Apologies to the Warriors of Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and however many basketballs the brotherhood eventually needs to keep the scoreboards spinning.
A nod to LeBron James and Kyrie Irving and all of the Cavaliers that will fight to keep J.R. Smith’s jersey in place and battle the quite normal championship hangover.
From Dwyane Wade in Chicago to Derrick Rose in New York to Russell Westbrook trying not to let Oklahoma City slip right off the map of relevancy, there are overflowing fistfuls of stories to watch in the 2016-17 NBA season.
But none so defiantly singular as James Harden and the Rockets. If there is an act in the league to watch for sheer will and raw talent, this is it. A pyramid turned upside down and trying to balance delicately on its tip.
While the world twiddles its thumbs, taps its feet and passes the time for Warriors-Cavs III to complete the trilogy next June, it’s Harden who could steal the show and rivet our attention as a one-man band juggling chainsaws while fireworks shoot out of his ears.
In an era when virtually every franchise is trying to stack up as much high-powered star wars talent across the board as the salary cap will allow, the Rockets are doubling down in the other direction.
The Beard as Han Solo, if you will.
Of course, there is the new warp speed offense of coach Mike D’Antoni and the lineup additions of shooters Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon and veteran center Nene as other changes. But Anderson has missed fewer than 15 games only once in his eight pro seasons; Gordon has been healthy for only 398 of 640 games in the same stretch; and over the past five years Nene has missed 27, 34, 45, 24 and 25 games. That’s a lot of injury-prone hope to float.
What the offseason moves that included deep-sixing center Dwight Howard were all about was turning the keys to the entire organization over to Harden, lock, stock and Montrezl Harrell.
This isn’t just an opening tip tonight against the young Lakers at Staples Center (10:30 ET, ESPN). It’s the start of an 82-game pop idol tour full of sound, fury, laser light show and chorus line dancers.
The Harden Show, after all, is worth it from the standpoint of seeing a virtuoso practice his craft. From the head-fakes and stutter-steps and off-balance lunges toward the basket that produce all those layups and free throw attempts to the how-did-he-do-that passes that come from seemingly impossible angles and manage slipping through narrow openings between flailing defenders’ arms and legs to the sure-I’m’gonna-take-it-step-back-3s, it’s as much breathtaking light and magic as athletic event.
Yet there is an indefatigable aspect to Harden that makes what he does even harder to explain and greater to appreciate. Over the past two seasons, nobody in the league has played more minutes than Harden, carried more of his team’s burden. And now the Rockets want him to do more.
The memory is of the 2015 Western Conference finals when the clock was finally running out on the Rockets’ last hope in Game 5, when a spent Harden tried one last drive to the basket and practically dribbled his spent body right into the court for his 12th turnover of the game. The image is of the late James Brown being exhausted, draped with a cape and helped off the stage.
I Feel Good might as well be his theme song regardless of the circumstances, since Harden is nothing if not durable, resolute and supremely aloof. You show him the internet videos of his defensive breakdowns and he’ll show you career bests of 29 points, 7.5 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game from a year ago that somehow did not get him voted onto any of the three All-NBA teams.
Of course, he sees it and hears it and feels it all and is likely to respond in a big, big way so that nobody will be able to ignore him this time. Not necessarily in a direct response to his critics, but because he frankly doesn’t give a damn about them.
Harden as MVP? Certainly if you like them brash, captivating and positively unstoppable at the offensive end. Not to mention able to relentlessly carry the full load night after night after night after night. No team in the league relies on one player more than the Rockets.
What Harden has now is not only an offensive system and coach and an opportunity to blow the lid off, but an entire franchise in in the palms of his hands.
He not only won the internal locker room tug ‘o war with the childish and underwhelming Howard, but got a $118 million contract extension that makes the Rockets his team and this his time to shine through 2020. This is everything that Harden has long craved, from his status as an Adidas-endorsing megastar to TMZ-level celebrity idol to the guy that most often has the ball and the entire organization on a string.
Team owner Leslie Alexander — in addition to being a notorious star-chaser — went with D’Antoni over the young, unproven talent-on-the-rise Stephen Silas in his coaching search because he knows it’s a narrow window to hit it big and try to win a championship with Harden over these next four seasons. At 27, it’s unlikely anyone can keep up the grinding usage rate and maintain the same level of performance much beyond.
Let the Cavs and Warriors posture and do calisthenics up to a reunion in June. Until then, James Harden just might be the show.
