Just want to have a nice discussion and see how people feel about the 2 dynamic all-star duos. Which one would you chose (both healthy of course) and why? For me as good as Harden is and how a healthy Dwight can be a beast in the play-offs, I still take Yao & T-mac over H2o. Here are my main reasons: - Yao owned Dwight in his heyday, outperformed him 1-on-1 and only lost once or twice (didn't check if he played in all games between 04-10). - Yao could shoot FTs, had a decent jumpshot, a great post up game and even shoot threes whereas Dwight has none of this. He's all power and making dunks and lay-ups from up close. - T-mac was a better defender, had better vision and was a better passer. T-mac on the Rockets on offense was not Magic T-mac so I'd take Harden offensively over T-mac any day of the week.
Healthy Yao (who rarely showed up) is overall better than Dwight but you are downplaying playoff dwight's rebounding and rim protection. Last year Dwight had 14.9 and 2.4 blocks per 36 minutes. You are overselling TMAC's defense. He was on a team with Yao, Deke, Hayes and Battier.
I think the combined talent of a mature yao and tmac is overall better than a combined harden and dwight. Defensive edge to D12. But d*** Yao was just freaking talented. Oh, and YAO could be kept in at the end of the game with is 85% FT avg. DOH!
Harden and Howard have already gotten the Rockets to the western conference finals in their short time together. I'm gonna go ahead and say Harden and Howard. Only because, they are healthy!.
This was really hard for me, until you specified "when both healthy". YaoMac. Yao couldn't be stopped when he was healthy, and I don't think we even saw his full potential. I feel like T-Mac edges out Harden just by a hair, his length, athleticism, and court vision. If they had a better supporting cast...sigh don't even wanna go down that road. lol. Well, we had Ryan Bowen as a starting forward. Enough said.
I am not downplaying it, I even acknowledged that Dwight can be a beast just that compared to Yao and how battles between Yao & Dwight turned out in Dwight's heyday, I'd say Dwight's great defense still does not beat Yao's offense. Defensively Yao could hold his own, he was no slouch. I'm not overselling anything, what we've seen so far from Harden on defense is worse than what we've seen from T-mac. Talent wise T-mac was also simply better.
T-mac offensive game was something special. They guy was 6'8 and had handles like PG and shooting stroke like SG. T-mac could drive past you or shoot over you. I'm no T-mac fanboy but when healthy the guy was top 5 player hands down.
"if only they were healthy" - Tagline for the Yao and McGrady era "if only they played smarter" - Tagline for the Harden and Howard era
He was probably THE best player in the league during his stint in Orlando. People undersell or forgot how ridiculous he was.
Yao had great defense on Dwight sure. He has no where near the help defense or rebounding Dwight has. He couldn't defend today's perimeter shooting bigs, Boozer destroyed him. Yao's offense was nullified by a bookend fronting double team denying him the ball. The offense would spend 10 seconds just on a post entry pass. Dwight is an incredible pick and roll player that can convert lobs into points all day. TMAC was terrified of driving to the rim, harden's entire game revolves around it. I fail to see how you conclude Harden is less talented.
Yao and T-Mac were healthy for a few playoffs. But their supporting cast totally blows. I still remember Ryan Flying Bowen was starting against prime Dirk in 2005 playoffs.
Never underestimate the heart of Flying Bowen <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oE3rbm8WNJs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
