Appreciate the competitor that Kobe Bryant was even more. Having talent is one thing but talent combined with heart and grit wins championships. Salute to you Black Mamba you'll truly be missed.
He is not kobe, agreed. He is going through a rough stretch and is probably injured worse than we know. But man, he is the best this city has seen in decades and a top 5 current player.
That I agree with. I just have issues when people think he's as good as Kobe or LeBron. He's not as versatile of a scorer as those guys and is far inferior on defense. There is no question he's the best player the Rockets have had since Hakeem.
I've never seen a Rockets star go through this bad a slump. Not even Yao when he played INJURED played this badly and Yao had a bit of the fire Kobe did.
for Prime T-mac? Yeah. He actually fits in and was a way better defender. Who wouldn't want the equivalent of a better Paul George on the team?
Harden has a much longer stretch of prime years. Tmac's prime was very short. It lasted for a couple of seasons on the Magic and maybe one season with the Rockets before his back started acting out really bad. He also didn't have the drive and work ethic that guys like Kobe and Lebron have. So Harden is going to net you a longer era of competitive teams that I'm not sure TMac could carry. Tmac's ceiling was higher. He was more gifted naturally. Harden has the same "what if" as Mcgrady in terms of "what if Mcgrady and Harden both had great coaches like Pop during their development years". I think they were severely hindered by a lack of structure and accountability.
Harden over Tmac of any year. There is no debate to this. And I certainly wouldn’t say Tmac has a what if with respect to coaching. Harden won playoff series with Mchale as a coach. I don’t get the excuses for Tmac. He had 2 game leads in three playoff series where he was the best player on his team, actually considered the best player in the series all three of those series’. (2 of them he was one game away from advancing twice before it hit game 7). Some will make the case that the other team was better, he didn’t get help blah blah blah. That’s not “what if”. That’s just him not being good enough to overcome those challenges.
Tmac was easily more talented and better but harden produces. Tmac is a mystery. Watching tmac is wat makes me appreciate kobe more.
The more I watch Harden (recently) the more I appreciate Westbrook. Also, the more I change the channel.
I would take the Raptor and pre Orlando Tmac any day. At least we know when he would break down. Provide him with Lerbon's cryogenic lab.
