I'd say it would have to be Kyle Lowry. A quick look at other candidates: --- Chuck Hayes. Since the Rockets have now been spotted on the National radar, and been labelled as overachieving, Hayes is now being recognized as a figurehead of sorts for the team. (Chuck Hayes, offensive force!!!) When people say "hardworking" and "overachieving", Hayes is usually the next word out of their mouths. AB has been spotted since the playoffs last year. Everyone now knows his speed and mad shooting skills. Battier has long been recognized for his intangibles and basketball IQ, and also for his diplomacy. Landry is getting lotsa recognition from fans. He looks to be a serious candidate for 6th man of the year, and even though RA contends we don't have a plan to go to him in the fourth, well, his teammates sure seem to look for him in crunch time. Landry is the man. Scola is and always seems to quietly be doing his thing. But more and more other team's announcers talk about how underrated he is, and praise his shooting and his footwork in the post, his hustle and his rebounding. CBud although out for his ankle sprain (2+) has never been short of recognition, because of his tools I suppose. People always seem to recognize a shooter and even more so when he can dunk as sweet as CBud can. Ariza has been heralded as our new star, and because of that billing he has taken a lot of slack in the forum. If anything Ariza is suffering from too much hype and perhaps too high an expectation, but I still love him on this team. Andersen might be #2 behind Lowry for underrated. He has come up big in some big games this season. Not as consistent in what he brings IMO as Lowry, but when the big man is draining the outside shot, and backing other bigs down, he often quietly hits big shots in the fourth. TMac. Well, TMac might be underrated now for how much he has been dogged on the past few months, the past year or two. Many of us forgot how good TMac can be, mostly for lack of not seeing him anywhere close to full speed. Welcome back TMac. JT hasn't had enough playing time to really get a good look. But if his 8 min vs the Clips is any indicator of what he can do, he might take the reins as most underrated (at least by his own team) for as long as it took for him to see court time. --- Lowry definitely is the most underrated by my calculations. He feeds Landry for one. He is a strong defender and rebounder, and he changes the tempo of the game when he is in, which often saves us when things aren't going right. Not to mention his toughness. This team has great attributes and great players, and a great chemistry. And I'm not saying Lowry is the best player on the team, but to me, he is most definitely the most underrated. At least at this point in the season. Curious of other's point of view...
edit: RA was talking about TMac not Landry in the postgame, about not having a plan to go to him. My bad.
Brian Cook...He is on more in-arena videos than any other Rocket. Nobody will ever be able to host the Kiss Cam like B-Cook!
Luis Scola There are people outside of Houston still think Scola is just as good as Cook. Scola hit tough shots v.s. starters in tough stretches .......but after the win, Landry got more recognition.
I'd go with Lowry and Budinger. People have known about Scola for a while now he was really the first of our "steals" to really get recognition. Landry's starting to garner more attention as well so I'd say it has to be one of those two guys. Maybe even Hayes, I'm sure a lot of people out there don't value him nearly enough.
it has to be battier, although he gets the attention as being a non-stat all star, he makes this team what it is, a gritty defensive team that plays smart and wins with or without our best 2 players. no battier = a lottery team IMO.
As of now definitely not Budinger, ever since summer league, people have been talking about how good the guy is and how da hell did so many teams pass on him. He was def undervalued during the draft, but not now
Lowry because he can create for others, takes it to the rack for hard fouls and still manages to get up and make his freethrows, and he gets our guys going and picks our offense up. My 2nd canidate would be Chuck Hayes, he's underrated for his defense, and a great passer.
I'll agree to that. I was thinking Kyle Lowry before I even opened this thread. The dude gets little to no attention nationally (unlike Landry, Scola, Brooks, Battier, Ariza) and is incredibly important to what we do. Without him, we'd have lost several games this season. He brings incredible pace/energy off the bench, on the level of Carl Landry.
My pick: Luis Scola With the rise of Carl Landry people are starting to think that we should trade him, that he isn't as good as Carl etc etc. But there are reasons why he is starting on this team. We aren't the Memphis Grizzlies, we have veteran players with international experience to lead us to a deep playoff run. That and also his sick Tango moves. Scola is a beast, a hustler and won't give up on you. People tend to forget that when they think of incredible trade scenarios.
damn everyone on the rockets is underrated it seems. Lowry is turning to look like quite a huge steal. Being able to interchange Hayes, Scola, and Landry is just so valuable, all those guys are integral in various ways. As of now I'd have to say it's Landry though, his basketball IQ and playmaking ability are both just so high, plus he shoots FTs extremely well, he helps make up for a lot of what the Rockets lost in Yao.
Chuck Hayes. He should be a DPOY candidate now. but hey. no one in the national media know that he exists. Mike Lewis should write a 10 pager on Chuck and make him popular.
I think there are too many underrated players especially from the second unit. It's like other teams can't plan to stop specific players (Yao, TMac in the past few seasons) since anybody on the roster can have a good scoring night. Most underrated bench in the NBA definitely. We don't just have 1-2 players providing offensive sparks off the bench... It's more like 4th of July fireworks off the bench from the most underrated second unit in the league.
