National Basketball Association

Harden focused on helping Rockets improve after tough season

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 8:50 p.m. ET

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HOUSTON (AP) James Harden was second in the NBA with 29 points per game last season and his 7.5 rebounds were a career high.

Still, it was a disappointing year for Harden and the Houston Rockets, who were ousted in the first round of the playoffs by Golden State, and the star knew he had to adjust things to take the team farther this year.

''Last year was frustrating, numbers individually was pretty solid, but just the love and excitement wasn't there,'' he said. ''So I had to look in the mirror this summer and realize that I got to change and I got to get back to how I was.''

To that end, he refocused this offseason and put an emphasis on becoming a better leader. He organized players-only training and outings in both Miami and Las Vegas in an attempt to create cohesiveness within the group before camp.

''Just getting to know somebody and hanging out ... it was really good,'' he said. ''That's going to carry over onto the court.''

The way his embraced his role as the undisputed leader of this team has impressed everyone in the organization, starting with owner Leslie Alexander.

''It shows that James wants to win very badly,'' Alexander said. ''He's a winning player ... James is one of the top three or four players we've ever had here and he wants to win as much as (Hakeem) Olajuwon and (Clyde) Drexler and everybody else.''

Trevor Ariza is entering his 13th NBA season, but had the excitement of a rookie on Friday as he talked about how much better things feel entering this season than they did last year. It was a season that saw coach Kevin McHale fired after just 11 games and the Rockets take a step back after reaching the Western Conference finals in 2015.

''I think just last season was frustrating for everybody because we just couldn't figure it out together,'' Ariza said. ''I don't even know how to explain. It was just a weird, weird, weird year.''

So how have things changed now?

''The vibe has just been totally different,'' Ariza said. ''Everybody is excited to show what they've worked on and excited just to be around each other.''

These positive-attitude Rockets enter the season with new coach Mike D'Antoni and without eight-time All-Star center Dwight Howard, who signed with Atlanta in the offseason. A big question for this team will be who will step in to make up for Howard's absence.

Their top options are Clint Capela, a third-year player who saw limited action the past two seasons as Howard's backup, and Nene, who played 53 games for Washington last year before joining Houston in the offseason.

General manager Daryl Morey raved about Capela's improvement in his first year, but knows he'll have to do more this season if the Rockets hope to be a force in the Western Conference.

''Clint is going to have to take a big step forward and it's not an easy step,'' Morey said. ''To go from playing 15-20 minutes against often not the starting center to playing 25-plus minutes against front-line guys, that's a big step forward. It's more physical. It takes a big toll on your body to do that night-in and night-out.''

Along with Nene, the Rockets also added outside shooters Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon this offseason. Houston expects the addition of those two to fill a void that this team has had in recent years.

''We were able to upgrade our shooting ... for the style we want to play,'' Morey said. ''I don't feel like we had enough shooting (before). We do have that.''

Everyone is saying the right things and Morey believes he made the upgrades necessary for the team to succeed in D'Antoni's system. But with all the improvements other teams made in the West, it's hard to know what to expect from this team.

Alexander was confident, yet tempered when asked about his expectations.

''I think we'll win more games than people anticipate,'' he said. ''But when the season rolls on we'll see how well we do.''