HONOLULU — Jerry West has seen great backcourt pairings, along with everything else, in nearly six decades in the NBA in one triumphant form or another.

He had been part of one of the all-time great guard combinations when he shared a backcourt with Gail Goodrich. He played against Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe in the NBA Finals. He put Magic Johnson and Byron Scott together with the Lakers. He was with the Warriors for much of the run of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

He has no doubt the Rockets’ tandem of James Harden and Russell Westbrook will work.

“They’re basketball players,” West, a Clippers consultant, said Thursday before the Rockets would face the Clippers in a preseason game. “When you have basketball players like them, they’re not just limited to one thing. They can do so many things. They’ll make it work.

“I’m not sure we’ve seen a better athlete than Russell, more competitive than Russell every night. He brings it every night. And James, he’s an amazing … one of the best halfcourt players I’ve ever seen in my life. One of the top three.”

West particularly likes Harden’s work ethic and versatility. Harden and Westbrook have both led the NBA in assists and scoring. West, however, cited an aspect of Harden’s once-maligned defense.

“To watch him play, he looks like he loves to play and he’s always working on his game to try to add something every year,” West said. “I think that in itself shows there is more than just one thing. It shows there is more to him than what people (say.) Just score, score, score? No.

“The surprising thing is he a very good post defender. Very good. He does an awful lot of work there. He does a lot of different things. It doesn’t seem to bother him. He doesn’t seem to get tired.”

Clippers coach Doc Rivers thought of the trade in 1971 that put Monroe and Frazier together in the same backcourt, which at the time drew questions of how high-scoring guards would share the ball.

“I was a Knick fan living in Chicago,” Rivers said. “My two favorite players were Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe. Those two guys went to the Knicks and I guess for a kid it was like Dwyane Wade and LeBron (James) when they went to the same team.

“No one thought Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe could play together, which was ludicrous. It’s the dumbest talk when I hear (it.)

“You put two great players (like Harden and Westbrook) together, they may not work together, but they should be able to work together. They’re so good, they usually figure it out and they will figure it out. And they have a true friendship as well. The odds of them not getting it right are very low.”

Frazier and Monroe won a championship together in 1972-73. Westbrook and Harden have not gotten past the Western Conference Finals since they were Oklahoma City teammates and Harden came off the bench. But West said the criticism of Harden’s postseason play has been unfounded.

“People always say, ‘What about the playoffs?’” West said. “Well, when you see someone five straight nights, they’re going to be waiting on you every night. That’s when players like him can make a difference, but teams will make him pass the ball more. He just adjusts. He’s a hell of a player.”

West said he considers Michael Jordan the best halfcourt player he has ever seen and cited the differences in the way Jordan and Harden attack defenses. But he said some of the differences comes from the way the game has changed.

After Harden averaged 36.1 points last season, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey has said it is “factual” that Harden is a better scorer than Jordan was. Harden averaged more assists (7.5) than anyone that averaged 35 points or more and took fewer shots while playing fewer minutes than any previous 35 points per game scorer. But Morey acknowledged the “counterargument” that Jordan would be a greater scorer if he played in Harden’s era.

West would not measure Harden and Jordan entirely by the numbers but admires what he has seen.

“Michael Jordan was the greatest halfcourt player,” West said. “He was really efficient. James does a lot of dribbling. Mike didn’t do a lot of dribbling. The physical equipment he had was just spectacular. James is different, but it is a different game completely.

“Mike, who is a great friend of mine, helped change this league. Obviously, people who are really into analytics add to that, and Daryl obviously, it is in his mind. But just watching, I appreciate talent. And I appreciate guys who play the right way like those two guys. They are both alpha dogs.”

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

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