Hakeem lost some 6 (or was it 7?) first round series in a row, despite at times elevating his stats to absurd levels (one of them, he had what would be a PER of nearly 40), but there's not a lot you can do when the rest of your team is horrible.
Lebron James - duh Kevin Durant - duh Chris Paul - Best point guard in the league. Dwight Howard - If he can play every game like he did against Portland, he is a top 3 player. But even averaging 18/12, he is still far and away the best center in the game. Carmelo Anthony - Just came of his best season, and is probably the most complete scorer. (KD still needs a post game. Blake Griffin - Really grew up last season. Stepped up when Paul was hurt. James Harden - Best shooting guard. He is arguably the 3rd best offensive player in the league. Even though his defense is a mess, the NBA is an offensive driven league. Russell Westbrook - Scariest point guard to play against. Paul George - Still needs to grow and become a better leader and offensive player but defense is elite. Kevin Love - Walking double double with insane range. Needs to start winning more games. Just missed: Curry, Davis, Cousins
Tracy wasn't clutch. This is the biggest reason for his lack of playoff success. His numbers are decent overall because he often started a series strong.. but he wilted as things progressed. When ORL was up 3-1 Tracy's stats were off the chart shooting over 55% FG, but he finished sub 35% the remaining 3 games. He did similarly '05 against DAL. Game 6 vs Utah '08, he had that awesome first half, then got shutdown. He is nowhere near Hakeem as far as stepping it up come crunchtime.
1) Lebron 2) Durant 3) CP3 - still the best PG in the game 4) Westbrook - will overtake CP3 if he repeats the playoffs going forward. Can still improve. 5) Griffin - More consistent rebounds and offense. A true #1 offensive weapon now. 6) Love - Defense is key 7) Melo - Would have dropped him down more b/c not making the playoffs in the east is terrible, but the guys below have better teams, and individually aren't better than him 8) Curry - best shooter, and much improved playmaking. 9) Harden - best SG in the league, but also probably a bottom 3 defender. 10) George - top 3 2-way player in the game. Can crack top 5 with more consistent offensive output.
Not true all the time. 07-08: In game 6 v. Utah, he put up 40 points, 10 boards, 5 dimes, 50% shooting on the road and they got blown out 06-07: In game 7 v. Utah, he put up 29 points, 5 boards, 13 dimes, 48% shooting at home and lost by 4. ESPN had a stat where Tracy was responsible for like 75-80% of the Rockets' points that game. 04-05: Tracy had a superb game 6, but poor games in 5 and 7 where they could have won it. So you're right here. But if you have watched the playoffs the past few years, even superstars will have bad games throughout a series. The team picks them up. Tracy didn't have "bad bad" games like you would think he disappeared (like a James Harden), but he didn't have the support that you need. If Yao and him had a Parsons-type player who consistently provides 15-20 points night in night out, they would have gone further than they had. Getting that 3rd scorer was something the organization failed to do with McGrady and Yao. Luther Head, Rafer Alston, Bob Sura, David Wesley were our rotating 3rd scorers until Ron Artest arrived. And those guys aren't even your top 5 or 6 options on a great team.
You don't think rebounds and blocks are important stats to judge how good a center is? The Clippers don't run any offensive plays to DeAndre, but if he were on a team that needed his offense too, I'm sure he could look just as awkward in the low post as Dwight. DeAndre is not top 10 and neither is Dwight. I'd say both are more suited as role players who should focus on defense. I would rate Serge Ibaka above both because he has a 10-15 foot jumper that makes him an effective contributor on offense.
Good god are you for real? DeAndre Jordan completely disappeared during the playoffs, he was totally ineffective. It's shocking that the comparison is even being made.
And I think it's the case with Harden on the Rockets. No D at all. His ability to create shots on his own was exposed down the wire in these playoffs, and that's supposed to be what he excels at. On the plus side, he is unselfish, and I think he has potential to grow into a more rounded player. But for right now, like T-Mac, like Wilkens, like Alex English, like Bob McAdoo, he's a scorer whose abilities doesn't translate into success. There have been a ton of them in the NBA over the years, and I've never been impressed.[/QUOTE] I any agree with you on this one.... Yes his defense is trash and he needs to get better or else we aren't winning a championship with him as the lead guy. With that said his offense was fine in the playoffs in terms of getting the same shots he hit in the regular season. He got his looks, he just missed them, you can chalk it up to him going in a slump at the wrong time, mental toughness or a combination of both but you can't say his offense somehow can't be effective in the playoffs. And down the stretch even in a poor shooting game he's scored the final 7 points of game 5 for the win. I think his offense is fine, as in game 7 he was his normal regular season self. KD and Westbrook started slow in their first round matchup just got 2 extra rounds to work out of the funk. Same can't be said for harden. But with the defense he must get better to take that next step to be a top 5 player in the game. I think harden has a lot to work on both offensively and defensively but his talent and production he already has at 24 is very very rare and should be appreciated. He seems to be getting a lot of biased criticism lately from The media. A lot of it very unjust his rephrasing is at an all time low coming off the highest point of his career individually so far. I hope he uses it as motivation to come back and show the rest of the league that he is a real 1st team all nba player and MVP candidate. I think he will.
My response was the complete opposite of ill-will toward you and that's your reaction? You're just mad about something else. Get over yourself
