Will McGrady be the greatest Rocket ever? Better than Hakeem?

Uhmm.....I think its a little early for this type of discussion...

 

anyone who votes yes on this thing is a friggin idiot. i'm sorry. you must not have watched hakeem enough to think there's even a comparison. that's all i have to say.

 

love T-Mac and am anticipating championships in Houston...... but, until he a dominates on both ends of the court, i'll stick w/ Dream.

What else could T-Mac do? Give Houston a male offspring that can lead us to 3 Final Fours in a row.

 

McGrady should overtake Hakeem. Maybe not in here. But Nationally. I guarantee you after two titles he will be right there. He has the IT factor. Yao has the IT factor as well. This duo could suprass Shaq-Kobe because of Yao alone. That may seem improbable until you look at the audience tuning in. There are a lot of Yao and McGrady fans. McGrady could be known as the second greatest player of all time if he can get 3 titles. I have no doubt he would suprass Hakeem. The only question is by how much. But that seems inevitable to me.

 

tmac will never be greater than dream. he may be close but never better.

 

I agree with this.

Dream was scary-dangerous on both ends of the court. He has the record for most steals by a center, and he blocked shots like a mutha. He defense was frightening - people were intimidated by his defense.

And that speaks nothing of what he did offensively. It was beautiful watching him make Shaq his biotch night-after-night. I remember Shaq saying that Dream was better than him - that he was the second best center in the NBA behind Hakeem.

If you voted yes, you either
A) care nothing about defense
or
B) Didn't actually see Dream play night-after-night

Tracy is an offensive monster. But his defense doesn't scare anyone.

-- droxford

 

Too early to say. I'll go with Hakeem. IMO, teams back then are better than teams now. He destroyed the top centers (Robinson, Ewing and Shaq) to get his rings. How sweet is that.

 

He would have to win 3 or more titles to even be considered in Hakeem's class. Why? Because Hakeem put this city on the map. McGrady might win a few, but Hakeem brought the city it's first major championships. Also, McGrady spent 8 years elsewhere. Hakeem was drafted as the hometown hero and subsequently spent his entire career in Houston (what you saw in Toronto doesn't count, that wasn't Hakeem). The city watched a raw talent struggle to find himself and then develop into one of the greatest big men of all time. The city watched him through rough times - the near trade to the Heat, the injury faking allegations, the distrust of teammates, and good times - the 3 trips to the Finals. Hakeem was also the only great player on the team for the majority of his career. There's really not much any individual could do to supplant Hakeem as the greatest Rocket ever.

 

Exactly.

T-Mac is great in his own right. But Hakeem impacted the game on the floor in ever facet.

I think this disucssion would be more interesting after a championship run when T-Mac's career is winding down.

 

McGrady will have to win more than 2 titles, at least 2 MVPs, a couple of defensive player of the year awards, 5 or 6 all NBA first teams, 5 or 6 all NBA second teams, dominate his position both on offense and defense, and raise his game come playoff time.

He does have 2 All-NBA first team selections, but considering he has no rings, no MVPs, no defensive player of the year awards and hasn't stepped up his game in the playoffs, I'll refrain from jumping to the conclusion he will be a better Rocket than Dream.

 

Has T-Mac ever made it out of the first round of the playoffs? This is so premature it's not funny.

McGrady would have to carry his team to three championships to exceed Hakeem's contributions to the Rockets, and even then I don't know that he could surpass him. It takes more than scoring to beat a legend. Hakeem did it all and, lest we forget, started producing in Houston at an early age.

 

yo friggin idiot.

TMAC will never be the best offensive player in the league AND the best defensive player in the league in one person at the same time who played for 40 minutes a game. the man was a machine. unstoppable.

Took on double and triple teams.

number one shot blocker ever.

top ten in steals.

There is no comparison my friend. so sorry if you are offended. but you were not watching closely enough if you watched him since college.

Even if hakeem's offensive game wasn't on, he still shut down the middle of the paint. Shut down ppl he guarded from centers to small forwards. The man was a beast.

There is no comparison.

 

What kind of stepping up in the playoffs are you looking for? If you accuse people of not watching The Dream enough, then you probably haven't watched T-Mac enough. He had the best statistical numbers of any player in the playoffs 2000-2003. All three years he was the best individual performer in the playoffs. However, he never had any help. He didn't have a second option, forget a third or fourth. The Magic's second best player for those years was Darrell Freaking Armstrong. Hakeem had Clyde, Elie, Smith, Cassell etc I am not comparing him to Dream. Not because he's not as good a player, but because we are judging Hakeem on his entire body of work which was more than 15 years. In all due respect Hakeem didn't do squadoo the first few years in the league. You can't accuse McGrady of not stepping up in the playoffs.

 

Which guard's defense scares you?