Harden homecoming hype tempered by tragedy in McHale family
- The Rockets were in Minnesota today for the funeral of coach Kevin McHale's daughter Sasha
- James Harden, who was traded from Oklahoma City to Houston, will make his return at tonight's game
- Thunder coach Scott Brooks says the team has moved on from Harden with Martin fitting in
OKLAHOMA CITY - Oh yeah, the James Harden return.
While the Houston Rockets and their new franchise centerpiece were pulling a classy, bigger-than-basketball move by attending the Wednesday funeral of Sasha McHale, the 23-year-old daughter of coach Kevin McHale, in Minneapolis at mid-day, Harden's old Oklahoma City Thunder teammates were preparing to face him tonight for the first time since he was so shockingly traded back on Oct. 28. The tragedy of Sasha losing her fight with Lupus on Saturday changed the tone here even before the Rockets had arrived, with players and coaches alike agonizing over what the McHale family is going through.
"We're keeping his special family in our prayers during this time as an NBA family," said Thunder shooting guard Kevin Martin, the former Rocket who slid into Harden's super-sub spot as part of the Harden deal.
So this reunion of sorts was kept in its proper place, as a compelling subplot to this early NBA season that won't be hyped quite as much because of the real life events that so tragically unfolded leading up to it. Harden is back in this place where he became such a fan favorite and a fascinating character, the creative and versatile role player turned masterful man in the middle of all things Thunder.
Their rise and his were one in the same, with Harden – with that smooth lefty stroke, the playmaking instincts and underrated explosion and athleticism – offering a special brand of basketball that doesn't exist anywhere else in the league, let alone on this new-look Thunder. There was a definite personal component in play, too, strong friendships born between the likes of Harden, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and their small-market bunch as they embarked on the sort of rapid ascent not often seen in pro sports.
There was first-round loss to the Lakers in 2010, followed by the Western Conference Finals appearance against Dallas a year later, then the Finals loss to Miami in June. Then, thanks almost entirely to the more-restrictive collective bargaining agreement put in place during the 2011 lockout, there was the break-up.
After failed negotiations on an extension with the Thunder, Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti moved quickly to send Harden, Daequan Cook, Cole Aldrich and Lazar Hayward to Houston for Martin, rookie guard Jeremy Lamb, two first-round draft picks and a second-round pick. Harden signed a maximum deal with the Rockets soon thereafter that will pay him a combined $80 million for the next five seasons.
Thunder forward Nick Collison, who was the team representative during the lockout and is the longest-tenured member of the organization at nine seasons and counting, admitted that there was some anger involved when the deal initially went down.
"Um, yeah, there's emotion involved for sure," Collison said at the Wednesday shoot-a-round. "It's a tough situation. We had guys that were here and now we have different guys, so yeah it's definitely an adjustment.
"Those things go into it, but the good thing about it is we can keep those to ourselves and don't have to tell the media about that stuff and we just come out and know that really what we have to do is play with the new guys. But it's definitely been an adjustment and will continue to be."
Thunder coach Scott Brooks said it didn't take much time for his players to move on from the Harden situation.
"It's kind of an interesting phenomenon with NBA players. I've been in that situation many times (during his playing days), where you get traded or you trade players and you get over it quick," Brooks said. "You never lose the friendship that you established, and they're going to be friends forever.
"But we get over it pretty quick. We move on, and we focus on what we've done – and we've done a great job with that. Guys have really done a good job of opening up with K-Mart and Jeremy (Lamb) and he's working the way we want him to work with us."
Feelings aside, Brooks is right that they're adjusting pretty well so far. Oklahoma City's 11-4 record is a half-game off Memphis' league-best 10-2 mark. Martin has provided a unique service in his own right,scoring averaging 15.7 points per game while shooting 45.6 percent overall and a scorching 49.3 percent from three-point range (ranked seventh in the league). Collison said there's still plenty of room to grow when it comes to fine-tuning the flow in this new group.
"Part of adjusting to the new guys and Kevin in particular is what kind of sets we can run for him and stuff like that," he said. "The hard part about the timing is that you don't have training camp, and we haven't had a lot of practice days. We've had a really busy November schedule, so it's hard to put in a lot of new stuff. That will be part of it as we go on –hopefully we can find some things that work better for him and that'll be good.
"We're still working on it. It was a rare situation to have a guy like (Harden) who could create so much offense for role (players) … So we had that, and now (with) Kevin, it's another rare situation. He's still one of the best scorers in the league, so we still have that luxury, but they're different players. We need to figure out some different sets to get him going,and then execution becomes important instead of letting a guy just make a play."
While plenty of Thunder fans were furious over the move, Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks fully expects a warm reception.
"They're obviously going to cheer him, and they should – rightfully so," Brooks said. "But when the ball is thrown up, fans are going to focus on our team and we're going to focus on what we do. So the emotions - James is going to probably feel the same way. He's going to want to beat us just like we want to beat them."
Harden is finding his way just fine, too. He averages nearly nine points more than his career-high mark of last season (25.1 points per game compared to 16.8) and ranks fifth in the league in scoring for a Rockets team off to a 7-7 mark. But by the time he and the Rockets arrive, their emotions will have been spent on something far more meaningful than this game.
"(Wednesday) is definitely going to be a long day," Harden told reporters in Houston on Tuesday night after the team beat Toronto. "It's emotional, but I think we're strong enough to get through it. We've got to be there for coach (McHale) ... Our biggest thing is just supporting him and making sure that we comfort him in knowing that we're there for him."