Harden can win all the individual accolades and acknowledgements he wants, but until he has two rings, he won't be on The Dream's level.
Apples and oranges. I have no doubt that Dream playing in this era of ball would put up insane numbers as well. Given what MDA has achieved so far with JH13 and the right roster, imagine Dream with an offensive maestro that can maximize his skillset and arsenal.
I grew up on Hakeem. The height of my teenage years of pure sports enjoyment is when Hakeem and the rockets were great. And I went to games too. I was fortunate to be at both Game 6 and 7 against the Knicks. And with that I will say Harden this year (and last 2.5 years frankly) is a better offensive player ... in the regular season. But he's nowhere near the defender Hakeem was obviously and until we see something like Hakeem's dismantling of DRob offensively in the playoffs from Harden, Hakeem still wins offensively overall too. I never really saw Moses on the Rockets. Not that I can remember intellectually. I know he was dominant. But Harden is definitely creeping up on Hakeem. Needs that ring, and another 5 years of this play, but if those happen I'd happily put him up right next to Hakeem. He's so far and away the best non big the Rockets have ever had it's not even close.
I can't believe there are only 6 Hakeem only fans on this board. But the fact that only 4 people admit they are Harden only fans proves that Harden has not yet made Hakeem obsolete, by 2 votes. But Donald Trump would say, "This is rigged!" And Hilary would say, "The Russians did it!"
It may interest people to know that I went ahead and did some basketballaholic-esque research on the question. This guy found that Hakeem beats Harden in a head-to-head matchup. Plus he lists Harden in 9th place among Rockets greats. So . . . science! http://isportsweb.com/2016/06/06/ho...t-player-hakeem-olajuwon-1-vs-james-harden-9/ Houston Rockets: Rockets’ best player, Hakeem Olajuwon (1) vs. James Harden (9) June 6, 2016 by Youssef Machkhas James Harden (9) James Harden is a great on offense, that is for sure. But his lack of defensive effort and leadership has brought him way down in this list. Frankly, he may deserve to be even lower. He will have to change his attitude completely if he wants to be known as one of the greatest of all time. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports I have very mixed feelings about Harden. On one hand, he is crazy good on offense. He’s got a deadly shot, knows how to draw fouls (it isn’t flopping, for the most part), can kick it out to open three point shooters after driving, and can finish with the best of them. Still, that sadly isn’t the only part of the game. He is extremely lazy on defense, although it did improve a season ago. He cares more about being considered the best in the game instead of leading the team; with a horrible coach in J.B. Bickerstaff and the roster in disarray, Harden had the chance to step up and prove the haters wrong. However, he chose to only make the locker room issues worse, by alienating his teammates, playing one-on-five basketball, and trying to convince management to trade Dwight Howard (he might have had a point, but it wasn’t the right time). This led to a very disappointing season after the team reached the Western Conference Finals. In his four seasons with the Rockets, he has averaged 27 points, 6.6 assists, and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting 44.3% from the field and 36.7% from deep. However, he has also averaged 4 turnovers per game. Through his statistics, Harden has proven to be a great scorer who can take over a game anytime. He is also good at kicking out the ball, as evidenced by his high number of assists and has gets boards well for a shooting guard. However, his low field goal and three point percentages show that he has the tendency to take bad shots. A staple of his is to dribble the shot clock down to about five seconds from the top key, step back and take the shot, especially in late-game situations. Any Rockets fan can tell you how frustrating that is. He also has a bad problem with losing the ball. These are many of the reasons why he is ranked so low, and frankly, could be lower. He has made the All-Star game every season that he’s been with the Rockets. He was also a part of the All-NBA First team in 2014 and 2015. However, it is notable to note that he missed all three teams this season. The most he has done so far in terms of playoff success is make it to the Western Conference Finals. However, many attribute their series win against the Los Angeles Clippers as either the Clippers self-destructing or the rest of the team stepping up, not Harden’s play. He has also shown to not really care about the team, rather wishing to try cementing his own status as best in the league. What he fails to see is that he can’t if he continues playing solo ball. If he doesn’t change, he may not even be top 10 worthy in the league. Hakeem, 96. Harden, 36. Suck it, Harden nuthuggers.
I am the biggest Hakeem fan there is - I think he was an incredible center that brought new moves to the game and was impossible to guard one-on-one. What would make me happy is to see Harden surpass Hakeem. Because if that is the case, it means the Rockets will win multiple rings and Harden will truly be the greatest player in franchise history. So am rooting for Harden, he's got a lot to accomplish though before he can claim the greatest player in franchise history.
Completely agree with this. I root for Harden to be unanimously considered better than Hakeem because it means we will have had AMAZING years with multiple titles.
Just think he not only will make hakeem obsolete with 3 more POTM awards, he will also make Dwight who also has 6 POTM. The real question is, how the F does Dwight Howard have as many POTM awards as Hakeem Olajuwon????
