Mike D'Antoni may not like to officially label his guards, but for all intents and purposes, the Houston Rockets head coach has anointed All-Star shooting guard James Harden the team's point guard.
"He's going to be on the ball, and he's going to be distributing the ball," D'Antoni told reporters after practice Monday. D'Antoni added that Patrick Beverley will still run the offence here and there, including stretches when Harden sits, but the Rockets are looking to utilize Harden's incredible talents.
"James is an unbelievable distributor of the basketball, and we want to take advantage of it," D'Antoni said.
While Harden has never logged more than 2 percent of his minutes at the point, according to Basketball Reference's play-by-play data, things won't change much in Houston. Harden already carried the Rockets' ball-handling and scoring duties, as evidenced by his second-ranked usage rate of 32.5 percent last season, and the fact he's led Houston in assists in each of the last three years.
D'Antoni did mention, however, that under his new system, Harden will be the team's outlet after defensive rebounds. He hopes that will free the three-time All-NBA guard from some of the off-ball battles that shooting guards have to fight through just to get the ball.
D'Antoni stopped short of titling Harden a point guard, but he did jokingly propose a new label for The Beard.
"He'll be a points guard, because he's going to score some points."
