James Harden Comments on Mike D'Antoni's Impact on Rockets

James Harden approves of the Houston Rockets' decision to hire Mike D'Antoni as their new head coach.

The Rockets' All-Star was a guest on teammate Jason Terry's new Sirius XM radio show on Wednesday, and he said he was "excited" about the 2004-05 Coach of the Year coming on board.  

"I'm excited about the opportunity," Harden told Terry (via Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle). "I've been hearing great things about him, what he brings to our team. Obviously, our assistant coaches (Jeff Bzdelik and Roy Rogers) as well. A new beginning and I'm excited about the opportunity."

The Rockets signed D'Antoni to a four-year deal last Thursday to become their third head coach since the 2011-12 season. D'Antoni hasn't coached since 2013-14, which was a 27-win season for the Los Angeles Lakers.

"I'm excited about what D'Antoni brings to our team," Harden said, via Feigen. "Bzdelik is a great defensive-minded coach coming from Memphis who is going to help our defensive schemes. Then the players we're going to get, it's set up as a great season for our team next year."

It's a good sign for the Rockets that Harden is excited about playing for D'Antoni. The No. 1 goal is to make sure the superstar is happy. The defense is suspect, however. D'Antoni hasn't coached a team with a defensive rating of less than 110 since his Phoenix Suns days, per Basketball-Reference.com. The Rockets were one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA last year, giving up 106.4 points per game.

It will be a work in progress, but Harden will be the facilitator and the playmaker in D'Antoni's offense. That's what needs to happen for Houston to succeed.