Both first round exit leaders but Harden would most likely surpass that. Let's see if he could do the little things like shooting a high percentage, play D, share the ball and cut down on the TOs. I'd cut some slack for T-mac because of Yao's injuries. ~lol~ ya, and when he introduced the "big 3" Lamb, White and Jones.
How so? Did the Jazz have an offensive SG or SF worthy of guarding at that time? Harpring, AK, Brewer, Giricek, CJ Miles I do not recall any near allstars there. Sure he did slack but this is a team's game where other offensive challenged players cover for him.
Both Dwight and Harden are more efficient offensively than Tmac and Yao. Dwight slightly higher than Yao and Harden being a lot more efficient. Dwight also plays off the ball better than Yao. He can get his 20 and 12 without many plays called for him while you had to force feed Yao which caused lots of turnovers and the offense to stagnate. Add that to the Morey's ability to get solid role players, and I don't see how we could lose in a first round match up.
To bring the topic back to Alexander's shift in tone... We should remember that he walked into champagne showers and parade routes. It's quite obvious he's learned that team building is more than just scratching out max contracts for the Pippens of the NBA. I'll give CD credit for helping groom Dream's low post game, but let's be real here. He didn't develop much of a contender once Olajuwon, Drexler and Barkley hung them up. (yes, we diehard Rockets fans went through a very trying time during the era of Cato, Harrington, Mo Taylor, Walt Williams, Shandon Anderson, Glen Rice, Moochie Norris, Carlos Rogers, Pig Miller, Two Sammiches, etc...) Today, the game has changed. Star players recruit other star players while they are ENTERING their PRIMES. When Les first entered the league (a few seasons after the Olympic Dream Team) most all-stars didn't care for one another. They were too competitive to join hands with Jordan (for example) in order to chase rings in their primes. Barkley has said as much himself. Yet, once age became a factor this same Barkely quietly engineered a trade to join Hakeem and Clyde. Similarly, octogenarians Malone & Payton jumped ship and missed the Shaq & Kobe gravy train. At the end of the day, Les has grown in his understanding of sports management. Key areas such as team building (Morey), assest valuation (advanced stats), resource allocation (RGV), and new market penetration (overseas scouting) were certainly strengthened during Morey's tenure. Yet, we all remember Morey's difficulty in capitalizing on those assests by landing a star. Les didn't panic and stuck with the plan. It wasn't long ago that our franchise cornerstones, Yao and McGrady, both went down (while getting nothing in return). We've come a long way from such sexy free agent acquisitions as Trevor Ariza. Now we have two of the most marketable, high productivity players in the entire league on our roster. Both in their primes, I might add. IMO, Les has learned a great deal from these hardships (some self-inflicted; others not so much), and is a much smarter owner today for having overcome them. Credit to him.
That's cool, but it doesn't mean he shouldn't improve on the 39% he was shooting the most recent two months. I firmly believe he can.
That was a special team 04-05, I have the same feeling about this season except we have a better supporting case, but damn I miss that team.
TMac could be great at times but he failed this team. I still love the guy but that is the truth. Harden just gave this team one for ages. Very few players have pulled off what Harden did for us last year. To denigrate Harden at this time is douche. This time last year we were dead in the water and the future looked like crap too. Thank you Les.
Could we give harden some time before comparing him to tmac? One is written on the walls, the other just turned 24
It's certainly possible that his dip in shooting percentage was due to his injury but it is not really a certain thing, there are other possible reasons like fatigue or defense. Let's hope he gets healthy next season and have this problem solved.
Not saying that harden is better at defense, but I do remember when he didn't suck on that end. I remember watching him lock kobe up (as best as one can guard him straight up) when he played for okc.
I love Harden. And because of that, I'm not going to give him a pass on defense. We need to have him bring it on both ends for us to realistically contend. As for the TMac comparisons, Harden is still young. We've yet to see his peak imo.
Tmac had natural gifts, but he lacked the desire to play the game and you get the sense that he never truly loved his job. Collecting a paycheck was more important to Tmac at the end of the day. He never tried to rehabilitate from injuries, he always came back to the team out of shape and demanding for more playing time. When he didn't get his wish, oh well.....he would just ask to go back on IR again rather than work himself into shape coming off the bench or actually trying to help the team. Harden doesn't possess the skill set that 6'9 Tmac had, he doesn't have the length to simply shoot over the top of any opposing player who may be guarding him. Harden needs more space, which he can create by being quicker and having better offensive BBall Intelligence/distributer. Harden is a craftier player on offense. Defensively, Tmac may have been ok in his first season with the Rockets, but after that he was just as much of a liability on defense as Harden was last season, and in this comparison Tmac was an older and more experienced player who had Yao and Mutombo to help carry the load for him. Lets also not forget the players who completely shut Tmac down on offense, players like Andre Kirilenko who Harden would either run circles around or choose to PASS the ball to another player. Speaking of passing, Tmac was one of the most overpaid ball-stoppers in NBA history. Especially in the playoffs against Utah. I remember watching him dribble the air out of the ball way too many times when he should have passed it and tried to get his teammates involved. He chose to play hero ball, instead. Kirilenko shut his ass down, too. Harden is the anti-Tmac, imo. He's a guy who loves his job. He loves playing basketball and wants to win. He puts the team first and not himself. His god given abilities may be subpar to Tmax, but his heart and his intangibles and basketball IQ trump that of Tmax.
Oh please. T-Mac was the better defender, this is true. IMO underrated on this board due to his injuries and quitting towards the end of his career. But offensively Harden is already better than Houston's version of T-Mac. The one that spent all his time coming off picks to shoot 20 foot jumpers that he wasn't all that good at. One that never ran the floor and never had the Rockets doing any kind of transition offense. But to be fair to Les, he thought he was getting the Orlando T-Mac that was being compared to Kobe every year. The Houston T-Mac wasn't bad. But he's not head and shoulders above Harden overall as a player.
