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Houston Rockets: James Harden’s latest take on the state of the team

By Brian K. Patterson

HOUSTON, TX - MAY 24: James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets speaks to the media after their 98 to 94 win over the Golden State Warriors in Game Five of the Western Conference Finals of the 2018 NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center on May 24, 2018 in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - MAY 24: James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets speaks to the media after their 98 to 94 win over the Golden State Warriors in Game Five of the Western Conference Finals of the 2018 NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center on May 24, 2018 in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /
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The Houston Rockets are just about done in regard to locking-and-loading for the 2018-19 season and many have felt that this team has taken a step back.  What did James Harden have to say about this?  Let’s take a look.

The Houston Rockets have a ton of work to do.  They’ll have to follow-up a historic season of winning a franchise-record 65 games, averaging a robust 112.4 points per game and possessing a defensive rating of 106.1 which was good for 6th in the NBA.

Can the Houston Rockets duplicate that success?  There’s no doubt that they can and I think that they’ll be stronger than ever.  Although the losses of Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute were notable, I don’t think it takes away from the success of the team from the grand scheme of things.

Although Ariza is still quite good on defense, there’s plenty of evidence that he has taken a step back.  His defensive rating tumbled to a 107.1 which was a stark contrast from 2016-17 where he was able to net a 104.3.

Although his defensive win shares increased to .043 this past season — which was up from .032 in the season previous — that stat just indicates that the team was executing better defense as whole and he was just a beneficiary.

As the old adage indicates, your best ability is your availability and Mbah a Moute certainly did not emanate that in 2017-18.  If it wasn’t one thing it was another as he struggled to stay on the

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hardwood, appearing in 61 games, his lowest total since 2013-14.

Each player was offered considerably more money than what the Houston Rockets were going to offer them agreeing to one-year deals for $15 million and $4.3 million respectively.  It would’ve been likely that the team offered them half of what they’ve received so it’s understandable why they literally headed for greener pastures.

But out of those two guys, the team is bringing back the same core of players with the re-signing of Chris Paul, Clint Capela and Gerald Green.  The team was also able to ink deals with James Ennis, Michael Carter-Williams and soon-to-be Rocket Carmelo Anthony.

It’d be nice if the Houston Rockets could make a pact with the Atlanta Hawks to trade for Kent Bazemore — I even wrote about it here — so that just about every aspect of the team is complete on both ends to compete with the cream of the crop.

What did James Harden say about the state of the team if they had taken a step back?  Here’s the latest that he told Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post:

"“No. You can go back to articles and conversations and people said, ‘Me and Chris can’t play together.’ [Then] we were the number one [team] in the NBA,” Harden said with a laugh after Team USA practice last week. “Obviously, you can look at a roster and look at different players and say that. But you have to be on that court and you’ve got to be in the trenches and be in the war.  Eventually we will figure it out. We have enough leadership in that locker room and a great coaching staff to figure that out.”"

Swing man Eric Gordon also felt that the Houston Rockets are still a “championship-caliber” team despite the loss of two terrific defenders.

Both Harden and Gordon are actually together practicing with USA Basketball to fulfill their roster commitments that they’ve made.  Plus it’s a great way for those two to stay in shape and sharp before training camp starts next month.

But the reality is this — with many thirty-somethings on this team now, the Houston Rockets are one of the oldest teams in the NBA and this notion reminds me a lot of the 1997-99 seasons where they loaded up on veterans like Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen to try to compete for the chip.  Thank goodness Capela’s 24-year-old youthfulness keeps that team average age down quite a bit.

Injuries are of concern but as Harden alluded to above, they have a ton of veteran leadership and that will see them through.  This team will be just as competitive as they were last season and will shock many because of this.

Next. Two crucial players to trade for Kent Bazemore. dark

Carmelo will buy-in to what the team is doing and if the team can somehow figure out how snatch up Bazemore, one can go on and start marking up parade routes downtown for the parade next June!  We’ll have to see!

That’s my stand — what’s yours?

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