Houston Rockets’ James Harden, right, is guarded by Toronto Raptors’ James Johnson. AP/The Canadian Press
James Harden is known to dominate most of the Houston Rockets’ ball-handling duties, and new head coach Mike D’Antoni decided that he might as well make him his full-time point guard.
“He’s more or less responsible giving rhythm to the team, that’s what a point guard does. He’s going to be on the ball and he’s going to be distributing the ball and it will take some adjusting,” the up-tempo-style coach confirmed to Bleacher Report. “He’s got a lot more responsibilities as a point guard. A playcaller, a good basketball mind, he’s already telling guys we can do this, we can do that.”
The 27-year-old All-star has always been a prolific scorer. He also vastly improved on his play-making skills last year, after averaging a career-high 7.5 assists per contest.
Despite the new designation, Harden downplayed the move and insisted that his teammates were the reason he seemed to relish the responsibility.
“Just a lot of trust. My teammates trust in me to make the right decision, whether it’s scoring or whether it’s making a play,” he said. “We have a lot of guys who are more than capable to create and knock down shots and that’s what is going to open our floor. A lot more guys are going to get open shots left and right.”
Also, the team’s off-season signing of former New Orleans Pelicans shooting guard Eric Gordon could indeed permanently move Harden to the point.
It’s not like the Rockets have much options at the 1 spot either, given the limitations of Patrick Beverly, plus having an unproven Tyler Ennis or a seasoned Pablo Prigioni coming off the bench.
The Rockets barely made it to the playoffs last year, hanging on to the Western Conference 8th spot and eventually losing the best-of-seven series against Golden State Warriors, four games to one.
The team elected to go with D’Antoni’s run-and-gun system, while also making sweeping roster changes—none bigger than letting go of Dwight Howard.
In his place, Houston added veteran players Gordon, Nene and Ryan Anderson. Khristian Ibarrola