RealGM

If you can have one for today, who are you taking?

Harper mainly because he was vastly superior on the defensive end. Their scoring and assist numbers were pretty similar. Harper’s defense is the separating factor in my opinion.

I love Harp. But TP is the guy. When a below the rim guy leads the league in paint points, that's pretty incredible. And remember they changed the hand check rules because of Harper. I think he'd still be a really good defender, but he'd have to adjust how he played.

I loved Derek Harper as a kid with the knicks. He was awesome and the absolute master of the handcheck.

IF Harper can develop an effective 3 point shot, he's the choice for his defense, even with handchecking nerfed. Parker still the superior scorer though.

penbeast0 wrote:IF Harper can develop an effective 3 point shot, he's the choice for his defense, even with handchecking nerfed. Parker still the superior scorer though.

He was a pretty reliable 3pt shooter in his actual playing days, didn't he

durantbird wrote:

penbeast0 wrote:IF Harper can develop an effective 3 point shot, he's the choice for his defense, even with handchecking nerfed. Parker still the superior scorer though.

He was a pretty reliable 3pt shooter in his actual playing days, didn't he

He was solid for his day, 35% on fairly average volume for that time period. Today's league that would have to be improved but he has a good basis to imply it would be. He wasn't known for it the way his rival Terry Porter was though.

Parker was a legit all-NBA guy. This thread is wild. These in today's game takes always surprise me. Parker didn't even retire that long ago, its not like he played in the 80s and 90s like....

Texas Chuck wrote:Parker was a legit all-NBA guy. This thread is wild. These in today's game takes always surprise me. Parker didn't even retire that long ago, its not like he played in the 80s and 90s like....

Derek Harper and Terry Porter were two of the most underrated PGs I've ever watched. Didn't get the All-Star and All-NBA awards like the flashy scorers but were better than some of those who did.

penbeast0 wrote:

Texas Chuck wrote:Parker was a legit all-NBA guy. This thread is wild. These in today's game takes always surprise me. Parker didn't even retire that long ago, its not like he played in the 80s and 90s like....

Derek Harper and Terry Porter were two of the most underrated PGs I've ever watched. Didn't get the All-Star and All-NBA awards like the flashy scorers but were better than some of those who did.

Porter routinely ate that flashy Stockton guy for breakfast, indeed

Jaivl wrote:

penbeast0 wrote:

Texas Chuck wrote:Parker was a legit all-NBA guy. This thread is wild. These in today's game takes always surprise me. Parker didn't even retire that long ago, its not like he played in the 80s and 90s like....

Derek Harper and Terry Porter were two of the most underrated PGs I've ever watched. Didn't get the All-Star and All-NBA awards like the flashy scorers but were better than some of those who did.

Porter routinely ate that flashy Stockton guy for breakfast, indeed

I'd call Stockton a lot of things (dirty for example), but flashy? Really? And yes, Porter and KJ did great jobs taking him on head to head.

Derek Harper was a cool player. Under-appreciated by the public, and would fit well on basically every team. But he was not Terry Porter (not that Porter was an absolute all-timer either). He was not Jrue, he was not Lowry, he was not Conley. He was not an historically elite defender, not an exceptionally efficient scorer, not a high volume playmaker, not a guy you ever build your team around…

It is one thing to play these games where we wonder whether the 2000s Spurs would have benefitted more from a complementary piece like Harper than an early prime Parker, but it is another to call him outright better than Parker simply because “he was better at defence and shooting”. Why stop at Parker: was Derek Harper also “better” than Iverson? Rose? How about Derek Fisher, do we want him over Tony Parker too?

Parker was a viable first option in a title team that contended for a half decade (2012-2016), stacked with above average players and great spacing for the era sure, but is still a great accomplisment

There is not some big gap between someone like isiah thomas and him

I thought this said Dylan Harper, and accidentally voted for Harper. It's Parker for sure.