[Prediction] When it's all said and done, who's gonna be the best Houston Rocket?

uh tmac averaged around 29 pts w/o yao. sure he's not as "explosive" as before and admittedly so, but he can still score if you force him to. w/ yao back, he's coasting a lil bit.

if u saw the dallas game, that was THE ONLY game this yr where he actually went all-out and he admitted that => 45 pts. but when he did that, he got a sore back. if tmac tries, he can get 30 any time. but it may cause injury.

so w/ yao, tmac chooses his spots to dominate. and he'll still give u 24-25, 6, 7 assists. that's a career yr for 99% of the players out there not named kobe, bron, or wade.

 

I vote this for the most ironic post of the century.

 

uh i like hakeem more than anything, but #5 of all time? cmon now

top 5 is set in stone. no one can ever break that in jordan, magic, bird, chamberlain, jabbar. that's set in stone.

 

What do you exactly mean by "when its all said and done"...doesnt that mean when the Rockets Franchise ends which is unlikely to happen for a VERY long time unless of course the world ends or something....this means that many other great players could come along during the time from now until when its all said and done...maybe even VSPAN? or Novak?

 

By the time there is a true T-mac/Yao Dynasty, let us vote again.

 

I have to respectfully disagree with this thread. The individual can only get as big as his team allows him. Jordan would not become the greatest ever without some strong sidekicks (e.g. Pippen, Rodman, Kukoc). Same with Hakeem; the Rockets built a TEAM that took the championships in 94 and 95 and enabled him to become one of the most dominant centers.

I would therefore ask myself: do we have one of the best teams (if not the best team ever) in the Houston Rockets saga?

 

Unless Yao becomes a better center than Hakeem (which was unlikely to begin with, and with the new guard focused rules is even moreso), Hakeem will still be #1.

 

I pick Rafer Alston...and im being serious

 

When Yao and Tracy win at least 1 ring, then we can talk.

 

Since the Rockets came to Houston, we've been lucky enough to have had some incredible players on the team. Hayes, Murphy, Moses, Rudy, Drexler, Charles, and many, many others. They all deserve our love and respect, even the ones with a checkered history, like our guards that fell to the White Powder and perhaps cost us a championship. Yao and Tracy are two more great players to add to the list.

None of them were in the class of Dream. He stands alone. As Rocketeer said, let Tracy and Yao win a championship or two or three, and then we can discuss it.

 

As a Rockets fan, I would still think if T-Mac brought a title or two to Houston, I would still consider him one of the best Rockets to play the game, not one of the best Magic or Raptor to play the game. However, I'm also not a native of Houston, but just a Rockets fan. But consider this, Clyde played most of his career in Portland, but won a title in Houston and he is still considered a great Rocket player. I know for native Houstonian (or is it Houstonites?), Clyde is a different story b/c of his old U of H connections, but to a non-Houston native Rocket fan, I still see Clyde as a true Rocket.

 

the only way mac and yao surpass the dream is if they can bring more than 2 championships to houston together

 

How can this poll not have Vspan. He would get 97% of the votes. Some even feel he's the greateset of all-time right now.

 

Did anyone who did not vote for Hakeem actually follow the Rockets in the mid 90's? He dominated the court and did things Yao could only "dream" of doing.

 

My hope is Yao because that will mean we win several championships but otherwise I think it will always be Hakeem.

 

Figures.

 

Eh... I don't think its set in stone.

Magic wasn't one of those players that carried his team by himself, that whole team was stacked from what I hear. Hell... Jabbar was on that team and he's also in your top 5. Magic was a great player, easily the best PG to play the game, but to say that he's automatically in the top 5? There are alot of players you could argue are as deserving.

Jabbar in theory should get the nod because of his scoring record, but if you want to go that route, Hakeem is the #1 All-time blocks leader... and by far might I add.

Bird was a really good player too. But then again, there have been other players to average his statistics and win games. Take Shaq for instance. He's had his share of 27 10 seasons that ended in a title. Why is he not mentioned? The only difference between the two is that Bird could hit the outside shot while Shaq was a better post player.

Jordan is really the only player I consider automatic. He won the 6 titles, but he pretty much did it alone. Bird, Jabbar and Magic got to play with some really good players when they won. Jordan had Pippen... and thats about it.

Wilt Chamberlain should be automatic because he has the record for most points in a game. But at the same time, the rules he played in have changed since he played. No more dunking your FTs, no more offensive goaltending. You have to think that would have an effect on his stats if he had played his whole carreer with those rules in.

That being said... Hakeem isn't anything special either. You are talking about a guy who has won only 2 titles, and only made the finals a couple times at that. But on the other hand, all of these other greats with the exception of Chamberlain, played in the time Hakeem was playing.

Anyways, back to the original question. I think you have to say Hakeem by far. Only player to win the MVP, DPOY and Finals MVP in the same year, not only won 2 titles, but led a record setting playoff run (lowest seed to win a title) one of the few players to record a quadruple double (4 stats in double digits), one of the few players to average 20-12-4-3 (pts-reb-blk-ast), and is the blocking champ. I dont think Yao or Tmac could do anything close to that. And considering Hakeem went to college at UH, you have to consider him perhaps the most loved Athlete in Houston...ever.