Hakeem went the David route and slayed Goliaths on his way to a championship. Harden decided to go the pu$$y way out and joined a SUPERTEAM to win a championship the cheap way.
Remember Hakeem wanted to be traded before the championships. The difference is Harden got his was. Be fair with your memories
Give Harden a team consisting of Drexler, Horry, Cassell, Elie, and Smith and promise you, Harden would be in the finals. Drexler was the worst 3 point shooter of the bunch and he shot 36 percent from 3.
Hakeem is the leading shot blocker in NBA history, and a great rebounder - Harden is a great scorer. Hakeem stayed here through the thin times and led a team of castoffs to a championship...... Hakeem is the greatest Rocket, no one else is close. DD
Yes, I remember that he wanted to be traded, but the Rockets worked it out with him and he stayed. With Harden, Rockets management were at his beck and call and did everything for the guy. They tried to work things out with him after the bubble playoffs and he wouldn't budge. His goal was to get the hell out of here.
Harden is great, but he is more of a Drexler than an Olajuwon. If you give Harden a supporting cast of Olajuwon, Horry, Cassell, Elie, and Kenny, he could definitely make the Finals.
harden isnt better than hakeem, but he leads the rockets franchise in so many career advanced metrics. both regular season and playoffs
It's all the about the championships. That is why Hakeem will reign forever in the land of the Rockets and Harden is just a footnote.
The 90s also didn't cater that much to shooting in volumes. The bad boys at the end of the 80s would hack Harden to near death.
You think Nick Anderson and Penny Hardaway would have been able to stay in front of Harden. Stockton? Sure Shaq and Malone would have given him some hard fouls but it's not like they Reggie Miller couldn't get his shot off.
And then Hakeem won a ring with no other superstars. There has has only been 2 guys in the last 40 years or so to do that.
Wasn't just that. That era brought out the last Bastion of Great Bigs......the real great Centers. Then Lebron, Carmelo, Kawhi came on and revolutionized the SF spot. The PGs and SGs will live on. For a big to move like that, that is much harder IMHO, you have to give him extra credit where it is due. High center of gravity and all. To be better shotblockers than Mourning and Deke, those were absolute masters.
My point is that other than Hakeem himself, none of the great bigs would have been able to cover Harden. Remember back then, you could clear out half the court for an ISO (the Franchise, Cat offense). Now tell me anyone during the 90's other than Dream that could have slowed Harden down in an ISO with half the court cleared out for him. Maybe Pippen would have put up Iggy type resistance. So the defenses would have gotten hand checking but they also wouldn't have gotten any help on ISO island. Watch MJ highlights again and you will realize that he seldom saw two defenders until he got into the paint even when everyone knew he was going to get the ball at the end of the game. Do you think Harden would have been left alone with Russell guarding him by himself?
To be fair harden wasn’t the only person to leave the rockets recently. Pretty much everybody left starting with Daryl morey. I wonder how Hakeem and tilman would have meshed
Thanks for being interested. I mean, what I did find fascinating was that Hakeem was an anchor of the whole Defense and a huge part of the Offense. Harden is solid on D but only in recent years. When CP3 was here, his first year, he scored in the Playoffs as well, and was the 2nd option. Tim Duncan was great because of his Defense in clutch moments in my opinion. He could get Manu, TP, Horry space to shoot or operate.
What happened with Sampson, Pippen and Barkley? Is this the thick or thin part. Be fair with your memories.
This sounds like a terrible team. Where's the rim protection? Where's the interior defense? Where's the rebounding?
