The Rockets will at last get what they wanted, what they needed most. They will have a new season that, if nothing else, will officially end the offseason and, at most could, be the solution they have sought because nothing else has the same potential to bring relief.
With all the difficulties and tensions that have come, there has also been an understanding that playing basketball again could offer salvation. It is unclear and likely undetermined the levels of success needed to entirely escape the storm clouds still hovering. But winning enough solves everything, and no team can win until it plays.
On Wednesday, the Rockets finally, happily get to play.
“I think every team has got to need that,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said after the final practice before the season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Toyota Center. “There’s expectations, there’s change, there’s so many things in the NBA that happen in the offseason. There’s no thing like an NBA game, especially the first one of the season to kind of put all that stuff aside and concentrate on basketball.”
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The Rockets have had more than their share of “stuff.” But as much as the James Harden saga will continue to hang over their season until he is traded, he insists that he not be traded or that they win so much that there would be no chance that he is traded, there has been a counter to whatever tension has come with the uncertainty.
In contrast to the tension that might be unavoidable with Harden’s wish and the reality that he has not yet gotten it, he is surrounded by teammates that have been downright cheerful about the season with reasons to cherish this season opener like no other.
“I think it’s great,” Rockets guard John Wall said. “Also, it speaks volumes of our character, who we are as a person. It really shows how we love the game. Like (Tuesday) at practice, I was like, ‘Is today Wednesday, is today Wednesday?’ I was just super excited.”
Wall and DeMarcus Cousins have been almost giddy about being back on the court after limited to 30 games between them for nearly two years.
“Obviously, I’m excited to play basketball again and be on the floor,” Cousins said. “That’s a gift.”
Christian Wood has been beaming about finally finding a team that has thought enough of him to invest so heavily in his potential, along with giving him the first opening-night start of his career.
“This is everything,” Wood said. “It means a lot from where I started to now, the hard work that I put in, the progress. I’m not going to stop.”
Eric Gordon has embraced the offensive tweaks and even his return to his sixth-man role.
Even Silas will get to at last, after 20 years as an assistant, be the head coach of an NBA game.
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It is not uncommon for teams to reach the season opener full of hope and optimism. It is almost required to get in the door. That gets quickly replaced by the tests and trials that follow.
For the Rockets — with Harden missing the first week of camp and Wood missing a stretch with a sore elbow and with eight new faces on the team in a season with a rush to start a season amid the pandemic - getting ready in time has been an unusual challenge.
“I think the team is ready to go,” Wood said. “Everybody is prepared mentally. We’ve had … great practices. We’ve competed. Everybody’s locked in.”
Still, the Rockets will need to be in sync, especially with Harden and Wall in the backcourt and with both running a pick-and-roll offense with Wood. Much of that requires chemistry and that typically takes time they have not had. The Rockets did not have one preseason game with all three playing together. Harden and Wall shared the court for just 11:34 in one game.
“It’s a work in progress. It’s going well,” Silas said of meshing Wall and Harden in a backcourt. “They’re looking for each other, they’re calling plays for each other, they’re looking for actions where they can get each other involved. So far, so good. But now, the games start and we’ll have to … continue to grow and build.”
Building cohesion with Wood, he said, has “been really good.” That too will be a process through the season, but Wood was even more enthused about that potential.
“I think playing with those two guys will make me a star,” he said. “Through practices and through one preseason game, we felt the chemistry between each other. The sky’s the limit for us.”
Players and coaches have also praised Harden’s attitude approach since his arrival. If they cannot be oblivious to Harden’s apparent ambivalence, it has not seemed to bother anyone. There is a game to play and too many have waited too long to say that.
“At the end of the day, man, we can’t focus on what James does off the court,” Wall said. “All we know is he comes in every day, he works hard, he is being one of the leaders of this team on our team, in the locker room. That’s all we can ask for.
“We have a great group of guys. Everybody has a chip on their shoulder to go out there and prove something. We got a lot of guys that are locked in and all on the same page. It’ll make things a lot easier.”
That is also what they had wanted all along.
jonathan.feigen@chron.com
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