Does Harden have the potential to be better than T-Mac in his prime?

Better question is "Will Harden have a better career than T Mac?"

And to that I give a resounding YES.

 

TMAC has hands down been the most underachieving superstar of all time...and he is proving our point by the garbage he is doing in China...shouldve just retired...save face and save dignity...getting schooled in China and not being able to win..is a disgrace...bet you he blames his players

 

A LEADER? Did you even watch the finals? Idiot. Oh, here comes a reply about how t-mac never made it past the first round. Idiot. What do you honestly think would've happened if prime T-mac took the place of Harden on the Thunder. Please answer. Oh once again, Harden sucked ass in the finals, good job on your leader.

Idiot.

 

Serious answer - no.

Harden's a one-way player - great on offense, so-so on defense. He's got one good play - the PnR - where he can make a lot of high % shots. He's got range but not the ability to create space.

T-Mac, in his prime, could do everything - drive to the basket, fade-away, spin move, crossover with a devilishly quick first step and could even play back to the basket by virtue of his 6'8, probably close to 6'9, body. Basically, everything Harden can do, prime T-Mac would've done better. And he was a great defender too - that was his job in Toronto, when he was playing with Vince Carter, and he defended Nowitzki during the 05 series. He could also fight for rebounds on the inside because he was so tall for his position.

Seriously, it's not a comparison. You can build a championship team around Harden but you'll need good parts. Prime T-Mac could carry a mediocre squad - as ballsy the 05 team was, they were short and old; Yao was still very raw at that point, the support group were tweeners - Sura, Barry were both just 6'5 and Mike James, 6'2, and David Wesley, 6'1, were SGs in PG bodies - and their PF was Ryan Bowen. Yet, if we weren't cheated out of that series (the Donaghy scandal), we could've won it.

 

Too early to say. But I think Harden will be just as good if not better than T-Mac was in a Rockets uniform.

 

T-mac had aspects to his game on par or better than the elite players in the HOF.

He had some interesting flaws that prevented him from winning big.

Hopefully Harden can figure out the secret formula to win games as well as fill up a stat sheet.

 

Tmac's height and ability to pull up wherever he wanted to take any shot he wanted kind of reminds me more of Durant. Although offensively Durant and Tmac are similar, Durant doesn't own the same ability to create as well for his fellow team mates as Tmac did.


I think think Harden is the same type of player, I think if you want to compare him to someone you can try to pit him up against the former Brandon Roy or a Kobe-lite. It's definitely too soon to tell though to be honest.

 

I really like harden a lot, but you people have to be kidding. when t mac was in his prime he was on the kobe/lebron/durant level. harden is a (fairly small) cut below that. stop saying he is already better than t mac, just stop.

 

The fact that a 6'8 SF can play SG is quite an accomplishment.....
I don't think Harden can Small forward effectively

 

I never really understand this mentality, lebron james is the only player who can take a bunch of scrubs past the first round.

Duncan could have several years back, but he never had a team of scrubs.

And from the current crop of players, that's all.

Comparing Harden to T-mac at this point is sort of pointless, t-mac reached his peak at 25, was already suffering injuries costing him 10-15 games a season, lacked work ethic and was gone a few years later.

Harden at 23 is still on his way up, needs to develop a few things, and while he doesn't have Westbrook's adamantium skeleton (the guy hasn't missed a game in over a decade, through high school, college and the pros), he doesn't seem injury prone.

 

Tmac in his prime was a special player. He had natural gifts that Harden simply doesn't have. He could palm the ball, he could shoot over the top of almost anyone, he didn't have to work very hard, the game just fell right into his lap like a w**** from Treasures. Very few players have had that in the NBA.

But with all of that potential and ability comes responsibility and loving what you do for a living. Tmac didn't really love the game of basketball, he didn't play every possession like it was his last. His talent and ability grossly outweighed his determination and love for the game.

With Harden, I feel like the determination is there and I do think he loves playing basketball. But he's nowhere near as talented as Tmac was. I look at Harden as a more evolved version of Mario Elie or Manu Ginobili, great players but not guys who will go down as top 10 players. Tmac had the ability to go down as top 10, maybe top 5, but he just didn't care enough about the game to see it through.

 

Good comparison. I think TMac-Kobe is the same as Kobe-Jordan. I think TMac had more skills, tools, and physical gifts than Kobe. Bigger frame, bigger hands, better finisher at the rim. What made Kobe better than TMac was his work ethic, competitveness, desire to win, and determination to be the best. He got far more out of the talent he had, and history will judge his as a superior player.

Even Phil Jackson has stated that Kobe Bryant had more basketball skill than Michael Jordan. However, these are all the things that made Jordan the better player in the eyes of history. Kobe is one of the most determined and hard working players in league history, so this is not a knock on him. Jordan was a cut above though. Kobe in his prime was two cuts above TMac.

To answer the original question, I think Harden has the potential to be as good or better, but it will take a Kobe-style work ethic and fire. Harden lacks the size, strength, and shooting stroke that TMac '03 had. Yes I'm aware that harden is a good shooter and can get to the rim, but TMac was an elite shooter. With that stroke, ability to get to the rim and finish, and quick first step, he was almost unguardable. He made it look effortless. And perhaps it was. This bolsters my argument about his lack of effort. If he'd had a work ethic and competitive fire at least equal to Kobe, i think TMac could have been better than Jordan.

 

Kobe is a demon
Tmac is a freak of nature
Harden is a gym rat

 

Houston could've beaten that Dallas team. T-Mac was Jordanesque during that series.

But you miss a lot of details with LeBron. LeBron played in the East where he cruised to home advantage and faced <.500 teams in the play-offs, iirc.

 

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/q9fJEG2gbuM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

T-Mac's triple threat position was amazing. Widely overlooked, but his length and first step made him near unarguable when he was draining shots.

 

This is a good comparison. Durant himself says that he modeled his play on T-Mac.

Durant doesn't have the same opportunity playing with Westbrook, though. And, still, Durant has a way, way better team.

 

If TMac was in the GOAT discussion, surely he could have willed and played a mediocre team past the first round of the playoffs. All the greats are capable of at least that.

 

Getting pass the first round of the playoffs means jack **** when you are riding the coat tails of Durant and Westbrook. Without Harden, they would have comfortably beaten most of the teams in the Western Conference.

Until we successfully see Harden lead a team by himself into the 2nd round, I don't see how you can label him a winner just yet.

 

McGrady averaged 32.1 PPG on 24.2 FGA in his best year, which is very good. If Durant averaged 24.2 FGA this season, he'd average 39.1 PPG.

 

Secrets: Not having Ryan Bowen as your starting PF. Not having Mike James as your 3rd option. Not having Tim Donaghy ref your playoff series.