Rockets Hoping to Get 'Bad Boys' Out of Harden, Westbrook ... Likely to Get 'Bad Boys II'

by Preston Tolliver
The Oklahoma City Thunder of seven years ago was nearly perfect. Its young core featured a blossoming Kevin Durant leading the team to the NBA Finals, flanked by his righthand man and athletic juggernaut Russell Westbrook, All-Defensive First Team and number-one block party host Serge Ibaka and a baby James Harden, who was voted that year as Sixth Man of the Year, his beard just then starting to become as famous as any player in the league.
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But years past, and players got traded or left. Harden was traded right after that to Houston, where he became the leader Daryl Morey built around. Serge became a good role player for Orlando, and then Toronto, and Durant packed his bags for West Beach. Even coach Scotty Brooks was bounced from Tornado Alley.

And last week, the last piece of that championship-caliber team (a team, which, should have won that championship, had fouls been a thing that were called in the last minute of the series), Westbrook, was traded to Houston to reunite with Harden.

A lot’s changed in the last seven years. Harden went from sixth man (though third-best on that Thunder team) to the alpha dog. Westbrook’s transition to the Thunder’s star player wasn’t as seamless – it’s likely what pushed Durant out the door – and the chances of friction between him and Harden are likely to reach Shaq and Kobe levels.

The NBA transitioned this summer from a league of a couple of superteams to a team with a lot of tandems. It’s almost a callback to the ‘90s – the days of Jordan and Pippen; Kemp and Payton; Malone and Stockton (if ever there was a time to bring back NBA Jam, now would be it). 

Oftentimes, and not just in the NBA, the best things come in pairs: peanut butter and jelly; Tom and Jerry; buddy cop movies. And it’s that last one that I like to use to predict the future of an NBA pair – specifically, “Bad Boys.”

“Bad Boys,” for the uncultured, features peak Will Smith and peak Martin Lawrence as Miami P.D. detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, respectively, and in the series’ (current) two movies, they take on mobsters, the cartel and racism. The first movie, though, is a lesson in the dynamic an NBA should strive for: Smith’s Lowrey is the obvious alpha, with Lawrence’s Burnett the beta, who plays perfectly – though at times irritatingly – off his partner. “Bad Boys II,” though, sees Lawrence’s character seek a bigger role in the team, and he challenges Smith for the alpha spot. It’s a recipe for chaos, peaking in a famous freeway chase scene in which cadavers and body parts fling out of vans and under the Miami detectives’ car. “Bad Boys II” is the dynamic that – while entirely possible to succeed – NBA teams should not strive for (there is a rare exception in which two players are equally alpha and take co-leadership roles, such as Kemp and Payton, or DeRozan and Lowry – we’ll call this the “Tango & Cash” rule).

Jordan and Pippen, for example? That’s “Bad Boys.” Pippen knew he was the number-two option. Kobe and Shaq? That was “Bad Boys II.” Kobe, although an all-time great, tried taking the throne too early. Lebron and AD? “Bad Boys.” Irving and Durant? “Bad Boys II,” probably.

Three years ago, before Durant left for Golden State, he and Westbrook were drowning in “Bad Boys II” territory. Westbrook wanted to be the guy, and he got his wish with Durant’s departure. If history is any indication, it’ll be similar in Houston – it’s Harden’s team, but Westbrook was the better of the two when they last played together. He won’t forget that, and he won’t forget when he edged out Harden for MVP (or when Harden edged him out the next year). 

That’s not to say the Houston Rockets won’t be more or less successful with Westbrook eying Harden’s throne the same way he did Durant’s MVP trophy during that ceremony so many years ago. What it means is that’ll be chaotic, it’ll be unpredictable and just like that freeway scene in “Bad Boys II,” heads are gonna roll.

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