James Harden comes from another disappointing season with the Houston Rockets, where they were eliminated by the eventual champions Los Angeles Lakers. You can say the Lakers had a great team, which they did, but the Rockets once again fell short in their attempts to win the NBA championship. It was like that for the last 3 or 4 years and the front office decided to make some changes.
The only person that’s untouchable within the organization is James Harden, as they expect to take the most advantage of him as long as they can. Harden is 31 right now and most people believe his level is about to start decreasing. However, former coach John Lucas doesn’t think that way; in fact, he’s convinced Harden will be ready to compete and who he’s as dangerous or more than before.
During a recent appearance on the ‘Posecast’ with James Posey, Lucas tipped Harden to have a great season with the Rockets since he has nothing else to do but play and think about basketball. Asked if Harden can be compared to someone in the game, Lucas said:
“No,” said Lucas almost immediately. “I told Mike D’Antoni last night. He had 49 points on 16 shots. Think about that. 49 points! I think he’s going to get even better. You know why? Because he can’t go anywhere. He’s got to eat right, got to get his a** in the bed at night. So I think he’s going to play even better and that’s going to be scary. “
“He’s got one of the quickest speed that I’ve ever worked with… And he’s 240 pounds. Every year, he adds something different to his game,” stated Lucas.
Harden has proven that his game is great in the regular season but when it comes to the playoffs, it’s not the same; it’s not enough to win a championship and that must change for the Rockets to win a championship. Perhaps things will be different now that Stephen Silas is taking over from Mike D’Antoni and the team wants to ‘change the culture.’
That seems like the direction they need to follow to win the NBA title after all these years of trying.
