Overall its not even close Harden has been better, but I think what Downtown meant was "ever", at his peak--which lasted maybe a year or two McGrady was the better player. Both of them have a loser mentality and not a fan of that, but give me Harden.
I know Downtown is a big TOF, lol. You got to give to the few McGrady loyalists here, they sure love him. The fact that he had that much talent and never did anything his ENTIRE career speaks volumes that basketball mentality and leadership separate the great ones from the one and dones. Sure, we got the most memorable first round exits in Houston Rockets history, nothing will ever erase those memories.
Pre injury Tmac, on par with kobe. post injury Tmac..... so sad. If only there is better players around Tmac and Yao earlier in the career. And when they finally manage to get battier/artest/scola/hayes, both goes down with injuries. This is depressing. I need a beer.
You're right LosPollosHermanos. Some people actually understand what others comment. Some people just walk in to any old thread ready to spit the same old garbage regardless of what's being discussed. EVER is a strong word Tinmac. That's where the disagreement is on my behalf. Because we all know you get your rocks off over that one Toronto highlight of T-Mac giving up on one play. I won't even comment on the 259 of those instances by Harden so far this year alone. When Harden gets to the point that you create your entire offense around him, PLUS ask him to guard one of the best PFs in their primes - then hey you can definitely say he's as better as McGrady EVER was. I feel like you need a timeout to go think about that. And let it also sink in the numerous, numerous times I've proven to you I'm not a TOF. But hey. Heaven forbid a guy likes former Rockets players. You're a deadset *****ing tool. Honestly it's unbelievable how someone can have so many people hate them. And that's only your online persona. Ouch. Explain what you mean by 'that much talent'. Please. Sorry, let me go further for you. Which of these top players on McGrady's teams have THAT MUCH TALENT comparable to the rest of the NBA Playoff landscape? Orlando 00-01: Andrew DeClercq, Pat Garrity, Mike Miller (do you want to count Grant Hill's 4 games to solidify your point?) Orlando 01-02: Andrew DeClercq, Pat Garrity, Mike Miller (do you want to count Grant Hill's 14 games to solidify your point? Do you want to count a near 40 Patrick Ewing to help solidify your point?) Orlando 02-03: Mike Miller, Gordan Giricek, Andrew DeClercq, Pat Garrity (do you want to count Grant Hill's 29 games to solidify your point? Do you want to count Shawn Kemp's last year in the league to help your point?) Orlando 03-04: Keith Bogans, Reece Gaines, Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue. You know what all those players have in common tinman? Houston 04-05: Yao Ming, Mutombo, FLYIN RYAN BOWEN!!! OMG. SUCH TALENT. MUCH AMAZE. Houston 05-06: Yao Ming playing 57 games, Rafer Alston, LUTHER HEAD!!!!!!! OMG. SUCH TALENT. WE CHAMPIONSHIPZ NOW Houston 06-07: Yao Ming playing 48 games, Shane BAttier, V-SPAN!!!!! Houston 07-08: Yao Ming playing 55 games, a rookie Scola, THE FRANCHISE!, Gerald Green WOW, Mike Harris, WOW You know what. You're right tinman. Those teams are basically overflowing with NBA level talent! How did McGrady not win! You're absolutely right he deserves all the blame for improving drastically when the Playoffs rolled around the amount of which only greats have done previously. Silly McGrady for not passing to his teammates more so they could score in a Playoff game. It's McGrady's fault his teammates were so good to only have 3 of them score. You're right tinman!!!! McGrady has SO. MUCH. TALENT.
we all know that the rockets traded for him because he was an all star. pretty much he had athleticism and height, which is a good combination. he won lots of fans over cause he had a great in game dunk in the all star game. his talent was his combination of size, skill, and athleticism. but we all know why Kobe was better than him, by a mile. It's the same reason Curry is better than James now.
I think Harden may be as good as or even a little better than tmac was offensively. However, tmac was a better defender than harden is right now.
Downtown, we saw ALL of the Tmac era . Just go search the old clutchfans threads about it. you are obviously biased. McGrady never had a season like Harden's last season. He carried the Rockets, remember Dwight was out most of the time. And we got the WCF, the first time since Barkley . Yes , Harden has weaknesses. But you continue to romanticize Tmac like people romanticized the Titantic. The Titantic was the greatest ship ever built, but it sank and never reached it's destination. I'll take the cruise ship with the fat reality chicks and bad rap music from toronto cause I know that it won't sink.
what about durability? having the fastest car doesn't win you races if you can't get it out of the shop. Harden already played more playoff games than Tmac ever did for the Rockets. Tmac only played 20 playoff games for the Rockets.
TMac averaged 32/6.5/5.5 in a season and was top 3 in PER 4 different seasons. I think at this point the 2 of them are closer than some folks are giving credit for.
I agree. If im starting a franchise im taking harden out of the two. A huge reason for that is durability. However, a prime tmac was a better player than some people give him credit fir around here. He was a beast
I too miss the T-Mac Rocket days. Always loved seeing those TNT games of yours. Such a shame how injuries could ruin it all for anyone...
Harden is better than McGrady if you compare the numbers they put up while playing for Houston. Numbers wise, what Harden has been doing is incredible considering the fact that T-Mac was a small forward while Harden's a shooting guard. Harden's assists, rebounds, and scoring average are up this year, but this nightmare of a season has overshadowed that. By this time, McGrady started his decline while Harden's getting better. It's a shame they couldn't get Yao and T-Mac a better team until it was already too late.
could've been the best Rocket ever if he had more luck with injuries. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hk__kWf2kXQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
