Getty It looks like the Houston Rockets are sticking with Mike D'Antoni -- for now.
Some pundits believed that the Houston Rockets would not be able to mesh because of the multitude of personalities on that team.
Currently that thought process looks inaccurate. At 10-3, the Rockets are currently sitting in second place in the NBA’s Western Conference standings.
Head coach, Mike D’Antoni has the advantage of two All Stars at his disposal within his system.
Insert James Harden and Russell Westbrook. Currently, Westbrook is averaging 21 points, 8 rebounds and 6.8 assists for the Rockets.
James Harden is currently averaging 39.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 7.8 assists.
Appearing on the Scoop B Radio Podcast, retired NBA player, Tim Thomas tells me that Harden and Westbrook won’t be the only Rockets living their best life within D’Antoni’s system.
Others will too! The seventh pick in the 1997 NBA Draft, Thomas, the seventh pick in the 1997 NBA Draft, played 12 NBA seasons for the Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers.
A Villanova product,Thomas averaged 11.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 824 games.
Check out a snippet from our Q&A below:
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: You know this better than anyone. I was explaining to somebody the other day. I was talking about the Phoenix Suns team: Steve Nash, you (Tim Thomas), and a bunch of other guys on that team. Playing under Mike D’Antoni. D’Antoni has Russell Westbrook and James Harden in Houston this year. How do you envision that working out?
Tim Thomas: It’s going to be interesting. I mean if anybody can do it, D’Antoni can do it. I mean he is one guys that is one of the forefathers of that offense. So having two explosive guys like that, it’s going to be tough. I read somewhere that they’re going to play them at different times and then play them together in the fourth. So that’s the thing that’s tricky. I wanna see how long that lasts.
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: You know I was having this conversation with someone on their podcast the other day. You played in the NBA; I’ll defer to you. Everybody’s paying attention to Russell Westbrook, everyone’s paying attention to James Harden in the Houston Rockets offense. But they have other guys…PJ Tucker, Clint Cappela, Eric Gordon. Who on that team not named Russell or Harden will going to benefit from that offense or on the team at large overall this year?
Tim Thomas: All of them. Everyone that’s on the team is going to benefit. Reason why is because the game has changed so much and it’s more of an up-tempo spread the floor, let your best guys create, get their shots and space. So think about it. Harden is left-handed. but he goes either way and it’s no slowing down Westbrook, so on each side of the floor, with one of them handling the ball you can go into any set or any flow of offense or give them space and let them go… so that’s the tough part. That’s why I said I want to see how long that lasts with the comment that was made with playing them at separate times and playing them together in the fourth. You know I think for that team to be really successful they are going to have to play together and just rotate those guys coming in off the bench because everybody’s going to benefit off that. Trust me.