he is the leader.  He is quite clearly the best player and the Rockets need him to be the leader and care more than anyone else.

If there is concern that there is influence coming from Lawson that would be reason enough to trade him.  But it doesn’t feel like that to me.   We haven’t seen Lawson pout, he’s looked lost and maybe out of shape as well, but he seems to thus far be playing the “good soldier”.

Apr 14, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili (20) attempts to drive the ball past Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) during the first quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Harden’s offensive efficiency has disappeared.  Harden is no longer finishing well at the rim anywhere near as consistently as before.  He’s often not even drawing the fouls.

Turnovers have increased as well.  Sloppy play and concentration from Harden has been evident in most of the Rockets games this season.

Harden continually comes down on a possession where no other player on the team even touches the ball….dribble, dribble, dribble for 20 seconds…shot clock winding down, jack up an off balance shot.  The Root Sports broadcast commentators see it, problem is they all work for the Rockets and are trying to stay politically correct.

Even when Harden does pass the ball, many times it has been with less than two seconds on the shot clock where he couldn’t get the shot he wanted and left a teammate scrambling at the very last second, usually ending in an air ball or a shot clock violation.

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Does Harden care?  We will find out.  But he should, even with the Adidas contract and endless fat stacks of cash, his career could still careen off the rails of where it should be headed if he’s not careful.  Sure he’s had several 40+ point games this year and those have nearly been all the games that the Rockets have won.

Harden will likely always be a significant offensive threat, no matter what he does or where he plays.  But there is a big difference between a guy that can score and that’s all he does versus the player we saw last year.  THAT player was a player headed for possibly a championship or two and the Hall of Fame.

Either way, the rest of this season we will see how much heart James Harden really has and if he truly wants to be great.

Stick with us here at House of Houston for all your Rockets coverage.

Next: Examining This Loss Of A Season

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