As part of Friday's media day, Houston Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni noted that he isn't planning on changing Russell Westbrook's play style in the coming season:
“We need Russell to be Russell,” D'Antoni said, per ESPN's Tim McMahon. You don’t want to change him. He’s an MVP.”
Westbrook, now 30 years of age, was officially traded from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Rockets on July 16. In joining Houston's roster, Russell has been reunited with his former teammate in OKC, James Harden.
At this point, it's not clear how well Westbrook and Harden will perform together in Houston. There is no doubting the fact that they are both prolific players. The issue is just how ball dominant they both are and if they can coexist.
Westbrook is coming off a fantastic season. In fact, he has been playing out of his mind for a while, as he has averaged a triple-double in each of the last three campaigns.
In his 73 appearances with the Thunder last season (all starts), Westbrook racked up averages of 22.9 points on 42.8 percent shooting from the field (29.0 percent from beyond the arc), 11.1 rebounds, a career-high 10.7 assists and 1.9 steals in 36.0 minutes per outing.
The Rockets finished the 2018-19 regular season with a 53-29 overall record, which earned the team a No. 4 seed in the Western Conference. Unfortunately, though, Houston was defeated by the Golden State Warriors in the second round, 4-2.
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