James Harden is finally here. What's next for Rockets? - Houston Chronicle

James Harden finally made it to Toyota Center on Tuesday. In the latest sign of how rocky things have gotten for the Rockets with their signature star, even that small step was considered a significant positive development.

If nothing else, the standoff is no longer at a standstill.

Whether Harden’s delayed arrival represents a thawing of a chilly relationship or part of the process in an impasse between a star who wants to be traded and a team that does not want to grant his desire remains to be determined. But Harden made his first preseason appearance at his workplace by reporting for the first day of his required in-market COVID-19 testing.

Players must produce negative tests on three consecutive days to begin workouts. That would make it unlikely Harden will be cleared to be with the Rockets on their trip to Chicago for preseason games Friday and Sunday. But coach Stephen Silas was happy for Tuesday’s first step.

“I am aware that he was getting his test today here in Houston,” Silas said. “So that leads to the fact that he is here in Houston. And so that leads to the fact that he is here. And that’s pretty much all I know right now. It’s kind of some moving parts to it, I assume. But him getting tested in Houston is good for everybody.”

Harden has sought to be traded to a contender and did not report for the start of individual workouts a week earlier or training camp this past weekend. He missed the first three days of team workouts and will have to miss several more. But given the uncertainty about when Harden would arrive, even a small sign of progress was welcome.

“We’re doing this day by day,” Silas said. “And just to have him in the building is good.

“Obviously, it wasn’t a good start to it. But that’s the NBA. The NBA isn’t going to be roses every day, and there’s going to be issues, and there’s going to be things that you’re going to have to work through as a group. That’s what we’re going to do.

“Him being here shows a level of commitment to what we have going.”

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Silas said adding Harden to what he has seen from the team’s additions John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Christian Wood “is still very exciting.”

The lost time, however, will be a challenge, with Harden not around to work with new teammates or become accustomed to the changes Silas has installed without him.

“It’ll be interesting to see,” said Silas, who has yet to talk with his star guard. “We’re doing things a little bit differently, but he is an elite player. Elite players have a way of learning fast and fitting in and making everybody else better. There will be some sort of learning curve for how we do things on the floor differently than how he’s done it in the past. But great players I’ve been around, whether it’s Steph (Curry) or Luka (Doncic), they pick that stuff up pretty quickly.”

His teammates, having gone through the initial practices under Silas, had no doubts Harden would be able to adjust quickly.

“James is smart,” forward Danuel House Jr. said. “That’s never the concern. No. He will grasp everything.”

But the Rockets could have as many as five new players in the rotation and will run at least some things differently on both ends of the floor. Whatever they have gained from getting time together, Harden has not.

“We can only control what we can control,” guard Gerald Green said. “Obviously, everybody knows the situation that’s going on. As a team, the Rockets have got to focus on keep getting better every day … and hopefully, things will work out in the future.

“James is a once-in-a-lifetime player. He’s that good. James is going to go into our offense and pick it up. He’s that type of player. When James gets here, he’s going to come in and be able to fit right in.”

That optimism was not limited to those on the court. For whatever distraction Harden’s absence has created or uncertainty his trade preference creates, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta offered the standard preseason confidence.

“I have a great basketball ops team,” Fertitta said in his Tuesday CNBC appearance. “We’ve done nothing but gotten better in the offseason and picked up more draft picks. We’re excited about this season. I think it’s going to be a great season for the Houston Rockets.”

As Silas said, however, it has not been a good start. For all that he has found “exciting,” returning to that description often, the absence of his irreplaceable star has been troubling and potentially foreboding, to the point even Harden’s stopping by Toyota Center was viewed as a positive development.

“I’m just making sure that I’m being patient and taking it day by day and understanding that this a long process,” Silas said. “It’s not just these few days of training camp that are cause for anybody to go haywire.”

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