I know he had the attributes, but he didn't use them like he does now. If he never played lockdown defense in his prime, why should I say he is not a poor defender in that time period when he played like one?
Drexler.........Drexler would've been out the first round by now with the talent Tmac has around him.
I can't believe Tmac is in the lead....Tmac shoots the 3 better than Clyde..........and that's it.............Clyde was better defensively and was relentless at taking it to the hole....and he had the heart.............unfortunately Clyde ran into 2 of the greatest teams of all time which prevented him from winning 2 titles................
clyde drexler's career playoff avg is 20, 7, 6. in his prime yrs, his career playoff avg is 23, 7, 7. tmac's career playoff avg is 28, 7, 7. if u took out last yr, it's 30, 7, 7. i think the only yr u could have said drexler might have taken us out of the first round w/ the same team is v. utah last yr. he would not have beaten dallas. and i don't think he would have taken any orlando teams out of the first round. kobe, the supposed best player, can't even take his team out of hte first round by himself. so that's all circumstantial.
clyde avg 5.5 fta per game for his career. his best fta per game is 7.0. so i don't know how u can say he's more aggressive taking it to the hole. tmac's avg fta is 6.5 w/ career high of 9.7. and when he has been a superstar, it's consistently been 7-8 fta per game. and clyde had a team. yao was not a superstar in 04-05 so that was basically a tmac-led team. last yr was tmac's first yr where he should have led us out of the first round but he was not really in shape to do that. this will be his first true test this yr. he's healthy. yao's healthy (assuming no injuries this yr). he has depth. he has a bench. if he does not advance far this yr or for the rest of his career, then it's clyde. but i believe when it's all said and done, tmac will be a legend. trust me. but right now, clyde > tmac all day.
you must have not watched Clyde play..................because anyone that has watched him play knows exactly how aggressive he was taking it to the hole....ft attempts don't necessarily correlate with aggression.....and Drexlers will to win and toughness > Tmacs will to win and toughness....do you honestly think Drexler in his prime or older days would let derrick freaking fisher keep him out of the lane????
again, do u think tmac this yr would let fisher keep him out of the lane? watch the tmac v. the jazz and watch tmac this yr. they're 2 different players. do u think the tmac of last yr would drive to the middle of the paint and dunk over people? tmac last yr was slow, out of shape, and just not fit to do everything (which he had to do). clyde never had to do EVERYTHING on offense like tmac did. in portland, he had porter to be the PG. in houston, he had kenny/hakeem/cassell and other playmakers. i agree drexler > tmac now, but you HAVE to see the difference in tmac this yr and last yr. last yr, tmac would not have dunked much. this yr, tmac looks to dunk and attack.
i don't want to hear the excuses for tmac....there's no way a 6'8 (maybe even taller) guy should let a 6'2 guy hold him in check.............just shouldn't happen........................and I remember reading a article saying how Drexler in his younger days dunked on a 11 foot goal...............his athleticism was INSANE at U of H and he still had hops even later on his career with the Rockets...........
i said drexler > tmac right now. but tmac still has 4-5 more all-nba years left. drexler only had 5 all-nba years. tmac already has 6. and tmac will probably add 4-5 more all-nba honors to his resume before he retires. that means he will have 9-10 all-nba honors for his career. do u know how rare it is to make it to the all-nba teams 9-10 times in your career? like i said, RIGHT NOW, drexler > tmac b/c of team accomplishments. tmac still has 4-5 more yrs to legitimize his career.
it's legitimately arguable. remember that one of the things that made it easy for Portland to draft Bowie over Jordan in 84 was the fact that they had Drexler, whom the scouts considered physically the same thing as Jordan. As late as '91-92 you could get a good argument from knowledgeable fans who was actually better Drexler or Jordan. Drexler was a winner who'd been to the Finals and Jordan was considered this super-promoted Nike-owned guy who'd score a ton and look sexy, and lose like Dominique. It's hard to believe now, but Drexler was considered very very close to Jordan, I remember the first year Jordan won the MVP Drexler was runner-up or something. It was only after the 92 playoffs when Jordan got inside Drexler's head and destroyed him head-to-head that those questions stopped Drexler, Jordan and Dominique were all pretty much a wash athletically, probably with the slight edge for raw explosiveness and power to Wilkins and mentality to Jordan. Who do you consider a better athlete? Jordan or Tmac? Same thing with Drexler... you could argue it all day. Skillset? Natural basketball ability? Have to go with Tmac. Drexler didn't have the range or shooting ability of Tmac. IMO Tmac probably has the purest, easiest shot of any player I've ever seen, it's only his mental weakness and lack of concentration and shot selection that keeps him from being one of the best ever. Drexler was solid solid all around and relentless driving to the hoop but he didn't have the score-from anywhere anytime mojo Tmac has. Overall I'd go with Tmac. Clyde was more of a complementary Pippen type of cat throughout his career whereas Tmac, faults and all, is the centerpiece. Pure athletics goes to Drexler, remembering all those 90s-style power dunks I truly believe Drexler definitely got up higher than Tmac and was more explosive
You guys Tmac fanboys are nuts. Even a past his prime Clyde was more athletic than Tmac. <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oU-vSeXskRY&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oU-vSeXskRY&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
u have a case w/ a prime drexler more athletic than tmac? but past his prime?? u do know tmac was once voted by GMs for 2 straight yrs in orlando as more athletic than kobe, vince, and lebron (in his first yr)... right? c'mon now.
Look, I'm in the Clyde school, but that has as much to do with Clyde as it does with me being roughly the same age... but nobody should get in a big dander over this... I consider it extremely fortunate that both these guys are part of Rockets history.
Interesting discussion, here's my take. First of all, both guys are great, great players. No doubt about that. Here's the difference to me: - Drexler was a power player, McGrady is a finess player. Drexler tried to physically dominate the opponent, whether they were big or small. If McGrady gets an opening,he'll definitely take it to the hole, but he has never consistently challenged people the way Drexler did. Clyde would jump over a 5'10" inch Andre Turner in the 1981 NCAA tournament and he'd take it right at Olajuwon in his Portland days. McGrady has always been more willing to settle for a jumpshot. - McGrady has a better jump shot. Coming out of UH, Drexler had no jumpshot whatsoever. Once he was in the NBA, he developed a pretty good jumper. McGrady is just so long, that he can easily rise up over most anyone and shoot his jumper effortlessly and with great range. - Both guys are great athletes, but I'd give the advantage to Drexler. Clyde and TMac could both leap, so I don't think that's really a differentiating factor. To me, the thing that sets Clyde apart was speed, quickness and strength. Drexler was one of the fastest players that I've ever seen, with or without the ball. Sure he dribbled with his head down, but he also went past everyone while he was doing it. Drexler could take the ball end to end and nobody could keep up with him. The other amazing thing about Drexler was that he had the ability to be going full speed and then stop on a dime and change directions without really slowing down. Watch the highlight video posted in this thread and you'll see some pretty amazing full speed spin moves. McGrady isn't slow by any means, but he's also never been incredibly quick. Drexler always had great footspeed and incredibly quick hands. Olajuwon and Drexler playing at UH where the two most freakishly athletic players that I've ever seen on one team. - Both guys are good passers,but in different ways. McGrady uses his ability to pull up and shoot to draw defenders to him and then find an open teammate. Drexler was more of a drive and kick out guy. Most of McGrady's assists come from the perimeter, while Drexlers came from the paint. - Eras and Style of play is pretty much a wash. Teams played at a faster pace in the 80's, but the game slowed to a crawl in the 90's and has sped back up in the 2000's. In Drexlers heyday defenders were able to handcheck anywhere on the court. That was a great equalizer and allowed guys like Derek Harper to offset an opponents quickness advantage by controlling them with a handcheck. If you don't remember the NBA when handchecking was allowed, teams used big guards who were very difficult to drive around once they got their hands on you. The two biggest things that set Drexler apart are these : - Drexler played both ends of the floor. Cylde was a very good defender and guarded the other teams best scorers. In the NBA finals, Drexler guarded Jordan much of the time. McGrady rarely guards the other teams best scorer. For most of Drexlers career he was an elite offensive player and a very good defender. At no time during McGrady's career was he ever been really good on both sides of the ball. In the early days, McGrady was a good defender, but not that great offensively. After he went to Orlando, he was a dominant scorer, but his defense slipped. That's not to say that McGrady is a bad defender, he's just average. - Mental toughness. McGrady is considered soft and he makes some bad decision on shot selection when he has the chance to put a team away. When McGrady is on a roll, there's nobody that can take over a game like him, but night in and night out he settles for low percentage shots instead of playing smart and forcing the action by taking higher percentage shots and drawing fouls. Drexler on the other hand was a killer on the court. He'd do whatever it took to win the game. Basically when Drexler had a chance to put you away, he was going to take the ball straight to the hole and either score or get fouled. McGrady is more likely to pull up for a long range jumper. You can't really go wrong with either guy, but if I had to make a choice I'd have to give Drexler the nod.
Of course you can go wrong! I'm sorry, but to me, the bottom line is that basketball is not an individual sport. T-Mac may be a better basketball player, maybe. I disagree, but that's besides the point. You would always take Clyde over T-Mac. Clyde's mental toughness, tenacity, and defensive ability made him a great teammate. You could trust in Clyde to win the game, to give everything and more than he had. T-Mac? I question that. Having a good jumper is great. But taking it to the hole at will, he lacks.
I'll take Drexler. He played smarter, was more efficient, had a post game, and was a better closer than TMac. I like TMac's ball handling, finesse, and passing better than Drexler. TMac loses the battle, but health allowing, he could easily grab multiple NBA Finals MVP awards, which would put him over the top.
it's just about winning. when it's all said and done, tmac will have more individual accolades than drexler. but if he does not win, all those individual accolades won't put him over drexler.
