The Rockets know they face a talent deficit in cobbling even an average defense from their revamped, James Harden-centric roster. No scheme will turn Harden, Ryan Anderson, and Eric Gordon into good defenders, or make Trevor Ariza a 25-year-old stopper again.

They are banking on the sort of happy chemistry that drives everyone to prepare a little harder, follow the game plan, and fight like hell for their teammates — the vibe that was missing last season, when tension between Harden and Dwight Howard poisoned the locker room.

“The biggest thing with defense is that our chemistry will be good,” Mike D’Antoni, the team’s new head coach, told ESPN.com — adding that he wants Houston to finish in the top 10 in points allowed per possession.

“This year, we have guys that trust each other,” Harden told ESPN.com. “We are not going to take possessions off.”

It is almost an article of faith that players give more on defense when they feel involved on offense — when they get to touch the ball, and do stuff with it. “We are going to be at our best when everyone touches it,” Ryan Anderson told ESPN.com, “and we really move the ball.” That creates a natural tension: the Rockets built a roster of finishers whose job boils down mostly to shooting when Harden passes to them.

D’Antoni knows that players occasionally crave more in exchange for their grunt work on defense — even if he hates to admit it. “There is something to the human nature of it,” D’Antoni said. “But I don’t want to believe it. Because when they feel their paycheck every two weeks, shouldn’t that make you play hard on both ends? Look: you have to be a star in your role. And here, your role is: when James gets the ball to you, shoot it, and then run back and play hard as heck.”

That system is devastating, by the way — at least when Harden is on the floor. (If you look up Houston’s scoring numbers with Harden resting, your computer just laughs at you.) Harden is the most brilliant pick-and-roll orchestrator outside Cleveland, and the Rockets have surrounded him with the perfect supporting cast: a pick-and-pop bomber in Anderson, two bigs — Clint Capela and Nene — who love to screen and zip to the rim, and just enough shooting around the arc.