Houston Rockets: How to ensure a Harden, Westbrook duo works

While James Harden and Russell Westbrook aren’t necessarily an ideal fit, let’s take a look at how the Houston Rockets can ensure the duo works

During an offseason that has been defined by the pairing of superstars from LA to Brooklyn, the reunion of James Harden and Russell Westbrook in Houston will prove the hardest to integrate stylistically.

With both guards defined by their high-usage rate, as well as their inability to adjust to off-ball assignments, last week’s blockbuster trade has raised questions throughout the league as to the viability of the Houston Rockets roster. Yet, while they may appear to be strange bedfellows at first glance, there remains ample evidence to suggest the two can thrive together.

To get an idea of how exactly they might coexist, we need to go back to the last time the two shared a backcourt.

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Entering the 2011-12 season, it was widely assumed that the Oklahoma City Thunder were the team of the future. Armed with two surefire All-NBA players in Kevin Durant and Westbrook, as well as a burgeoning offensive talent off the bench in Harden, it was not difficult to imagine the Thunder competing for multiple championships throughout the decade.

While the Harden trade to Houston less than a year later would ultimately cut short Russ and The Beard’s partnership – and as we now know, short-circuit those championship ambitions -their time together would consistently propel OKC to the top of the league rankings for offensive efficiency.

Employing a spread pick-and-roll attack, the Thunder excelled by combining the threat of their excellent spot-up shooters – ranked 6th in the league according to Synergy Sports – with the athleticism of their two primary ball-handlers in Westbrook and Harden. Despite the predictability with which these sets would most often play out – with the ball-handler scoring on over 83 percent of such possessions, as Ian Levy pointed out – the Thunder’s ability to construct a roster that was capable of maximizing their stars talent mattered far more than the opposing team’s recognition of what might be coming.

While the Rockets preference for isolation is well known – operating out of it on nearly 20 percent of all possession according to Synergy – they retain enough shooters to emulate the Thunder’s pick-and-roll quite effectively. What will invariably be the challenge, should Mike D’Antoni and his staff decide to implement such a system, is the tension that is sure to follow given that Westbrook would be the preferable ball-handler, with Harden’s deadly outside shooting providing far more space.

In fact, though they were the two primary ball-handlers in Oklahoma City during their tenure together, Westbrook had the ball nearly 46 percent of the time on all pick-and-rolls, almost double the number of possessions Harden had in the same sets.

Though it was the source of little acrimony at the time, it should be considered that Westbrook’s considerably greater usage-rate seemed appropriate with his higher rank in the Thunder organization; a given that is no longer true in Houston, with James Harden generally considered to be the superior player.

Yet despite the change in their respective statuses over the intervening seven years, one has to imagine that Harden and the Rockets were fully aware of the compromises necessary to make such a partnership work, prior to the completion of the trade.

What may be less clear however, is Westbrook’s willingness to move off the ball in those moments when Harden reasserts control. Given his poor shooting – and to be clear there’s little evidence to suggest his putrid 29 percent 3-point shooting last season was an aberration, given his career mark is 30.8 percent -the Rockets will need their new point-guard to vastly improve on the mere 30 possessions he scored on all of last year off of off ball cuts, according to data from Synergy.

At the very least, Russ has to avoid standing in the corner; hands on knees, watching Harden operate with the ball, lest opposing teams load up on his all-star teammate.

To remedy some of these potential problems, it is likely that Houston will make at least one major departure from the Thunder model earlier in the decade: staggering minutes between the two stars.

A strategy Scott Brooks was mostly reticent about during his stay as OKC head coach, Mike D’Antoni has regularly employed throughout his career, most recently with both Harden and Chris Paul. Rarely sharing the court except for the first and final stretches of each game, Paul and Harden’s ability to orchestrate the offense without the other was a key aspect of Houston’s depth.

As Ramona Shelbourne revealed on “The Jump”, it appears Houston will look to continue that trend.

Regardless of the concerns that may accompany Westbrook’s migration to Houston, the move to acquire him was a no-brainer for an organization that had clearly reached its ceiling. Lead by a GM in Daryl Morey who has always prized the collection of talent over the potential “fit” of that talent, and it could be said that we should have viewed the Rockets as a favorite to land Westbrook all along, rather than Miami.

While critics may argue that Morey simply exchanged one toxic asset for another – and gave up draft capital to do so – Houston can make a convincing argument that in a league run on star power, the ability to combine two top-15 players on a roster was worth whatever risk came along with it.