Yao was significantly better than Dwight offensively, and maybe a little worse than Dwight defensively. ScoLandry were better defensively and WAY better offensively. Not to mention more experienced and savvy. I'd say that Artest and Ariza is kind of a wash, as Artest was able to "go off" offensively more often and Ariza is probably a better defender. Artest was aggressive, but really not a premier perimeter stopper by the time he came here. Tmac was quite a bit better than Harden. When locked in, Tmac could create, score, rebound, and lock out the guy across from him. Harden is more efficient, but has less burst than Tmac and can be taken out of games by lanky defenders and refs swallowing the whistle. AB + Lowry were leagues ahead of Bev and... Ish Smith. Bev gives you almost nada on the offensive end barring wide open shots. AB and Lowry combined for great shooting, ability to collapse the defense, and hustle/defense. If both teams were healthy and peaking, in no way are we currently better than the 2009 Rockets.
I 100% agree with you, but I am not sold with Terrence jones. Frankly, I do not prefer his tweener game--I don't even know if HE knows what his game is: He posts up one game, shoots three's the next game, slashes to the hole with little proficiency, and plays defense lackadaisically. He rebounds better and more athletic than Patrick Patterson, I will give him that. I think his highest ceiling is josh smith. Maybe, just maybe he can be as good as Andre blatch in a few years. Honestly, I rather morey signed New York knick, jason smith. Lowry and brooks were a great back-court tandem. Beverley has as much heart as both of those guys, but his playmaking abilities need to improve. Ish smith... Ehh, let's hope our bench doesn't hurt us that much Ariza has improved greatly after leaving houston. I look forward to watching him play, and think we will loose little offensive/defensive production that parsons brought. You are right. Unlike harden, tmac did not rely solely on whistles to make plays. Let's hope that harden is working on that this offseason. Yao did get injured when games mattered most, but with a healthy Howard we are as good as the 09 team, but the problem is that the western conference is much harder this time. Our goal this year should be to win at least one playoff series.
I'm afraid you're right. D12 is more athletic but other than that Yao takes it. TMAC>Harden any day. I give the nod to Artest over Ariza as well so that pretty much sums it up.
I'm still not sure about our Dwight, as he's been on that road to recovery for 2 years and only started to look the part late last year, but Orlando Dwight was better than Yao. He struggled head2head with Yao, but Yao had a lot more issues with various teams so that no h2h playoff matchup was ever going to happen. Orlando Tracy was also a hell of a lot better, perhaps it's a theme.
