Kyle Lowry is a beast, but we have known this for a while.
He led the Toronto Raptors to a 48 win season last year, along with all-star wing Demar DeRozan, and to their first playoff appearance since Chris Bosh bolted for the Miami Heat to join LeBron James in 2010. He was the free agent many teams had their eye on this past summer, but he opted to stay with the Raptors for a bargain of four years and $48 million. It is just amazing to think of how differently his career could have gone had someone realized this sooner.
Lets rewind back to 2012, where Lowry was playing for the Houston Rockets. He played well there, but got hurt halfway through a season where he averaged 15.9 points, 7.2 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game. Once Goran Dragic stepped in and played out of his mind (18.2 ppg, 8.3 apg, 3.5 rpg) in the final month of the season, Lowry was out of a job. They shipped Lowry to Toronto for the 2012-13 season and lost Dragic in free agency to the Phoenix Suns. Lowry had a reputation as a coach killer on previous teams, but no one has heard much of that now. It is easy to see why someone so competitive would be mad on a struggling Rockets or Grizzlies team. Lowry has matured and the Raptors are now 13-2 in the standings, good for first place in the Eastern Conference. Winning solves most of these kinds of problems.
It disgusts me to think Houston has two all-NBA caliber point guards and let them both go. If you're Houston, you have to keep one of those guys. They spend so much time looking at guys like Carmelo and Rondo and let their own home-grown talent slip through their fingers. What would you rather have, Carmelo at five years, $124 million? Or Lowry for four years, $48 million? I'm taking Lowry every time. Now they do have James Harden and Dwight Howard but Patrick Beverley is their starting point guard, and he wouldn't be a starter on most NBA teams.
Lowry will likely haunt the Rockets for sending him away. People always criticize the Rockets for their perceived lack of seriousness or competitiveness. Who better to run that offense than Lowry, a basketball-crazed obsessive competitor? Put Lowry in an offense with Harden and Howard, and the hypothetical 2014-15 Rockets are a legitimate championship contender.
Lowry is currently averaging 18.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg and 6.6 apg on the young season. He is a true floor general, a dying breed in the NBA. Most point guards score more now, and Lowry does too, but it is not his priority. He initiates the offense, getting his teammates going and takes over when he has to. If he and the Raptors keeps playing like this, he should move from the discussion of top 10 to top five point guards in the NBA.
And to think Houston's biggest need is a point guard. Now I'm going to go get some ice since I just finished banging my head against the keyboard.
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