Are We Witnessing the Greatest Shooting Guard in Rockets History?

Also, I consider T-Mac a 3, not a 2.

 

If that's the case, then I consider Harden a 1, not a 2.

 

Many people say this (because of the scoring titles he won in Orlando), but I believe his best years were in Houston. He made the right basketball decision every time down the court--JVG compared him to Steve Nash in this department. His first couple years here, if he wanted to, he could have scored 60 on multiple occasions, but he chose to dominate with his decision making.

 

I definitely think this could be possible. Harden has the potential to be one of the greatest Rockets players of all time, regardless of position.

But it is hard to say. He has to stay healthy and maintain this level of play. We would have to keep him for a long time through the prime of his career and most importantly we would have to have playoff success.

It's a long time before we can start making those comparisons

 

Harden is the best wing player in franchise history already I feel. I'm not worried about him in the postseason anymore either. He will show up. I'm worried about the head coach and the rest of the team.

 

Are we talking about regular season or post season? It is too early to say anything related with greatness in Harden's career in rockets uniform. He has potentail though.

 

I was born in '96, so Harden is probably the first great Rocket I've truly witnessed. I watched Yao and TMac, but was less aware at the time, although I do think Yao was definitely great.

My brothers were around when Hakeem was dominating and we won the titles and they tell me of his legendary play. I can firmly say that in the landscape of Houston sports, Hakeem is as good as it gets. When I look at the highlights, see the numbers, hear the stories, I have just about every reason to believe that Hakeem was the greatest center of all time. I'm not sure how kids born in the 2000s will think about it, but I know for sure that Harden has to do some legendary things to overcome Hakeem.

I'd say a couple of titles, scoring titles, top 10 in NBA history for a couple of statistical categories for his career, and philanthropic work in the city will put him in the conversation. If he can snag a DPOY somehow, then I'll say Harden is better than Hakeem. For now, Harden is poised to be a top 10 SG of all time (given he experiences some playoff success and plays D consistently for the rest of his career), whereas Hakeem is considered by some to the best C of all time, and almost unanimously considered to be top 5.

 

I know everyone wants to dismiss McGrady, but no Rockets guard past or present was as smooth and talented as he was. His injuries and chucking got the best of him though. Harden is more efficient, but I don't think he is better than TMac was. I hope he can bring us a few more rings though.

 

McGrady was an inefficient chucker as a rocket.

 

Could be and only time will tell. Harden is most definitely heading in that direction.

 

You really need to think of how great a player you have to be to take a team to the finals as a shooting guard -- Drexler is always overshadowed by Jordan, but he took the Blazers to the finals twice and led the team to a 63-19 record the year between when they were upset by the Lakers.

James is great, but he's still got a lot to prove -- i'm rooting him on all the way.

 

I remember when I was at work when traded for Harden. I saw "Rockets traded Kevin Martin." I was just standing around like.. Seriously? He was our best scoring option. Then Harden scores 37 in the first game.. I knew he was going to be the FUTURE.

 

His PER/win shares in Orlando that same year were epic - way better than anything he did in Houston, and while he tossed out slightly more assists in Houston, it wasn't nearly as much as his drop in scoring

 

We of course can't forget what Drexler did in his 3rd finals appearance with the Rockets...

...21.5 points - 9.5 rebounds - 6.8 apg.

 

Neither Clyde nor T-mac had long tenures here so its a tough comparison to make.

Harden's tenure has been 2.5 years - I think it's a bit premature to label him the greatest shooting guard in Rockets history.

I look at it this way, if he were to walk away from the game now - would he be considered the greatest? No. When the day comes when he can walk away and be considered the greatest 2 in Rockets history, that's when he has it.

If he gets an MVP or wins a ring, that might do it. Other than that it takes years of awesomeness.

 

I would have agreed with this last year, but Harden really surprised me with his improvement. McGrady was smooth, but Harden developing some really sick moves. That move against the wolves was magical.

 

I didn't start following the Rockets until maybe 2002-03, when I got into HS so it doesn't seem like Harden has much competition from then on. When comparing Drexler to Harden is a bit tough though because we didn't have him in his prime (all speculation aside with the rumor of being able to trade Sampson for Portland's pick + Drexler).

If Harden keeps up this 2-way play and continues to stay healthy for a few years then we can start measuring him amongst the rest of the Rockets HOF'ers. He also has to show that he's capable of getting out of the first round too. Hopefully a healthy Howard (who is more devoted on defense) will help push him past our first round opponents this year.

 

If we're building the best possible Houston Rockets starting 5 of all-time...

I will start:

Kenny Smith (the woefully underrated)
James Harden
Robert Horry
Elvin Hayes
Hakeem Olajuwon

against any lineup any of you want to field with Vagrady in it, and my team will beat yours in a 7-game series. Every. Time.

At least until Vagrady quits playing.

And as I imagine there will be doubts...I don't know if The Jet was the "best" Rocket PG ever, but I believe firmly the team with him running point would beat the team with anyone else running point. Maybe John Lucas. Maybe.