Harden ready for clean slate: 'Last year was very stressful for all of us'
Though it produced three playoff appearances, two 54-plus-win seasons, and one Western Conference finals berth in three years, the James Harden-Dwight Howard partnership didn't quite work out the way the Houston Rockets might've hoped.
After a dour, tumultuous season that saw them fire coach Kevin McHale after 11 games, stumble to a 41-41 record, and get bounced from the playoffs in the first round, Howard is gone. Mike D'Antoni has taken over as head coach. And Harden, amidst all the upheaval, re-upped with a four-year, $118-million renegotiation, committing long term to a team that's now unequivocally his own.
Harden said he wanted to get the deal done to wipe out any potential distractions, and focus solely on turning things around this coming season.
"So there is no indecision, no doubt in anybody's mind," Harden said, according to ESPN's Calvin Watkins. "Now we have to focus on how can we improve. Last year was very stressful for all of us, there's some new life here with coach (D'Antoni) coming in.
"This summer we want to build a strong team and go to bat every single night."
Harden was reportedly instrumental to the recruitment of free-agent signings Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon, two sharpshooters D'Antoni envisions spotting up around Harden, in a facsimile of his famed Phoenix Suns offenses quarterbacked by Steve Nash.
"I got a little bit of Nash in me," Harden said of how he helped pitch Anderson and Gordon. "He had his own pace to the game; that's what I took out of that. You could never speed him up, you could never make him do anything he didn't want to do, that's what separated him from any other point guard at the time, which led to two MVPs."
At the end of the day, Harden said his decision to redouble his commitment to Houston came down to feeling wanted.
"You just feel it sometimes," he said. "You got that feeling where everything feels comfortable. You feel love. You feel like people want you to be here and that feeling right there outweighs everything. The ultimate decision was to stay and make sure we get it done."