RealGM

Who would you prefer?

Hardaway is forgotten but he would get by anyone with ease. He defended well and passed well. In a guard era like the current one he be even better.

I very much misclicked, which is annoying. I'd take Haliburton right now, though I absolutely believe Hardaway would thrive in today's era. Excellent ball-handler, and small guys who like to shoot tend to fare better now as then. He'd be a riot to watch again.

tsherkin wrote:I very much misclicked, which is annoying. I'd take Haliburton right now, though I absolutely believe Hardaway would thrive in today's era. Excellent ball-handler, and small guys who like to shoot tend to fare better now as then. He'd be a riot to watch again.

Terry Porter is another point guard who'd probably fit in better today than when he played. I guess after the '92 Finals, the Blazers decided they wanted a more traditional point guard who racked up a lot of assists and brought in Strickland while relegating Porter to a sixth man type of role.

Halliburton and it's not close.

I'll go Haliburton

I expect that Haliburton is much better than his season averages show because of his hamstring injury that he never let heal.

Tyrese Haliburton before his hamstring injury:

23.6 PPG, 12.6 APG, 63.2% TS, 40% 3FG, 14.5 drives, 4.1 FTA

Haliburton has been historically a 40% 3 pt shooter for his career, so the sudden downturn after the hamstring correlates a bit too strongly with the injury. Even if you want to suggest he couldn't keep shooting 40% on the volume he was, I just have a tough time believing he isn't a much better shooter then he showed. After injury, he was shooting 32% from 3.

At full health, there is reason to believe Haliburton isn't just several tiers up as a playmaker, but also a better scorer.

I understand it was a for a somewhat brief period, but there were a variety of offensive metrics that had Haliburton as the most valuable guy in the league on that end. Once again, I understand the argument of a hot streak, but I am not sure Hardaway has ever had a stretch in that stratosphere. Just a tremendously efficient scorer on comparable volume to Hardaway who was more of a league average efficiency guy.

In terms of Hardaway's prime level v. what Haliburton showed this past year. Hardaway was quicker, more athletic, and more aggressive defensively. Haliburton is the better shooter, playmaker, and overall more valuable player. Hardaway's being better today would depend on whether he could weaponize his 3 pointer sufficiently to compare to today's point guards who tend to shoot a lot more 3's at a higher efficiency than in Hardaway's era. Hardaway was not an efficient scorer back then, though I agree that having more space and a tendency to having only one big would help his very aggressive driving game a bit.

SportsGuru08 wrote:

tsherkin wrote:I very much misclicked, which is annoying. I'd take Haliburton right now, though I absolutely believe Hardaway would thrive in today's era. Excellent ball-handler, and small guys who like to shoot tend to fare better now as then. He'd be a riot to watch again.

Terry Porter is another point guard who'd probably fit in better today than when he played. I guess after the '92 Finals, the Blazers decided they wanted a more traditional point guard who racked up a lot of assists and brought in Strickland while relegating Porter to a sixth man type of role.

I think Mark Price would be another one too.

Im Your Father wrote:

SportsGuru08 wrote:

tsherkin wrote:I very much misclicked, which is annoying. I'd take Haliburton right now, though I absolutely believe Hardaway would thrive in today's era. Excellent ball-handler, and small guys who like to shoot tend to fare better now as then. He'd be a riot to watch again.

Terry Porter is another point guard who'd probably fit in better today than when he played. I guess after the '92 Finals, the Blazers decided they wanted a more traditional point guard who racked up a lot of assists and brought in Strickland while relegating Porter to a sixth man type of role.

I think Mark Price would be another one too.

How so? He would get eaten alive defensively without illegal defense.

Colbinii wrote:

Im Your Father wrote:

SportsGuru08 wrote:
Terry Porter is another point guard who'd probably fit in better today than when he played. I guess after the '92 Finals, the Blazers decided they wanted a more traditional point guard who racked up a lot of assists and brought in Strickland while relegating Porter to a sixth man type of role.

I think Mark Price would be another one too.

How so? He would get eaten alive defensively without illegal defense.

So? Haliburton does just fine and he doesn't even try on defense.

SportsGuru08 wrote:Who would you prefer?

Hardaway was a major hero of mine growing up, but close up analysis with the aid of stats available now that I didn't now of them makes it really hard for me to defend his stature. He was not very efficient guy in his own era who tended to go quiet in the playoffs.

Back in the day I was arguing for Hardaway over guys like KJ & Price, but at this point I'd say that KJ & Price are guys with an argument over Haliburton, with Hardaway at a lower tier than the other 3.

Im Your Father wrote:I think Mark Price would be another one too.

I figure he'd be in the neighborhood of what he was at the time. Maybe a little bit more in the way of RS scoring. Don't know that he'd be much healthier, and he was not a large dude by any stretch of the imagination. He was a good shooter, and he was pretty quick north-south, but size is still an issue. Skillful, but not the degree of someone like, for example, Trae Young.

SportsGuru08 wrote:Terry Porter is another point guard who'd probably fit in better today than when he played. I guess after the '92 Finals, the Blazers decided they wanted a more traditional point guard who racked up a lot of assists and brought in Strickland while relegating Porter to a sixth man type of role.

Porter was good. He'd continue to be good in today's game with his size and shot, for sure. And he definitely knew how to abuse a smaller guard, like we saw versus Utah.