For CP3 Deal to Pay Off, Paul, Harden and D'Antoni Need to Show They Can Change
Mike D'Antoni still tells people what a pain Kobe Bryant was.
James Harden knows how much better he felt last season without Dwight Howard around.
Chris Paul never did fully come to terms with why Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan weren't as serious about the game as he is.
So now D'Antoni, Harden and Paul will team up in Houston to try to prove to the many skeptics around the NBA that they can become adept at making the most of talent around them.
Each has had considerable success doing it his own way, being at his best in a comfort zone as opposed to showing greatness through compromise or chemistry.
That will have to change for the revamped Rockets to threaten the Golden State Warriors.
And it starts with the biggest personality: Paul.
The desire of Harden and Paul (acquired via a complicated trade that will send Patrick Beverley, a future first-round pick and other minor pieces to the Clippers) to join forces reflects their intention to make this work despite both preferring the ball in their hands. The challenge lies in executing that intention, which will require them to suppress heroic individual instinct, and in Paul's case, his reflexive need to yap like a know-it-all about what was or wasn't done.
Obviously, Paul is a willing passer, which is a necessary ingredient for D'Antoni's style. Paul is brilliant in running the pick-and-roll, which is a fundamental component of D'Antoni's system, as much as shooting three-pointers and maintaining a fast pace.
What we don't know is if Paul can subordinate himself the way he must in Houston for the team to be its best. D'Antoni has faced this issue before...and failed before in trying to change Kobe Bryant's ways in Los Angeles and Carmelo Anthony's in New York.
The Rockets are and must remain Harden's team, with Paul a supporting player there to relieve pressure on him. Paul has to do lessโfor everyone's greater good. That includesย Paul's personal longevity, which is no small secondary consideration behind winning a title as soon as possible.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is investing in an injury-prone, massively worn, undersized player to be paid potentially $46 million at age 38. It could be an even worse payroll albatross than the Clippers were facing, as Paul not opting out of his contract pushes back a five-year extension to begin next summer instead of now.
You might recall some backlash over Bryant getting paid more richly than anyone else in his final seasons. Paul's case is even more extreme, because as union president, he negotiated a collective bargaining agreement change to an "Over-38" clause that enables players such as him to get paid more at an older advanced age.
Same as Bryant, Paul was determined to maximize his contract opportunity, and he'll do that by going via trade to Houston and maintaining future contract flexibility instead of signing there next week for less over the long term. Difficult as it may be a for Houston to swallow that risk, that determination is based, as it was with Bryant, on an unwavering belief in his self-worth.
With the Clippers, Paul was ferociously competitive, which was invaluable in making them a consistent winner. He was also painfully headstrong, though, which became overbearing and ultimately limiting as far as team growth.
The joke in recent years was that Paul's closest friend on the team was coach and team president Doc Rivers, but even their relationship grew strained.
Some guys you love more when they are your teammates. Other guys you love more when they're not, which is why it'd be a great test of the LeBron James-Dwyane Wade-Paul-Anthony "brotherhood" if the latter two of that foursomeโPaul and Anthonyโwound up together with Harden under D'Antoni in Houston. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade made it work for two titles in Miami, but only after Wade surrendered his alpha-dog perspective.
However Morey fills out the Rockets rosterโand at least one more legit piece likely is coming via the mid-level salary-cap exceptionโCP3 will be one who has to surrender his alpha-dog perspective next to Harden. D'Antoni will have to show the backbone to ensure it plays out properly.
If everyone can play the roles they need to play, their talent together can make those three-pointers and that fast pace look good enough to compete with the Warriors.
If not, it will be a gamble the Rockets can't just sidestep. As successful and driven as he has been, Morey has been fortunate that some of his swings for the fences missedโtrying to trade for Pau Gasol in the thwarted deal that would've sent Paul to the Lakers in 2011 (the year before Morey instead got Harden), or dumping salaries to make an all-out bid for Chris Bosh (who stayed in Miami and missed all of last season with a heart condition).
Few remember the details of D'Antoni's disappointing Lakers tenure with Howard, but even when Steve Nash was healthy enough to play, Bryant was so ball-dominant that Bryant was the point guard running the offense and Nash was just a spot-up shooter. It was a testament to Bryant's amazing skill that he was good enough to beat Nash out for the job he invented in D'Antoni's offense, but it was more an indictment of D'Antoni's inability to control Bryant.
Despite his extensive medical report, Paul, 32, comes to Houston in far better shape than Nash upon arrival in Los Angeles. Much more important, Harden is in his prime, unlike Bryant in 2012.
Harden has his quirks, but he possesses neither a monster personality nor a loud mouth. His undermining of Howard in Houston was more passive-aggressive. It was a lack of respect, not blatant disrespect.
Harden's growth as a team leader last season was clear, and a lot of that credit went to D'Antoni, who just received the NBA Coach of the Year award for his first season of work in Houston.
D'Antoni doesn't like to complicate things, so you can bet the plan of attack will be pretty straightforward as Harden and Paul take turns initiating the offense in the regular season, preserving their jets for the playoffs. The key for Harden will be hitting the spot-up shots Paul gets him, and the bonus would be applying more energy on defense to be closer to par with Paul on that end.
No matter how this all plays out, the Rockets deserve credit for putting their title window up against the Warriors' wide-open one. Given the choices to push uphill or roll downhill, Houston did not capitulate.
If it winds up not being good enough, so be it. At least they're trying.
How many sparks of success fly off D'Antoni's offense with two of the greatest players in recent history taking turns at the wheel will depend on how well the three principals in Houston can adjust to each other.
Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.
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