Here's another question worth considering: as things stand today, is Harden the second best player in franchise history yet?
Easily. No question. More years than Malone, Hayes, Drexler. Once he gets the MVP this season it's a lock for 2nd place.
Sorry. No. #1 Hakeem brought the city it's first major titles ever. In the time of Jordan and in probably the golden age of basketball as far as ratings go. #2 Simply comparing a guards stats vs a big mans without talking about defensive impact is ridiculous. Hakeem is one of the top 3 greatest defensive players ever in a lot of peoples eyes. Offensively, Hakeem took kind of a step back when we got Barkley and hurt his stats and finally caught the injury bug, but also came into the league pretty raw and had to work to develop an unstoppable array of moves that i'd trust any day over Harden with the ball in the 4th quarter. To me that's saying something if you trust a Center in the 4th quarter over a pg/sg. #3 If Harden wins 2 championships, it will be next to one of the top 3 GOATS in LeBron and one of the top 5 pg's ever in CP3. That simply just does not compare to Hakeem leading role players to the championship in 94 and and the amazing run of beating a 60 win Jazz team(2x MVP in Malone, and the best pure pg ever in Stockton) in a closeout game in Salt Lake in the first round, a 59 win Suns team(1x MVP Barkley and one of the most underrated PG's ever in KJ) after being down 1-3, and the season MVP Admiral led 62 win Spurs which will be remembered for all time. All this just to get to the NBA finals and sweep one of the goat big men in Shaq and at the time, basically the next Magic Johnson had he stayed healthy in Penny. So, no. It won't compare. Beating the Warriors THIS season and winning the title next to CP3 is a close 3rd behind Hakeems 2nd title simply due to the degree of difficulty it is to beat the Warriors, but the path to beat 5 total MVPs(Shaq should have more)and 5 HOFers (would have been 6 with Penny in every round is much more difficult instead of only worrying about the Warriors in 1 series. Having CP3 at this age is comparable to having Drexler at the age he joined Hakeem though. Both regarded as top 5 of their position ever at the time they joined the Rockets. But, i highly doubt we win anything unless LeBron comes and that completely messes up comparing Harden to Hakeem. That'd be like if MJ came back in 95 and joined Hakeem and Drexler. EDIT: #4 Oh yeah....Hakeem happens to be one of the greatest playoff performers of all time throughout his career + his amazing college career. It doesn't compare to Harden's massive career playoff blunders. Too many embarrassing moments so far.
Mickey Mantle is maybe a better example because he was more beloved by Yankee fans than Babe. The point still stands though. There needs to be GENERATIONS between the players before people will forget about Dream, or at least let him become a distant enough memory that someone can take his spot. For most of us on this board and in this city, Hakeem The Dream Olajuwon delivered the FIRST championships we experienced. He gave us two and they were epic. Everything about them was bigger too. Sports meant more in the 90s than they do now. Richmond was a thing. People we wearing Rockets gear all over the city. I was singing "We are the champions!" roasting marshmallows at church camp. There were bumper stickers that said "They may have a Shaq but we have a Dream House." "How sweep it is!" posters were everywhere. "Clutch City" swept the city. Man. I can only hope that if the Rockets have a special run here in the next few years that you folks weren't able to experience that can feel that. I don't mean just the pride of a championship, but the electricity of the city. I know the Astros won a title, but it wasn't the same as those Rockets years. Half the city doesn't know the manager of the Astros. EVERYBODY knows Rudy T. Did Hinch ever get a speech? I don't know, but EVERY Houstonian knows "Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion!"
Hakeem: 2x NBA Champion 2x NBA FInals MVP 1x NBA MVP 2x NBA DPOY All Time Blocks Leader 12x NBA All-Star 2/5 Quadruple Doubles in NBA History Harden: Players MVP 6X All-Star 1x 6MOY 60 pt triple double Don't get me wrong, I love Harden, he's the best player on our team and has been the best player we've seen since Hakeem, but He's got a lot of work to do to catch The Dream
Easily. If he's playing the way he's playing now, we be comparing him to Jordan not Hakeem. He will go beyond.
He can walk away, and he's the second best. Also, I think Hakeem officially has one Quad Double. His other one, they took an assist away or something like that.
What are you going to mention next? How Clyde Drexler also got robbed?!? Media conspiracy against the Rockets!!!!1 Spoiler
I don't think scoring 60 in the regular season against Orlando projects that you are going to win 2 NBA championships.
And playoffs. Harden can put up a monster playoff run this year, like Hakeem did pretty much every year.
like hakeem, harden went to his first finals in 2012 and took an L. like hakeem, hopefully he goes to two more finals and wins both.
