question mark about AI being in the hall of fame? he's a no questions asked 100% guaranteed to make it type of player. http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/hof_prob.html
SG actually peak pretty early. Their game relies on speed and quickness and those are things you lose when you get older. It's unlike with bigs that get craftier and, actually, physically more mature (since men actually still grow to their mid-late 20s) in their later years. Tracy's best years weren't even here. It was with the Magic. The last year he played with the Magic, he was 24. That said, Tracy peaked early or he failed to reach his prime because of injuries. I sincerely doubt Harden will ever get to prime Tracy's level. It's a matter of physical limitations. Tracy was a freak of nature - 6'8, long arms, big hands, crazy athleticism in a package that could play shooting guard. On offense, he could do everything - shoot, penetrate, dunk over 7 footers and had a lethal turnaround. His court vision was also top-notch and as good as the best point guards. And, he was an excellent defender too, something James will highly likely never be. He guarded 7' Dirk Nowitzki during the 05 play-offs. A lot more guys in the league this generation actually modeled themselves after T-Mac more than Kobe - Durant being the best example.
All true but Harden's game does not rely on speed and quickness but rather craftiness and skill. His game will age very well. He can probably play till he's 36-37.
tmac was so silky smooth, his game looked effortless. his combination of size, length, and skill set was unmatched.. i think no question the combo of yao/tmac were far more talented than Harden/Howard, they were plagued with injuries unfortunately but sometimes it takes more than talent alone. sometimes i forget james is only 24, hes still growing. his game will never be as nice as tmacs but if he leads this team on deep playoff runs he will have accomplished so much more than tracy it wont matter if a healthy tmac was better than james harden. for all tmacs god given greatness he never lead a team past game 7 of the 1st round.. damn that team game stuff, when it was super star time tracy didnt show up when it mattered the most. with all that said i consider him a rockets legend, you cant leave him off an all-time rockets team roster.
Tracy balled hard against DAL in '05. His "13 in 33" and 22-game win streak are among his greatest HOU feats too.
Chris Paul, Isaiah Thomas, Nate Archibald, Allen Iverson, and Charles Barkley (yes, CB was 6'5") would disagree. If you're great, you're great. Size, although important, ain't everything in the NBA.
Tracy's play brought a demand for a nightly performance at that position. Because he carried our expectations, his play led to the search that yielded Harden. Dream is the best center in Rockets history and McGrady is the best two guard
If you played with Yao and youre a future hall of famer, yes, TMAC is now an immortal Rocket. His hearts home is now Houston.
I always thought it was an ugly marriage. Foremost, when Yao finally turned into the guy, Tracy was already a shell of his former self. He was still good, but in no season subsequent to 04-05 did he play as good as he played that said year. So we never really got to see a prime Tracy running the team. It became more Yao's team and we had a throw-in system which didn't play to Tracy's open court style (but that was something he didn't really do as great anymore because of the injuries). That team just couldn't cut the mustard. Outside of having pretty poor supporting players, Yao was stopped just by fronting him. I've got a lot more confidence in the current team. Well, to be fair, since we're comparing just the stars, I do think Howard + Harden will go much farther. Watching Howard sometimes on offense does make me miss Yao. Yao would make those mid-range shots and hooks automatically but Howard's the more complete player. He's much more mobile and just the ability to jump brings so much more on both sides. Harden... well, quite frankly, replace him with prime T-Mac and it's not gonna be a contest. But there's one thing with Howard and Harden that Tracy and Yao didn't have - they're winners. Howard and Harden both came from teams that lead their conferences and just have winning personalities that rubs off on teammates.
I don't know if he is a Rockets Legend but he was one of the best players in the NBA so he deserves to have a team that he can say he is a part of.
<br> Yao was **** till 2009 when he developed a mean streak. All of you need to stop pretending like Yao did **** until then. He got beat by Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur. God bless.
Yep. Has the injury excuse for fans to back him up. Truth is we just couldn't get a talented enough roster around him and Yao until it was too late.
