https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/leaders_career.html Rockets career leaders page reveals some interesting patterns. Judging by this page, Hakeem is of course a no-brainer (though he does seem to take unnecessarily difficult shots based on his ranking (or the lack thereof) on the various FG%, eFG% and TS% lists, and one wonders if his style can co-exist with Harden’s), and CP3 is a stats god. So in my mind, if salary cap were a limiting factor, and somehow we can disregard injury history, those two would be locks. They would either get along swimmingly, or end up like Lob City, but I’ll take my chances with that combo. Building around those two, and again assuming some semblance of salary cap in play, I’d put the Cerberus of PJ/Ariza/Mbah a Moute around them (or maybe swap/augment with Battier/Horry/Elie). And then I probably have Kenny Smith backing up CP3 (and we know if Dream sits, Pringle’s will just go small ball and slide PJ/Horry to center, so no need for a back up there), and go to war with that line up.
I would field the same starting lineup as SamFisher: Hakeem Artest Drexler Harden Chris Paul Bench: Horry Cassell Elie The only suspect in that lineup is Drexler's 3 point shooting. But that lineup is physically and mentally tough and excellent defensively. Mentally tough and big game players/shotmakers on bench as well. And now for all All-Disaster team: Airemy Lin Ty Lawson Tracy MeGrady Scottie Pippen Royce White Bench: Matt Maloney Stromile Swift Kelvin Cato Coach: Bickerstaff The above team would be an utter and complete disaster but my god....the entertainment value. I would subscribe to League pass just to watch them crash and burn.
hahahah Clyde in 95 was a high 30's three point shooter, and I bet most of those were his contested, I'm just going to jump high and launch it style. But honestly you could probably swap him out for a Battier and be fine.
Disagree. He was amazing for us in second championship run. He had 5 blocks in game 1 and hit clutch shots. Per 36 minutes you could argue that was his best season.
Harden, Paul, Dream and 2 hardworking 3 and D forwards of your choice. The team would have zero holes on either side of the ball and no players disgruntled about not getting enough shots.
I will amend my post and go with 18 Paul 17-19 Harden 09 Artest 07 Battier (feel free to sub in PJ, Ariza, Horry etc for either) 86 Akeem instead of 94 Hakeem Seems like the younger rim running destoyer Akeem is a better fit in this lineup and his half court skills of the 90s are redundant. Also, pairing Battier and Artest reminds me of them both absolutely stoning peak LeBron in a regular season game at Toyota Center that year. That duo is nasty.
This is an interesting thought experiment. Is the question about comparing a Rockets team to another team, using the same qualifications? Because a team like the Spurs (Duncan, Robinson) or the Magic (Shaq, Dwight) could easily put together a team that would destroy the PF next to Hakeem. And for that, I think Yao is a good fit at the 5. '18 CP3 '17 Harden '06 McGrady '93 Hakeem '06 Yao Obviously, it depends on the complexion of the other team - if they have a PF/C combo that can drag Yao out to the perimeter on a PnR, limiting Yao's defensive effectiveness, then you switch him out for a more mobile defender. But that team of 5 is pretty damn good. Playmakers at the 1, 2 and 3. All 5 players can create their own shot. Can't double anyone.
People ignoring Moses Malone here are out of their minds. Dude was a 3x MVP, including one with the Rockets. Probably one of the 20 or 30 best players of ALL TIME. Not having him on the team is completely ludicrous.
Very simple, in today's game the rebounding, inside post up specialist who can't defend in space has a much more limited utility. Moses would no doubt be able to flourish in today's NBA but his skillset doesn't translate to MVP level performance.
I'm looking at the cold hard light of the numbers. Teams that featured Calvin were....not good. It's hard to refute that he was a high usage player on mediocre squads.
I think 6 rebounding titles alone is worth the price of admission... Great inside defender, plus the dude was quick enough to not be a liability out on the floor... then there's his whole offensive ability on top of that....
Switch Moses Malone onto Steph Curry on the 18 warriors at the 3 point line. I'm betting Curry. Ron Artest, Shane Battier, Ariza...I have a lot more confidence
akeem moses calvin murphy john lucas robert horry bench mad max lewis lloyd ralph sampson drexler cassell robert reid otis thorpe
