I think T-mac wins at least one with Shaq. IMO Prime T-mac > Prime Penny, but again i was a little too young to watch penny all the time. I was around 6 or 7 during Penny before the injury and when T-mac came into the league and I was about 11-1.
Agree, T-Mac > Penny. Penny peaked at 21.7, 7.1 & 4.3, and was declining after his 3rd year, even before the injury.
Yeah. I'm late to this one, but Kobe wins with Yao and probably fairs better with other guys Tmac played with who were more on Pau's level. Definitely not ousted in the first round. I like TMac but I think this is one where everyone is looking at stats and not remembering him fading in some of those series when the games mattered most.
As an old guy, I'd honestly take prime Penny over prime T-Mac. Don't get me wrong, I liked TMac. But that last big knee injury in 97/98 really altered Penny's career. Penny was never quite the same but put up numbers despite losing his explosiveness. Before that, he was really set to be on that level with the all time greats and even managed to keep the Magic afloat a bit without Shaq.