THE HOUSTON MISSILES ‘ The culture in the James Harden era, which spans two owners and now four head coaches, can best be summed up by the three words of a former staff member:
“Whatever James wants.”
Unless they were at the front of a back-to-back set, it was essentially certain that the Rockets would stay overnight – or even an extra day – after racing in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and other road cities that are among the Harden’s favorite stops.
If the Rockets had two or three days between games, it was a good bet that Harden would call off an off day and charter a private jet to party in Las Vegas or another city. He always gets an apologized absence from the first practice after the All-Star break for the same reason.
“Just James is James,” say those currently in the franchise. But these circumstances are drastically different than ever before during the eight-year tenure of the eternal All-Star in Houston.
Harden has pushed the Rockets to upgrade every low season, saying he would want to be traded if they couldn’t fight, sources said. And he had the final say on matters beyond travel and exercise schedules. He was able to take charge of personnel moves both on the roster and coaching staff, a force he used to push for the firing of head coach Kevin McHale and the departure of co-stars Dwight Howard and Chris Paul, sources said.
And the Rockets thought it was a good thing to do what Harden wanted to keep a historically elite player happy. But when Harden tried in recent weeks to rush the Rockets to trade him, despite the lack of a bid they considered fair value, that wasn’t the annual ultimatum for improvement. It was something more.
Letting the Rockets turn in the wind while camp opened with little communication, Harden made his absence the focus of rookie head coach Stephen Silas’ first days of training. And by calling off the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols, partying maskless during the pandemic, and bragging about it on Instagram, Harden revealed what could happen if he didn’t get his way.
“Yes, he’s going to be acting,” said a former Rockets employee.
“He’s never heard ‘no’.”
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MULTIPLE MISSILE OFFICIALS recognize that the entire organization has been “complicit” in the culture created over the past eight years.
“We knew who was in charge of the organization,” said a former Rockets assistant coach. “That’s only part of what the deal was when you went to Houston. The players, coaches, GM, owner all know.
“I don’t blame James. I blame the organization. It’s not his fault. He did what they made him do. ‘
Yet there is no consensus among current and former Rockets officials and executives that it was the wrong way to drive Harden to such extremes. The Rockets were toward NBA irrelevance before Harden arrived in Houston, missing the playoffs of each of the previous three seasons.
Former Rockets CEO Daryl Morey took a calculated risk by predicting that the reigning Sixth Man of the Year would become a bona fide superstar when he took Kevin Martin, then-rookie lottery pick Jeremy Lamb and a pack of NBA hikers to Oklahoma City sent. Thunder for Harden. The Rockets haven’t missed the playoffs since then, the only franchise that can make that claim.
“When they have several days off, everyone knows: James is going to fly and party elsewhere. But he comes back and gets a 50-point triple-double, so they’re fine with that.”
Houston coaching staff member 2019-2020
Houston failed to reach his ultimate goal on his run with Harden, advancing to the Western Conference finals twice, but never beyond that point. But Harden’s genius, the 2017/18 MVP and a top-three finisher in the balloting four times in the past six years, gave Houston realistic hope to claim that only a handful of teams have each season.
He is also one of the most enduring stars in the sport, routinely leading the way in minutes and often from injuries such as sprained ankles and shoulder bruises that would make other players rest. All of these things made it easy for the Rockets to look the other way when it came to Harden’s harsh lifestyle.
“When they have several days off, everyone knows: James is going to fly and party elsewhere,” said a member of last season’s coaching staff. “But he comes back and gets a triple-double for 50 points, so they’re fine with that.”
But the lack of discipline and attention to detail was out of order with Paul and Russell Westbrook, ultimately leading to rifts between Harden and those two stars.
The pinnacle of the franchise’s Harden era came during Paul’s first season in Houston, when the Rockets took the top 65 wins during the regular season and built a 3-2 lead over the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. But the Rockets lost the last two games of that series with Paul sidelined – “a hamstring away” is a phrase that will haunt Houston fans forever – and the chemistry between the ball-dominant co-stars blew up the following season.
One of Paul’s biggest points, sources said, was that Harden basically chose not to participate in the Rockets’ attack when he didn’t have the ball in his hands, and sometimes barely stepped half way while watching when Paul had the ball. Harden quickly grew tired of Paul barking about his concerns, including lobby coach Mike D’Antoni to implement more structure and movement in an offensive system revolving around Harden’s isolations, sources said.
Rockets management believed those issues could be ironed out and wanted to roll it back last season with the Harden-Paul duo. Those plans changed as soon as Westbrook became available.
Harden insisted the Rockets close the deal, saying he would demand a trade if they didn’t find a way to bring his childhood friend and former OKC teammate to Houston, sources said. The Rockets paid a price that was considered steep at the time – Paul, 2024 and 2026 first-round picks, and trading rights in 2021 and 2025.
Sources said Westbrook regularly expressed displeasure during the season at not being able to “play my game,” as he put it. There were questions about the Harden-Westbrook fit as they pressed to get back together, including D’Antoni expressing his concerns privately, sources said.
Those concerns were allayed, internally and externally, when Westbrook thrived after the Rockets’ switch to small ball opened the floor. He averaged 32.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game while shooting 53.1% off the floor over a two-month period before the coronavirus pandemic ended the season.
HOUSTON’S CASUAL CULTURE shocked Westbrook. In Oklahoma City, he enjoyed the same kind of superstar privileges that Harden did in Houston, and the Thunder operated with the discipline of a military unit under Westbrook’s control. The Rockets were a stark contrast, especially last season under D’Antoni, who was never known as a disciplinarian and who was a lame duck in the last year of his contract after the summer renewal negotiations were infamous twice.
Westbrook did not tolerate slowness. With the Rockets, scheduled departure times were treated as suggestions by Harden and others.
“Nothing ever starts on time,” said a former Rockets employee. ‘The plane is always late. The bus is never on time … It’s just an organized AAU team. ‘
Once in the Florida bubble, Harden waited for his daily COVID-19 test until just before the Rockets’ movie session was due to begin. When he wasn’t on time, Westbrook barked, “Start the movie! Start without him! ‘ D’Antoni explained that when Harden arrived, they just had to start over, which didn’t calm Westbrook much.
Whether Westbrook or Harden wanted to leave first isn’t clear, but they no longer wanted to play together, a season after the Rockets mortgaged their provisional futures to make it happen.
Morey, the man who negotiated that deal with owner Tilman Fertitta’s approval, made his departure before one of the stars asked to be traded. Rafael Stone, who was promoted to general manager following Morey’s resignation and moving to president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers, was left to deal with the messy aftermath.
As a senior Rockets source told ESPN in November, the franchise was “willing to feel uncomfortable” by entering the season with disgruntled superstars on the roster. The Rockets traded Westbrook just before camp opened, sending him to the Washington Wizards for John Wall (fresh off a two-year injury layoff) and a protected future first-round pick, recognizing that the previous off-season deal to Westbrook was over to make was a disastrous decision.
But Houston has dug its heels in the sand regarding Harden and will refuse to consider a bid at this point unless it includes a young franchise cornerstone and a bundle of first-round picks and / or promising players on rookie deals. Sources say Harden, who was particularly focused on trying to force his way into the Brooklyn Nets, indicated to the Rockets that he would accept a trade with the 76ers or other select contenders.
After the Rockets announced they would not be affected by accident, Harden postponed an arrival at the camp, opting instead to hang out with rapper Lil Baby – gifting his friend a Prada bag filled with honey buns , a $ 100,000 cash (aka a “Honey Bun”) and a Richard Mille watch worth the six digits for Lil Baby’s birthday – while Silas lingers.
Harden joined the Rockets on Dec. 8, a week after his teammates tested negative for the coronavirus for an NBA term of office for six consecutive days and finally rehearsed with the team on Monday. He had a “good talk” about basketball strategy with Silas, the coach said, who until then had minimal communication with his point guard. But Harden has yet to speak to the media since his late arrival at training camp, a violation of NBA rules.
The Rockets hope that Harden, who played 21 minutes in Tuesday’s preseason win over the San Antonio Spurs, will be professional as they patiently explore the trading market, looking for a deal that wouldn’t condemn the franchise to a lengthy, painful rebuild. .
“You can’t get mad at your kid if you let him eat sweets every night and suddenly don’t one night and they have a tantrum,” said an ex-Houston assistant coach. ‘You’re the one who makes them eat sweets every night.
“The Rockets handed over the organization to James and now they have to live with the consequences.”