Just looking at some highlights from 08/09 and that team was obviously stacked. Don't see this year's team beating them in a series...discuss
Why don’t u see it? The 08-09 team wasn’t as dominant as the team we have right now. Harden is easily the best player on the court, CP3 vs. a young Brooks is a huge mismatch, and Ego is the best bench player by far. Yao would keep up with this pace? I don’t think so. The 08-09 team isn’t dealing with 48 minutes of HOF PG play.
Yao would dominate and Harden would he frustrated by Arrest/Barrier. I ****ing loved that team but they were never healthy. How often did mac, Yao, and artest actually play with each other? They were scary on paper. The 22 win streak team plus Artest and Lowry.
Even with a healthy Yao and Artest, I still give the edge to the 17/18 Rockets. Yao at his peak is amazing......but so is James Harden. But, if you include a healthy Tmac (which the 08-09 team never had), that really does make this determination difficult. If injuries didn't happen and weren't a factor, 08-09 team with healthy Yao, Artest, Tmac and MUTOMBO are better than 17/18 Rockets I think. Definitely not a landslide difference though.
That's 08-09 team would win in six. Tmac would cancel out Harden Yao would crush Capela. Scola and Landry would abuse Anderson. Yao and Mutumbo would make life hard for Harden in the paint. Artest is better than Ariza, and Battier and LMM is a wash Gordon and Green are great but Lowry, Von, Barry could keep up. CP3 could get Brooks but he'd have to be agressively scoring.
man that lineup has 4 all stars, Tmac, Yao, Artest, Lowry, that's insane... did not realise we are that good....
Offensively this team is way better, defensively that team is better, but more so due to effort and chemistry. We still haven’t seen the best version of this team with the injuries, so right now 08-09 might have a slight edge with the front court and Artest, but this team has much more potential, fire power and definitely the better stars. That team would not have stopped our backcourt just as much as this team could not have stopped Yao. I give 17-18 the nod in the end.
If we are talking about the 08/09 squad without T-Mac then I would say the 17/18 squad is better. But if T-Mac is healthy, even if he’s only putting up reduced numbers like 22/4/5, the 08/09 squad beats the 17/18 team. Matchups determine this thing pretty easily imo. If Yao routinely beasted a prime-Dwight Howard then I don’t know how Capela has any chance defensively. Scola vs Anderson should favor Anderson slightly due to Anderson’s ability to space the floor and drain threes. Mehmet Okur dominated those Rockets teams back then but I think Scola would be able to make it a good contest with his craftiness around the rim and getting to open spaces on the floor for open shots. TMac vs Ariza is interesting. TMac wouldn’t be wasn’t the top-5 player anymore in 08 but Ariza has definitely shown his age the past couple of years and he’s not the defender he once was. T-Mac would definitely win this matchup. Arrest/Battier vs Harden. This is really where the outcome can be determined. Having the luxury of putting 2 All-NBA defenders on Harden is a scary thought. Harden will be the best player in the game, for sure but Artest/Battier would make things very difficult for him. Artest would play him physical, which Harden has struggled in the past while Battier would play smart and be prepared for Harden shiftiness. Harden might still average 28/8/5 but it won’t come easy or efficient. I’m closing situations you could easily put Battier on CP3 and Artest on Harden or vice versa. Brooks vs Paul is the only place the 08/09 team has a big advantage but Brooks was feisty and could still hang 20. Benches should favor the 17/18 team since Gordon is the best player but depth goes to 08/09 easily. Lowry-Wafer-Artest(or Battier)-Landry-Mutumbo is better than Gordon-Green-Moute-Tucker-Nene. Hayes>Black too. Coaching is a draw. Aldeman and MDA are both offensive geniuses. That 08/09 squad still have remnants of the JVG-style defense.
Yao would score like Aldridge did last night but that pace would kill him and they would lose in 6. That 08 team was my favorite team but Harden would still get his points on Battier. And Paul would have a mid range bonanza on Brooks/Lowry. And Artest would be ejected second game and suspended game 3 and possibly 4. Lol.
Man, you guys ride the '09 team like crazy. This year's team would smoke them. Yao against our current pick and roll? Yes, please.
i loved the 08/09 team but they couldn’t keep up offensively with the 17/18 squad... even with healthy tmac, he would still be guarded by a combo of prince, thicc, and a3riza... if the 17/18 team plays defense like it has been the last 2 weeks, they win in 5 easily
Front Yao. Play at our current pace. Run pick and roll with anyone Yao is guarding and we sweep that team. Yao was a really good (sometimes great) player, but let’s not put him higher than he really was. And then of course there’s what everyone is saying and probably the most important thing...health.
Hakeem would dominate everyone here. This team would put up a lot of points but I think they can be stopped by a better coach and tougher Allstars.
