HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- Russell Westbrook is still getting used to things. After a decade of welcoming new teammates to his team, he finds himself as the new guy.
"It's strange being in this room," Westbrook said Friday from a conference room at the Post Oak Hotel wearing a red Rockets jersey at Media Day.
In what capped a wild summer, Westbrook was traded from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Rockets two months ago in exchange for Chris Paul, two first round picks, and two pick swaps. He hasn't spent a lot of time in his new home, but he says things are going well thus far.
"The overall experience for me is just great. It's a new start for me."
In joining the Rockets, Westbrook is reunited with childhood friend, former teammate, and fellow NBA MVP James Harden, who pushed for the deal to get done once Paul George was dealt from Oklahoma City to the Los Angeles Clippers. Since the completion of the trade, one of the biggest questions around NBA circles is can a partnership between two high-usage players work? On Friday, Harden and Westbrook's teammates were effusive in their belief that it would.
"I think the fact that James and Russell are super close and already have a history before and grew up together, that just doesn't really happen in sports often, so I think that's pretty neat, and they'll figure it out and we'll figure it out around them, and at the end of the day everybody has a job, everybody knows their role."
Westbrook and Harden grew up together in the Los Angeles area with Westbrook graduating from Leuzinger High School a year before Harden earned his diploma from Artesia High School. The Thunder drafted both in the top four in consecutive years, and they played together three seasons in Oklahoma City, advancing to the 2012 NBA Finals. The last game of that series was the final time they suited up as teammates in a real NBA game as Harden was dealt the Rockets just days before the start of the 2012-13 campaign. The two friends then spent seven seasons competing for wins and personal accolades against one another, culminating in a tight MVP race that Westbrook won in 2016, but through it all, Westbrook says they remained close.
"Just seeing myself and him, two inner city guys growing up from LA, in the same room going for the MVP, to me that's a blessing in of itself, it's something that a lot of people around the world, media, fans don't understand, cause they were steady trying to pull us apart that year, and it was very important that me and James, we stayed close through text, through phone calls, and that's something we consistently do cause it's important.
"The bigger picture, obviously, of the NBA and the championships, and the MVP and all the nonsense, but for me, it's about brotherhood and creating relationships and friendship with somebody that's important and it's bigger than basketball, and to me, that's the most important thing."
"We'll figure it out" has been the constant answer given by Rockets personnel the last couple of months, and when Harden was asked how they plan to do that, he offered a similar refrain.
"We don't know yet," he said with a chuckle. "Just figure it out."
Though, Harden insists it's not as complicated as the world makes it out to be.
"Certain things happen throughout the course of a game that you're just like 'Ok this is what's gonna happen' or 'this is what's happening right now' that you just ride with. If Russ got it going and Russ is on one of those games that we've all seen before, guess what I'm gonna do? Sit back and watch the show and vice versa.
"That's just a part of basketball, so you can't sit here and say 'Oh well Russ is gonna have the ball for the first half and I'm gonna have the ball for the second', no, things happen throughout the course of the game that you just flow with and go with it. All of us in this locker room and in this front office has one goal, and that's to win, so however that happens is gonna happen, and we're gonna figure it out."
