Man...if Harden could play the majority of the season with a Yao Ming coming back just in time for the playoffs..
Yao always had Dwight's number. You'll find highlight videos of Dwight vs Yao matchups all over youtube. Anyone who watched the Rockets from 05-09, would know this. Yao is his prime, affected the game in so many ways. Prime Yao made everyone look like children. That's how dominant he was when he wanted to be (and when he could stay healthy). Remember Rockets fans, how we always looked forward to playing Orlando because we knew Yao dominated Dwight? Dwight would attest to this as well. Yao is to Dwight, what Hakeem is to Shaq. Shaq always gives Hakeem his props. By the way, DPOY is a great accomplishment but it obviously only focuses on rebounding and blocking. Ben Wallace can't sniff Yao's jockstrap and he won this 4 times. Yao would win the best FT% for a center, if they had such an award. The point being Just like being a great FT shooter, rebounds and blocks are just one aspect of the game. Ben Wallace proves that.
Yao's game was more versatile. He had the mid range jumper, can make free throws, and had an array of post moves. Defensively, he wasn't as good as Dwight, but his height alone altered a lot of shots. Dwight also takes himself out of games a lot of times by committing stupid fouls. Yes, he gets abused but he needs to learn how to hold in his frustration. Yao gets bs calls just cause he's big. Yao when healthy, was unstoppable. To be fair, since it's a package deal and I have to choose, I will go with Tmac and Yao (despite Harden > Tmac).
Yao was a bad matchup for Dwight, but I'd still take peak 2008-2011 Orlando Dwight. The dude was a top 3-5 player in the NBA during that span.
It's not that. Harden is a regular season darling in a system that favors a ridiculously high pace thus far. Keep in mind I love Harden and I will defend harden to the death. Players like McGrady, Kobe, Durant, however, become transcendent in the playoffs where their unparalleled physical gifts coupled with elite level basketball IQ and talent make them utterly impossible to stop on an individual level.
Harden has surpassed McGrady. Only idiots who romanticize small portions of a short rockets career and illogically group a player with no team accomplishments among MVPs and champions, don't believe this truth. McGrady played 6 seasons with the Rockets, with only 3 playoff runs that only yielded 20 playoff games and no playoff series victories. Harden played 3 seasons with the Rockets, 3 playoff runs, went to the Conference Finals last year and played in 29 playoff games. He's already done more than McGrady did in half the time with the Rockets. No coaches have been fired either. I'm not trying to make you admit that Harden is better, I just want the truth to consume you.
the rockets big mistake was putting all that weight on yao, and not knowing he had brittle feet. Should have kept him skinny like pau gasol
How? Yes he FINALLY got out the 1st round this year. But Harden isn't the overall player Mcgrady was. Harden has a better supporting group. That Rockets team Mcgrady had was ridiculously injury plagued. One thing Harden has over Tmac is DURABILITY. Outside of that, Tmac's the better player. I don't recall Mcgrady EVER having 13 turnovers
A Tracy McGrady in his Orlando Prime would murk Harden. We're talking about one on one thing here. We all know Harden teams have been deeper in the playoff's verse Tracy 1st round flops.
You mcgrady fans only care of mcgrady looks good in defeat. Orlando mcgrady is what we got cause orlando didn't want him and vice versa. When did orlando or rockets mcgrady lead his team to a conference finals? Never. When was he ever number 2 in mvp voting? Never. Will orlando even retire his number? Sure except the banner would say Hardaway.
I would take McGrady in prime in the Dunk contest and Skill contest Harden maybe for regular season, he was not as good in the playoffs, had couple of good games and horrible games when he disappeared (not just this year) Harden also in the 3 pt contest, which Curry or another guy would win.
One on One? That means nothing. Players like Jamal Crawford or JR Smith would give anyone a run for their money if it was one on one and they aren't on the level as Harden/TMac.
That's because mcgrady fans have no team success in their arsenal of validation. He's just a nba2k character. If they can't see that harden is a superior player and leadership and reliability are characteristics of a superior player, then they are blind rats. I question their love of the rockets when they try so hard to glorify rockets failures. Nobody is trying this hard for steve francis .
You do realize harden had better numbers in the playoffs? 27.5 ppg 7.5 assist 5.7 rebounds on 44/38/91 shooting In the Warriors series that everyone thinks he Payed so poorly in he had 28ppg 7.8 assist 6.7 rebounds on 46/42/88 shooting. He scored 20+ points in 15/17 games in the playoffs including the first 14 It's a myth that he had a poor playoff performance. Even lebron james has struggled in playoff series and finals. No player is perfect.
I can't believe you just put tmac in the same sentence as Kobe and Durant. How was mcgrady transcendent in the playoffs? Lol a player is measured on wins in the playoffs not empty stats. Gilbert arenas had epic games in the playoffs too against lebron at that. is he a transcendent player and on Kobe and Durant level?
People keep bringing up the Yao vs. Howard one-on-one thing. I used to do the same thing to the Orlando fans, and before his first foot injury in 2007 Yao looked like he might be the best center in the league. But Howard's impact, as pointed above, goes beyond one-on-one numbers. He was a defensive terror (and to a large extent still is, when healthy). Yao never had that kind of defensive impact - though Yao was a plus defender throughout his whole career and extremely underrated in that regard. But Howard was more than a plus defender - he was a defensive game changer. Howard is also a far superior rebounder. Yao was no slouch in that regard but Howard has posted multiple seasons with DRB% > 30%. That's no small feat. While Yao was never an unstoppable offensive force, he held his own in that regard and from time to time put together some masterful performances with his silky touch. Howard has been putrid on offense outside of putbacks and dunks and that has actually gotten worse as his athleticism has declined. His regular season and playoff offensive metrics were awful and only salvaged by his superior defense (in the playoffs). But it's unfair to compare current Howard to prime Yao. Yao only played 8 seasons. Howard is working on his 12th. Overall, that health has to factor in any comparison of the two players. Yao will always have a special place in my heart (my XBL account is Yaozers, and my wife complained for a long time that I had a giant framed picture of Yao but none of her), one that Howard will likely never displace. But we aren't talking about emotion, we are talking about production, an objective thing. Regarding McGrady and Harden, T-Mac put together one of the single greatest seasons in NBA history in Orlando. His 02-03 Orlando production rivals that of any NBA great, including Jordan (I said rivals, not trumps, before anyone jumps on that statement). PER 30.3, OBPM 9.8, 13.2 OWS, WS/48 .262... That's a dream season. But he never got close to that in Houston. His best season in Houston was his first, with an OBPM of 4.9. JVG must have taught him something, as he was also a plus defender and underrated in that regard while a Rocket and before the injuries. But he was never a superstar in Houston, as much as we wanted him to be. His production was firmly in All-Star territory. Harden, last year, gave us a dream season of his own. While falling a little short of T-Mac's 02-03 season in nearly every regard, Harden gave us that production AS A ROCKET. That counts for something, I would think, on this board. And we don't know that we've seen the best of what Harden can do. He can score from anywhere on the court. Last year he added a masterful stepback and improved his 3PT%. I think he should add a post game (after all he has the one and only Dream to teach him, should he choose) for versatility but his offensive game is largely complete. I can't wait to see how he can get better. TL;DR - Howard > Yao, Orlando T-Mac > Harden (statistically) but Harden > Houston T-Mac. I'd take Harden/Howard any day over Yao/T-Mac.
Tmac playoff numbers in houston weren't that great when you factoring in he was shooting sub 42% from 2 and under 30% from 3. Cmon fellas I know u guys love this man but just look up the numbers there not actually better than hardens this year. His career in houston was a major disappointment and didn't result in anything, harden first year in Houston was better than mcgrady best year in Houston of that says anything about tmac. It's just fact look the numbers up I have.
