It does matter.if its a transition and u can get to the rim and finish in transition,why kick it out to 23 ft?
The same guys that said "Let's see Lowry do it for an entire season" are the first ones to jump on the Goran bandwagon. Hysterical... :grin:
Seriously? It must be because Kyle has been out of sight and out of mind recently. But, Dragic is absolutely the back up when Kyle returns, if Drag-o can prove it then by all means he should start but he's still just that, unproven. I think people are underestimating how much of an improvement C Lee is over K Mart as a starter, and giving Dragic all the credit.
Not true. I was on the Lowry bandwagon over Brooks before Lowry became the starter. Now I am on the Dragic bandwagon over Lowry before Dragic becomes the starter over Lowry. I go by what I see on the floor and by what statistics confirm. Lowry plays the game at a whole different level cerebrally than Brooks does. No, he's not the talented scorer Brooks is but Lowry gives you so much more. He knows foul count for and against. He knows who has the mismatches. He knows which players are in foul trouble on both teams so he knows who to go to and he knows who to help defensively. Lowry is tons better than Brooks because he cycles through percentages and possibilities in his head and makes much better decisions for the team to win. Now, I'm watching Dragic. I still like Lowry a lot. But I see a little bit extra in Dragic. I see a lot of what I described above, only now it is in a 6'3" body and Dragic has the inate sense to retain his dribble, something Lowry isn't as good at doing. I'm also watching a 6'3" Dragic dog guys like Westbrook defensively. While Lowry is a good team defender, because of his size, he cannot be as effective as Dragic is. And the league is going towards these ultra-athletic point guards. You have to have more length to defend them. Dragic is better defensively. He dogs them 94 feet and makes them do things they don't want to do. Sure, we are 5-4 since Dragic took over. Not great. But look who we've played. We could very easily be 6-3. And look who we've been without as well. We had one game recently where we dressed 8 guys. What would our record be in these games if we had Lowry and Martin and we didn't have Dragic and Lee? Do you think it would be better? Look at their shooting percentages for a start. Then consider the fact that Lowry would be playing either less minutes or he wouldn't be able to dog defensively like Dragic does. Dare I say, we might be 3-6 in those games instead of 5-4??? I'd love to have Lowry back for the balance of this season....coming off the bench and making our second unit hum. And closing out games alongside Dragic.
Jopa- that's a good summary and really its what's good and bad about the rockets roster. They don't have players who can sustain excellence over long periods of time. Dragic is playing well and I think his ability to defend and get to the rim give him the edge over lowry. The deal is, early in the season posters were talking about lowry is better than westbrook and williams. Westbrooks and williams can play like westbrook and wlliams all the time vs 1 month . Neither dragic or lowry had elite talent,but dragic as a starter has shown to be a better shooter,scorer,and defender. Add to the fact he's bigger,more explosive,and just a better athlete, then its kind of a no contest. 41% 37 3pt vs 51% 40 %3 pt with more asst stands out.
Lin&Lowry are top2 PG's in PER in their first 10 starting this season with good defense. Time will tell. Dragic is in his contract year, or even contract couple months. Before this, he's not even a very good backup PG. He's inconsistent throughout his career. On the other hand, Lowry was a great backup PG and became a allstar level starting PG. He consistently improves every year even AFTER he got his multi-year contract.
Kyle Lowry the year before he became a starter: Stats per game: 9.1 points, 4.5 assists, 3.6 rebounds, 1.7 turnovers Stats per 36 minutes: 13.5 points, 6.7 assists, 5.4 rebounds, 2.5 turnovers Usage: 24.3 minutes per game Efficiency: .397 FG%, .536 TS% Goran Dragic this year (11 starts, 38 games off the bench) Stats per game: 9.3 points, 4.5 assists, 1.6 rebounds, 2.1 turnovers Stats per 36 minutes: 14.3 points, 6.9 assists, 3.5 rebounds, 3.2 turnovers Usage: 23.3 minutes per game Efficiency: .452 FG%, .549 TS% Kyle wins on three things: Rebounding, turnovers, and age (he was only 23) Goran wins on three things: Points per minute, scoring efficiency, and size (6'4" instead of 6'0"). They are about the same in assists per minute and defense (IMO).
I feel like Kyle has to better chance at becoming a star in the league. Dragic is more of a change of pace off the bench type guy.
I think the opposite... I think Lowry is more of a sure thing because he has proven it for longer, but Dragic has much better physical tools & as a result has a higher ceiling. You can't learn 4 inches of height.
Just your opinion, are you putting much stock into Lowry's overall competitive spirit, "clutch" plays, etc. IMO, thats where Lowry has an edge. He continues to improve every year, and he has a drive that is really what you need to take your game to the next level. If you look at their production, its pretty similar, but with Goran I believe if he's going to play 38min + night after night, he might sort of come down to earth in the next few games. He's starting to get dinged up quite a bit. Remember Lowry had to adjust his game quite a bit when he settled in as the full time starter. I keep on saying though. The fact that its even debateable is pretty awesome for the Rockets. They are lucky to have both.
If you take out Dragic's last 10 starting numbers, he's pretty inconsistent and just above average in pretty much all his career. Now in this recent small sample and his contract months, he elevates to a great level. Isn't this something happens throughout the league? A player HAPPEN to breakout in his contract year, and he's not so good prior or after that paticular timeframe. I sure hope that's not the case, because he's recent timely nice run will increase his 'perceived value' in a league cares more about latest developement.
Why would you take out Dragic's last 10 games? If anything, they are MORE important because they are more recent and show how great he is with heavy minutes and a compressed schedule. I've never bought the "contract year" argument for guys who already give good effort. It might make sense for lazy players, but when has Dragic ever played lazy basketball?
The sentiment changes pretty soon. Not a long time ago, Lowry can't get some needed rest, because Dragic is not performing in a backup role. I think your quoted number implies that, right?(Take out recent great numbers from his decent overall number, he's underperforming/average most of the time earlier this season).
I always said he was one of the best backup point guards in the league. I didn't know he would be this good as a starter, but I knew he was a starting caliber PG and have said so since before the season even started... even when he was slumping at the beginning of the season and some folks were calling for him to be traded.
Is the sample size still small? If so about how many more game does he have to start for it to be considered not small anymore?
Goran has shown that he can consistently score and shoot ~45% while still does a good job running the team. Lowry has not proved that he can be a 45% shooter. Also Kyle's trading value is still higher than Goran's. I would trade Kyle this offseason if it can get us a good draft pick.
