And if Dwight can't play through the pain and keeps missing games because "he doesn't feel good" then you will start comparing him to T-mac. Right?
You left out scoring. My point was that there is no comparison of the dominance on offense and defense of the two. They aren't even in the same category. Hakeem was much more valuable.
Yao and tmac were better. Lets see if harden draws double and triple teams, and gets fronted on a comsistent basis.
he's already past t-mac in my book. he reached out to this guy named HAKEEM OLAJUWON and asked for his help. Dwight is humble and doesn't think he's the greatest player in the universe. He wants to learn from one who was. Plus Dwight is about 10X a better defensive player than t-mac.
Tmac was a great player who never fulfilled expectations. Some will say it was his work ethic, some will say it was his body. I think both of those are valid. The whole never won a playoff series thing though is overblown. He had some atrocious luck and played on some really bad teams. And by the time he played on a good team, he was in the stacked unforgiving western conference. Those Dallas and Utah teams were very good teams. Regardless, I don't see it as necessary to poo-poo his tenure here. He had his great moments and he had his forgettable ones. But prior to his knee injury and micro-fracture surgery (which turned out to be the wrong decision for him), no one really hated on him. Not even Tinman. Yao and T-mac were the best players we had post-Hakeem. Harden might supersede both but I wouldn't pass the mantle just yet. If Harden was to end his tenure today no one would consider him one of the Rocket's great.
None of you are close. Its easily Kelvin Cato. on serious note you may be right. If not now he will be second.
My beef with Tmac was not his injuries nor his work ethic. It was his efficiency. He was the anti-Harden. Shot a bunch of mid range jumpers and his jumper was streaky at best. He was also a ball stopper in the sense that he would dribble 10-15 seconds off the clock before he shot, made a move, or passed.
I agree, that was a defensive juggernaut and Yao was at his peak (efficiency wise). A shame he got hurt. I think some could argue that T-mac might be a plus being out since he is a very inefficient player even when his numbers were high. Harden is starting to feel like a guy that can make a team a playoff team regardless of what (you know assets) is around him.
Harden saved our franchise from mediocrity and I fully believe he will bring us a title. He won't pass Hakeem be the will deserve a statue when it's all said and done.
I believe he is. I'm getting to the point where I take him for granted..where I'm EXPECTING him to hit big shot after big shot to close out games. We tend to do that with the greats....we're more surprised when they don't perform than when they do. Harden was my favorite player who wasn't a Rocket when he was with the Thunder. I was thrilled when they traded for him. But he's exceeded even what I thought he was going to be. He is MVP.
Now this is crazy. Prime T-Mac had a PER of 30. Prime T-Mac was much, much better than anything Harden has shown yet.
Harden is the first Rockets player since Olajuwon that we have been able to see transform from a star to superstar to elite in a Rockets uniform. Francis and Yao never quite made it, Tmac was already there when we got him. It's pretty awesome to witness.
The knocks on T-Mac were lack of postseason success (true greats find a way to will their teams out of the first round), lack of leadership, and work ethic. He had the talent and ability to be one of the best in the history of the game. That's how gifted T-Mac was. Too bad he didn't have the heart to push himself over the hill. Harden is not nearly as talented as T-Mac, but his game translates better with age. He also drives in repeatedly when his shot is not falling despite getting fouled every time, whereas everyone knew if you fouled T-Mac hard, he would start throwing up jumpers. I think all in all, Harden will be known as the better player at the end of his career compared to T-Mac, but T-Mac was undeniably a better player in his prime.
Are you talking about prime T-Mac in Orlando or in Houston? I'm not considering what he did in Orlando at all when we're talking about who was the best HOUSTON Rocket. McGrady's 30 PER year was in Orlando. He never did better than 23 here in Houston...Harden's been here for a little over 2 seasons and was over 23 in his first 2 seasons...and is just under a 26 right now. I don't know how to talk about McGrady here in Houston, frankly. He was here 5 seasons...only 2 of which did he play over 70 games. He never had one year where is eFG% was as high as any of Harden's years here so far..including this one. He didn't shoot the 3 as well. He wasn't nearly as reliable from the FT line as Harden is. I know there are TMac haters here...I'm not one of them. I liked the guy. I like that he's still around. But ultimately I think Harden is the better player. Certainly the smarter player...the tougher player.
