Getty Russell Westbrook and James Harden will team up on the Rockets yet again.
Russell Westbrook hasn’t lost his edge at all.
As the Houston Rockets held their annual Media Day on Friday afternoon, the former NBA MVP appeared in his very first as a member of the Rockets. Needless to say, the competitive Westbrook didn’t miss a beat as he issued a bold statement towards the rest of the league now that he’s teaming up once again with fellow former MVP James Harden — it’s gonna be scary for everyone else — not the Rockets.
.@russwest44 on playing with @JHarden13: “It’s gonna be scary. That’s all I can tell you. It’s gonna be scary. Not for us.”
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Rockets Are Only NBA Team That Have 2 MVPs
The Rockets are the only team in the league that feature two MVP’s. Obviously, the team looks amazing on paper, but there are major questions surrounding whether or not the two star players can co-exist considering they’re both ball-dominant players.
With that said, it’s very clear that Westbrook and Harden are not lacking in confidence.
Harden made it clear during his own press conference that if Westbrook is having one of his types of games where he just goes off, he has no problem taking a backseat to the veteran point guard.
.@JHarden13 on @russwest44: “If Russ got it going and Russ is on one of those games that we’ve all seen before, guess what I’m going to do, sit back and watch the show and vice-versa.”
James Harden Will Take Blame if Rockets Don’t Win Title
Considering the Golden State Warriors are at their very weakest in years — they no longer have Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson will be sidelined until at least February due to a torn ACL — the Rockets have their best shot at winning a title since they acquired Harden back in 2012.
Harden is well aware of what’s at stake here, especially considering the Warriors are vulnerable and now he has the support of a former MVP who is in his prime. That is why the 30-year-old veteran made it clear that if the Rockets come up short again in their quest to win a championship, he will take all of the blame for it.
“If we don’t win it, I’ll take all the blame for that,” Harden said. “That’s why you have to go out there and win. That’s why we work extremely hard in the offseason to bring players in, or whatever is necessary to give ourselves that chance to win. I know what’s at stake, I know that if we don’t win James Harden and such-and-such don’t get the credit for it. They’re going to talk down, or create a narrative of whatever they want to create. This ain’t my first rodeo.”
Although the Rockets are cash-strapped due to having to pay Westbrook and Harden nearly $40 million each this season, they’ve made it clear what their objective is in filling out the rest of the roster — find cheap and reliable veterans.
After striking out in their quest to re-sign Iman Shumpert and Luc Mbah a Moute, the Rockets signed Thabo Sefolosha, Jaron Blossomgame and Ryan Anderson over the past week. Houston now has 11 players under guaranteed deals and could potentially sign more as they hosted veterans Raymond Felton, Nick Young, Corey Brewer and Terrence Jones during minicamp in Las Vegas last week.
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