By Dan Ferrara, NBA International
New Houston Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni is renowned for his innovative offensive scheme, notably the “7 seconds or less” offense he perfected during his time with the Phoenix Suns.
D’Antoni’s offense has staples such as quick ball-movement, heaps of 3-point shooting and pick-and-roll sets which all typically lead to triple-digit totals on the scoreboard.
It’s very simple with D’Antoni – when he and his star players are on the same page, the team flourishes. That’s why his Suns teams constantly won over 50 games and made the playoffs in the Western Conference – two-time MVP Steve Nash and dynamic power forward Amar’e Stoudemire bought in and perfected his offense. In New York, Carmelo Anthony wasn’t necessarily a good fit for the run-and-gun style, as he is more of an isolation player, and the Knicks struggled.
So let’s break down how Harden can fit into D’Antoni’s offense this upcoming season.
Alright, we can start with the bad news – Harden is currently the NBA’s premier isolation player, as he led the league in percentage of isolation plays last season with 24.2%. Number two on the list? None other than Anthony, who D’Antoni failed to jive with.
While D’Antoni used to want a shot put up within seven seconds running off the shot clock, Harden took an average of 4.43 seconds per touch and 6.2 seconds per possession last season – let’s just say he isn’t exactly the king of ball movement. Harden likes to dazzle one-on-one with his dribble, take his time and deliberately either shake his defender or drive by him to get a hoop or foul.
Although that’s his calling card, Harden displays attributes that give hope to the Rockets that their new pairing can become a workable duo and lead to wins on the court. When you get past Harden’s high isolation rate, the other facets of his game seem to mesh well with D’Antoni’s approach. Let’s take a deeper look.
Harden actually ran the pick-and-roll on 25.9% of his plays last season, and they resulted in points 44.6% of the time. In fact, Harden was so effective off the pick-and-roll that he ranked in the 91.4 percentile.
D’Antoni’s offenses typically get out in the open floor and get easy buckets. Harden has showcased the abilities to both run on the fast break and create separation by moving without the ball, two components which may come into play this season.
Another great attribute of Harden’s is his passing ability, which is sometimes forgotten. He ranked sixth in the league with a career-high 7.5 assists last season and first among non-point guards. In fact, his assist total has gone up every season of his career, and there’s reason to believe that it will continue to rise this season, as he is surrounded by mobile big men and knockdown 3-point shooters on this Rockets squad.
While he may not seem like the prototypical type on the surface, Harden definitely has facets of his game that will shine with D’Antoni. Of course, he’s still a premier scorer in the league, but his ever-improving passing and high effectiveness off the pick-and-roll are reasons to be genuinely excited to see how he transitions. Odds are that the ball will stick in his hands far less this season, with fewer possessions of endless dribbling until the shot clock runs down and forcing a bad shot. All of this will lead to a higher field-goal percentage and higher offensive efficiency for the Rockets as they hope to ascend the ranks in the West and make a deep postseason run.
