Russell Westbrook matched the Rockets backdrop. His black suit jacket opened to reveal a white Inner City shirt with red lettering.
“What can you say that those of us who only know you as an opponent don’t know about you,” a reporter asked, “something that you’d like for people to know?”
“That I’m a nice guy,” he said.
Westbrook paused for laughs.
Friday marked just the second time in Westbrook’s NBA career that he was introduced as a new member of a team. After 11 seasons in OKC, Westbrook faced a new media contingent — a group he’d encountered before on trips to Houston but not on a daily basis — at his Rockets introductory press conference.