Agreed, especially since JVG is not a commentator and has to give his opinion. If he is supposed to be a Rockets homer shouldnt he say Tmac is better then Magic Johnson as a playmaker. JVG is now employed by ESPN and ABC, if he did nothing but praise Rockets and former Rockets, they would fire him. If this is how everyone feels about his comments, shouldnt you guys also rank JVG as one of the all time greatest coaches in the history of the NBA. If not, then you would be traitors as fans because JVG is now part of the Rockets history and apparently anyone associated with the Rockets has to forever praise any other former rocket.
but MJ did. what's the point? again and its all circumstantial. u play to win for that yr. u dont think about the circumstances. what if tmac never had a bad back? what if yao is a lil quicker and stronger? then we have the best team in history. would have, should have, ifs and buts... are excuses.
Let's take a look at this resume: Honors: Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1978); NBA champion (1967, '72); NBA Finals MVP (1972); NBA MVP (1960, '66, '67, '68); All-NBA First Team (1960, '61, '62, '64, '66, '67, '68); Second Team ('63, '65, '72); All-Defensive First Team (1972, '73); Rookie of Year (1960); One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996). Only two rings? ducan must be a better player than him? But everyone on the earch (maybe except JVG) admits he is much better than ducan. As for Dream, his resume is not as good as ducan's, but he is also a better overall player than ducan. If it was ducan instead of david robinson garding Dream, Dream still could beat shxt out of ducan.
they knew all along jvg wanted to come back. they just wanted to go in a different direction. lets just hope its the right direction...more wins, more playoff wins
I think if duncan had to go against Hakeem's era of big men on a daily bases, his numbers would be different. Centers like admiral,ewing,mourning,shaq,mutombo,eaton,barkley,malone(moses & karl) with no big names and scorers on his team plus Hakeem was getting hammered down low and he never cried to the refs like duncan.Don't get me wrong, duncan is a great player but the dream was a reality for houston who got critisized for not taking MJ.but still won 2 championships.
The bottom line is Hakeem played against the best with lack of a supporting cast. Duncan has a better supporting class and inferior talent pool. Hakeem any day ,every day.
why are we arguing over this? the best is all OPINIONS. u ask SA fans and they say duncan. i'm glad that a great individual like hakeem is mentioned as one of the greats. top 3-4 at his position and arguably the best 2-way big man of all time, if not the best. him and ewing are 2 of my fav big men b/c they are two of the best 2-way big men of all time (though of course hakeem is better). but they're both warriors. u can't say many big men are "warriors" nowadays. i wish yao was a warrior. but no NBA player fears him . if yao can just dominate by INTIMIDATION, we'd be on another level. cmon hakeem, teach him that intimidation technique.
in duncan's run he never had a series like hakeem did against robinson. that alone should end this argument, the fact that he did it against a fellow hofer who some argued was better than hakeem before it happened.
I'm a Rockets Fan so there is no way Timmy is better than Hakeem. To me both guys are great competitors, team-mates and winners. Duncan was methodical and efficient, Dream was creative and elegant. Two contrasting styles, same ultimate result...championships. Admittedly Timmy has a better looking resume that Hakeem. On a superficial level, the average basketball fan who doesn't know the history would pick Timmy. To me, All-NBA's and All-D's, DPOY's and even the MVP award has lost some lustre in recent years (a Possible future thread). A guy like Ben Wallace has 4 DPOY while Hakeem has only 2. Duncan's 8 straight All-NBA 1st teams is an achievement but how many would he have if he was fighting for the spot with Malone and Barkley in their prime on a yearly basis. To each his own.
Duncan is WAY better than Hakeem. Sad to say but true. Hakeem had better players around him, Duncan MADE players better. He has turned Finley into a player on his last leg into HUGE part, he made Parker/Gino into stars (sorry no they would not be that good w/out Duncan). Hakeem had good players around him, Clyde, Barkley, Horry, Cassell, Ralph Sampson, He shouldve been able to win 4-5 Championships just like Duncan, if you look that they had = talent around them (hakeem may have had better) and Duncan has 3 rings (maybe 4 this year) Duncan is better no doubt.
You should really be a candidate for being banned based of that post alone. Take off your silver and black shades. Hakeem played with Barkley, Pippen, Drexler when all were in their mid to late 30's and on the decline. Duncan does not make players around him better. Only PG's can truly make players around them better. Tony Parker isn't suddenly no longer the league's quickest PG if Duncan isnt alongside him. Manu Ginobili led the Argentinian floppers to International Glory against US. Duncan didnt play for Argentina. David Robinson was an MVP player before Duncan got there. Elliott an all star before Tim. Finley an all-star before Tim as well. As for your statement Hakeem should have won 4-5 Titles? How many times did the Hakeem led Rockets lose a series in which they were favored? I cant think of any, but Duncan's Spurs choked against the Lakers in 01 and 04 as the top seeds with HCA then against the Mavs last year with HCA as the #1 seed. 2 times as the #1 seed in 01 and 06 and upset both times. Hakeem absolutely should not have won a title with Sampson. They only played together 2 full years and in one of them they beat the 86 Lakers, a team better than any Duncan has ever faced. They were huge underdogs to a clearly superior Celtics team in 86. Duncan's had awesome supporting casts, better than Hakeem had on balance in his career. Are you 16 yrs old?
http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43680 Discussion from a neutral NBA fan forum. Decidedly pro-Hakeem. It really seems the majority of people who would pick Duncan are: 1) Die hard Spurs fans (prob the same who still think DRob was better htan Hakeem too) 2) Too young to have seen Hakeem play
Or a series like against Ewing... Or a series like against Shaq... He did however have a series where his counterpart torched him for 37 ppg in Amare in 2005, but Manu and Parker dominated the defensively challenged Suns. Ever remember the guy Hakeem had to guard in a playoff series going off for 37 ppg? What does it say about Duncan's supporting cast that they were able to win a series in 5 games with him getting dominated by Stoudemire in 2005? Somehow I dont think Houston would ahve beaten the Knicks, Spurs, or Magic if Ewing, Robinson, or Shaq had lit up Hakeem light a Christmas tree. Who do you want taking the shot or FT's down the stretch of a big game?
Oh, really? You're so sure of that? When you yourself couldn't figure it out 2 months ago? http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=126333 I'm with what you said the first time. He stiff-armed them twice. Then, when his "built for the playoffs" myth collapsed in Game 7, he kept dithering and acting like a guy with options. By the time he realized his leverage was gone and he'd better ask to keep his job, it was too late. Not exactly a nice way to treat a coach who did a pretty good job for you over 4 years. But please, spare us the revisionist garbage about how everybody knew he wanted to come back.
If you want to look at career numbers and averages in comparison: (Choose "Duncan, Tim" to enter in yourself) http://www.basketball-reference.com/fc/pcm.cgi?p1=olajuha01&y1= There's always apples-to-oranges arguments in these discussions, but imagine if Hakeem was playing the power forward/center position on the Spurs now and not Duncan. And NOT against some of the greatest centers of his era? Generally players of the past don't transcend too well into the current game. (Not that Hakeem's a dinosaur, wouldnt mind him backing up Yao right now but Hakeem would be a handful and more.
JVG is a dumbass. Sinply put, I don't think anyone should validate a single word the man says from here on out.
