D'Antoni wants Harden to average 15 assists

James Harden offered a glimpse Wednesday night of what he'll be able to do as a restyled point(s) guard in Mike D'Antoni's offense this season.

Harden went for 34 points and a career-high 17 assists in the Houston Rockets' opening-night loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, a historically rare stat line that couldn't quite carry his team to victory. Eye-popping as those numbers were, they're mostly in line with how D'Antoni sees Harden's season playing out.

"Hopefully, he'll double his number of assists, and he had seven or eight (7.5) last year," D'Antoni told Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding in an interview published Wednesday. "I hope he can average double that. He's one of the best passers I've been around."

That was relayed to Harden, who was as incredulous as one might expect at his coach's optimistic projection.

"S--t! That's 14 assists, brother!" he told Ding, who had to let him know that it was in fact 15.

"Coach trippin'," Harden said. "Coach trippin'."

Harden may have validated his coach's faith by racking up 17 dimes in his first regular-season game in the whirring D'Antoni offense, but averaging 15 over a full season would be unprecedented. John Stockton owns the all-time mark, having averaged 14.5 in 1989-90.

Whether or not he ultimately approaches that lofty benchmark, Harden feels that as a primary ball-handler and distributor, he's in the right role.

"You see the joy in my teammates getting shots and making shots," he said. "They're comfortable. Everybody's happy. When they're happy, I'm happy. It's a different vibe. We're sacrificing for each other. That's where we are. We've got a long way to go, but for now it feels good."