James Harden is organizing a players-only minicamp for the Houston Rockets, to be held next week in Miami.

“James is doing everything,” said forward Corey Brewer to Mark Berman of Fox Houston. “He is showing he wants to be a leader.”

“He's the franchise player. He signed the extension. So it's his team, and he's doing all the right things to do what we need to do to have a chance to win championships.”

Minicamps are often know as the summer school of the NBA season, the place where new players get to meet the ones who have been a part of the roster and have a chance to mesh with each other.

New shooting guard acquisition Eric Gordon thinks highly of the idea:

“It's good,” said Gordon. “This will be our second time being all together.”

“Everybody getting acclimated with each other. I think we have a very interesting team, where we can do some things this year.”

While the main point of a minicamp is having that coach-free, relaxed environment to work out — getting to gel with each other is high on the agenda.

“I've got to go down there with the fellas,” said Brewer. “It's a good thing. We got to get together. Get to know each other, team camaraderie. You need that, especially now days the way the NBA is. A lot of good players, but you got to be a team.

“We want to send a message that we're ready to go. We're going to work our butts off. All the guys have been working hard this summer. Last year was a year that we didn't like. Everybody has a bitter taste in their mouth. So we can't wait to get started.”

Harden is taking all the right steps, thought it's yet to be seen how this team deals with the defensive deficiencies this roster presents.