Are We Witnessing the Greatest Shooting Guard in Rockets History?

Thoughts? watching Elvin Hayes & UH beat (then) Lew Alcindor and unbeaten UCLA in the Astrodome with my Dad. Followed Big E to San Diego and then back to Houston.. Rockets fan ever since.

Shooters? - Calvin Murphy (as well as a twirler & boxer ).

 

Tmac was at his best his first year in Houston. After year 1 his body began to break down and even during his 3rd & 4th year, which were relatively healthy, his athleticism had already greatly decreased.

Tmac's first season in Houston he was the most gifted wing player to ever suit up in a rockets uniform. But Harden will hopefully continue to ascend and he'll have longevity on his side. So in the end of it all Harden will be the best wing to ever put on the rockets uniform. Also you can't factor in Clyde's time as a Blazer in this convo. So clearly Tmac and Harden are ahead of him in that respect.

 

You do realize that the greatest perimeter players of our generation were 16-19 ft mid range shooters i.e. Jordan and kobe.

Look I understand that the analytics tells us to shoot at the rim and 3s but that doesn't negate the fact that for many years the greatest players in history were all guys that made a living from 15-20 feet.

I don't think T-Mac should be ridiculed for having a pretty good mid-range game.

 

Tmac's shooting %s by distance in Houston

38.0% from 10 ft to 16 ft
42.6% from 16 ft to 3 pt line
32.2% from 3pt

Harden's shooting %s by distance in Houston

41.5% from 10 ft to 16 ft
36.3% from 16 ft to 3 pt line
37.3% from 3pt

 

I'll go out on a limb with MadMax, and say absolutely we are "witnessing"

Bring me one championship Beardman!

Go Rockets!

 

TMac didn't peak with Houston though.

He was a 'high stats' player, Harden is more of a 'clutch' player. However, Harden stats in his first 3 seasons here >>> McGrady's first 3 seasons here. People probably assume McGrady was a better scorer, Harden a better facilitator.

PPG: 25.7; 24.4; 24.6 vs 25.0; 25.4; 27.3*

Harden is outscoring, and outfacilitating McGrady. Outshooting him, outstealing him etc etc. And McGrady came to Houston at 25. Harden has only just turned 25.

Oh, and the wages of wins are well in Harden's favour also.

 

Don't forget, on his career, McGrady was 58% from 3' or less. Harden (so far) is 63%. And he gets to the line, and he makes the FTs.

 

Yes, because he's more efficient than McGrady and more dominant than Drexler in Houston.

 

Far out? groovy LOL - you must be as old as I am!! My Dad and I are Aggies - but youngest son graduated from UH in Dec.. and works at HP, so he's our "host" for Austin/Houston trips for Rockets/Astros. ( became Astros fan as broke musician attending nickle beer night 1970)

I would like to see Hardin have this kind of success over a longer period of time vs Calvins entire body of work ( still have Calvin Murphy Bobbleheads - the only bobblehead i've ever seen that comes complete with several outfits) ... but geez , Hardin's having a heck of a run. It's fun to be a fan. Just wish they carried more games in Austin.

 

Before this year i would have selected McGrady as the better facilitator. Tmac was a great passer. But Harden has taken has playmaking skills to a new level this year.

I think we also need to account for JVG offense (slow pace) vs Moreyball

 

At some point the act gets old, I supported him at first but christ...we're talking about one series win...just one (and its not like he wasn't up in a series multiple times). Reminds me a lot of the playoff drought of the rockets these last 18 yrs.

 

If we had Yao Ming on this team, Harden would be even better facilitator. Who would argue that?

 

Yes. Yes, we are.

 

Same here...followed the big "E" at UH and naturally moved on to the Rockets.


To me, Clyde has to be considered the greatest at this time. Home town boy, All American at UH, and ranked with Jordan as 1 and 2 during his pro days. Some people here equate his TV skills with his on court skills and nothing could be father from the truth. On court, in his prime, he had no equal, other than MJ.

James does some really amazing things on the court...but he has to take this team deep into the playoffs many times and eventually win an NBA championship to replace Clyde, in my mind.


I honestly hope James becomes that greatest of all time and supplants Clyde...what a journey that will be.

 

Harden is probably going to have the best career of any Houston SG.

T-mac's ceiling in his prime though was just ridiculous though.

 

He is playing as good as any non-center in Rockets history. But he needs to sustain what he is doing for a good part of his career in order to be on the pantheon.

 

He couldn't handle the minutes. It is as simple as that. Not many superstars have had to do so much on the offensive end, and he just got tired. T-mac had a high BBIQ, hops, Kobe's height, Jordan's hands, & Magic's mind.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...Rjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1lIUzAwM18x?urn=nba-330022

The one ingredient he didn't have though was toughness, which Harden & Drexler do have. What Drexler was weak at was handles. There is a good chance that Harden would be the best out of all of them.

 

James is already better than Clyde was while in Houston. Clyde was clearly the second option behind Hakeem. Now, Clyde's overall career still surpasses Harden's, of course... but Harden is well on his way to changing that.

 

Clearly yes by a wide margin.

As good or better than T-Mac for best perimeter player in team history.

Unfortunately for Houston, Tracy peaked in Orlando