Guys im as much a Mac supporter as the next guy but this he/if/coulda needs to be put to rest already! Its very embarassing!
No way. I love Pierce but Tmac was much better. As much as I like Harden, prime Tmac was better. Look at the roster around Tmac vs the one we have today. Hell, Tmac didnt even get to play with a healthy Yao most of the time. Yes, Tmac did quit on us and acted unprofessionally his last year here, but it doesnt take away from what he did for us, not to the level of tinman hating on him the way he does. He gave us his all, especially in that playoff series against Utah without Yao.
How many playoff games did tmac play for us? Compare that to harden. Oh paul pierce is the truth. He stayed with Boston when they sucked, he doesn't jump ship like tmac. It's All fact
I've softened my position on McGrady a bit. What he did at the end of his tenure here was inexcusable, but it shouldn't overshadow the great years he had here. That being said, Harden has already surpassed McGrady in great Rockets players (and I don't even think it's that close at this point).
T-mac was a better PnR guy (might be one of the best ever) but Harden was a better shooter. I don't think having T-mac on this team would make a difference all the much either way to be honest.
Its funny that I disagree what you say about tmac and I'm not having a cow. Harden fanboys are the biggest hypocrites in the history of Clutchfans. Stop being so miserable and awful.
This. But you forgot Prime Tmac was much more athletic than Harden or it seemed that way. Athleticism ran in the family. Ask Vinsanity.
Ranking 2's MJ Kobe Wade Clyde After that it's a logjam of great talent consisting of Miller/Allen/Iceman/AI/Pierce/VC/ and wait for it....T-Mac (*gasp*)
Harden and Thompson can enter that conversation if they maintain the trajectory of their careers. They can straight up ball out any night. If they wanna get comparisons to the elite of the elite they must do so every night as opposed to any night. And comparing Harden to T-Mac might be fun to some T-Mac fans but it isn't fair to Harden. Chill guys, we have a young star who has yet to peak. But I get it, what ifs are a very interesting question to post in Mac's career.
He was more athletic than Harden, but lack of effort for the most part, apart from some playoff games and a handful of regular season games is what most fans will remember him for.
I'm a HUGE T-mac fan, my fav. all time player, I started playing b-ball because of him, I used to wear a make-shift leg-sleeve with a cutoff dress sock on the court back in middle school. His game was so damn smooth, and the elevation on his jumpshot was a thing of beauty... That being said this thread is pretty dumb TBH considering we're in the Western Conf. Finals in one of the toughest conferences in history, right now the current team needs our full support and we have the runner-up MVP on our team who gave us everything he had and more and has carried us the entire season, I saw him shred his ankle in a game in DET. which would sideline most players 1 week min. but the dude got it taped and came back in the 2nd half on 1 leg and almost single-handedly willed us to victory. I have seen him take hellacious hits numerous times and seen him come right back and win us games. I understand some fans (including myself) have criticized him because we expect him to be amazing every game, but that's just us fans being spoiled by the greatness of James Harden. I know it feels good to reminisce sometimes but let's not disrespect the guy that has sacrificed his body and soul to get us to where we are, and will most likely lead us to a championship very soon.
Durability is what Vince Carter had . Ask Morey, he tried to trade McGrady for him until McGrady sabotaged the deal by announcing his surgery at the trade deadline. Vince Carter is still balling.
I'm not down w/ the the 'T-Mac in place of argument', but I'd still love to see a prime T-Mac on this club. Unfortunately Houston never got to see McGrady in his prime unless they were tuning into Orlando Magic games. JVG's bogged down offense certainly didn't help matters once he arrived. Anyways imo we'd have already swept the Warriors and our PG problem would be nonexistent if he were here in place of Nick Johnson (I realize he's not a PG, but you could play Beard & McGrady in the back court together. Shaun Livingston would be 0 for 20). WTBS, Houston is still alive and playing in the WCF. Leaves little time for playing 'what if' games.
That's where you're wrong. we did see Prime Tmac, we got that guy from Orlando. The difference you said it yourself: 1. JVG offense 2. Yao Ming Of course if you see Tmac playing in the Eastern Conference he put huge stats but they still lose . which is strange because REAL stars like Drexler and Jordan put up big numbers and their teams win. the large stats and winning do not correlate with McGrady.
I thought TMac was overated as a player and nostalgia makes him better than he actually was. You can't just put all of his playoff failure on everyone else. he was very talented in many aspects of the game and had the athletic ability of the elites. Never thought his game was efficient enough. Thought he was passive in crunch time and was way too jump shot happy. I remember him fading in a lot of 4th quarters even in the playoffs and would pull up for jump shots instead of driving and getting a foul. His court vision was amazing, but playing with Yao Ming didn't really show off his ability in picknroll's. I think in hindsight he just never worked on his game enough like Kobe did, nor did he train to take care of his body all year long which let to his quick fall from his prime. I always thought he was too passive to be the number 1 on the team. He would be perfect next to another alpha dog like Pippen was and just be a well rounded point forward with great defense.
