We're at the point where we have to poll based on users age. On another thread, somebody was telling me about the growth of Houston around the time Toyota Center was built, acting like I was not alive when that happened.
I love Harden but I remember how much of a beast Barkley was. And I think he'd thrive in this era of the NBA. He was a true post up threat and could easily run a fast break especially in his prime. He was like a freight train. Once he got momentum you were either going to let him dunk or get bodied into fans on the sidelines. He'd swing those elbows in the paint for boards and would make short statured forwards like Draymond Green who's supposed to be this "tough guy" look like a cream puff. The early 90s Suns were a true legitimate threat for the title every year. The Rockets just had their number back then while the Sonics had the Rockets.
That's wrong. The Suns during 92-93 when Barkley won MVP averaged 112 ppg. They were #1 scoring team in the league. And this was in a defensive era. The Rockets meanwhile right now averaged 115 this regular season. The discrepancy isn't far off. I would say that Barkley had a lot of help with Thunder Dan and Kevin Johnson on offense so he wasn't alone out there but he was certainly the heart of that team's success.
it's funny to compare James to all these legends right now, he needs more time to prove himself, straight up speaking, Prime Barkley is not even playing same position, how would you compare a PF with a guard, barkley is way more stronger than harden in low post, and would kill harden in the low post
I'm not saying he wasnt great because he was. I'm comparing Harden in that era to Barkley in this era. All those waving elbows? Flagrants. Technicals. You think boogie has a temperament problem how would Chuck fair in this NBA? His "nasty" helped him be great and that would be diminished. You can't be that aggressive anymore. He can't shoot from range. That plus his physicality would relegate him to a centers role. Where he would be good just insanely undersized but still loved around the league like Chuck Hayes was here. But he would limited in this league of length and space. Harden otoh probably doesn't get the hip check shooting fouls. Probably not the 3pt shooting fouls. But he would still draw fouls. He would still take it to the hoop. Everyone refers to handcheck like it was some kind of jiu jitsu master lock. It was effective and made it more difficult, especially weaker players. But not players built on strength like harden. Go ahead and add push offs to create space for Harden. Switching era's favors Harden. Barkley had the much better career thus far.
in terms of their primes, people drafted in 1984 played in the most offensively efficient era in nba history. the last few years are catching up to that (this year was actually the most efficient year ever), but basically everything from the mid-80's to the mid-90's was right at the peak of efficiency. then a huge dip in the late-90's and early 2000's and then a little pick up in the late-2000's and now a final pick up recently. and the pace was as fast or faster in the 80's. every year in the league for barkley was kinda like this year. harden's stats would still be crazy. but I still picked barkley, for now. he could score in volume, had one of the highest true shooting percentages ever, led the league in rebounding one year (on I believe the slowest-paced team), and could still get 4-5 assists per game. and while his defensive reputation sucks (much like harden), he was good for 1+ blocks and 1+ steals a game because he was just that athletic. and right now he'd have to get the playoffs edge.
I had to check the pace numbers because that didn't sound right, but you where on point. Interesting to see the pace numbers drop during the Rockets championship years and takes over a decade to recover. EDIT: read up after work
