[Ball Don't Lie] Houston Made a Huge Move (Alston/Lowry Deal)

What? Was the answer to this question Rafer? If not, I have no idea why this point is even being made.

 

this trade is an indication that rockets management is not expecting a homerun this season anymore with the loss of tmac. this year is all about making aaron mature. we can't have 2 undersize pg so lowry is not going to stay unless morey is cooking something while i type my 2cents.

 

Were you wanting Rafer to shoot at the end of a game? Its not like we lost a clutch player as a result of this trade. Therefore, your scenario is really irrelevant to the trade.

 

Brian Cook was drafted at #24, 2003.

Luther Head was drafted at #24, 2005
Kyle Lowry was drafted at #24, 2006.

somebody pls get Dolente West (#24, 2004) so we can be consistent at least at #24

 

It makes a big Difference. Cook has a $3.5 MIL option next year and he sux. If Cook is not coming to Houston then this is a good trade otherwise it makes no sense.

 

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LOL! Was it ever Rafer?

 

LOL, I like how you posted this article first but the other guy who posted it has more responses in his thread. I guess no one saw that you said they should lock it up.

 

This is a recent article on Lowry.

Lowry won’t sing blues over Memphis

Thursday, February 12, 2009 5:43

PHILADELPHIA —- As he did every time he’d ever made a basketball move, Kyle Lowry promised to himself that he would obey the standard basketball rules when he left Villanova early for the NBA.

Keep going hard.

See the whole play.

And ignore the critics.

A special talent, the point guard from Philadelphia was destined to be as remembered as any star ever to have played on Lancaster Pike, and Villanova has had more of those than most. But he was a first-round NBA talent and went to the Memphis Grizzlies at No. 24 overall in the 2006 draft, making money, learning lessons and until recently in this, his third professional season, subduing the criticism.

“A tough guard,” said Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins, who sees one of those with his every glance toward a mirror. “He loves to play. And he has a great passion for this game.”

It was for that reason that Lowry was doubly disappointed in the past 48 hours —- first, because the Grizzlies’ flight to Philadelphia was delayed just long enough for him to miss the Wildcats’ victory Tuesday night over Marquette, and then because his Grade 2 sprained right ankle would keep him out of the only game Memphis will play this season in his hometown.

“We are a Western Conference team,” Lowry said, trapped as he was in civilian clothes before the Sixers-Grizzlies game Wednesday. “So this is it. But this has been a really bad injury. I am devastated that I can’t play. I hope to get back after the All-Star break. I just wanted to be here to support my teammates.”

Lowry has done just that in his two-plus seasons in Tennessee, in basketball and other ways. The Grizzlies’ leader in assists at 3.9 a game, he had been shooting .796 from the foul line, 12 times had been a double-figure scorer, supplied two double-doubles and dumped 25 on the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Mostly, though, Lowry had been exactly what some thought he was too inexperienced to be so soon: Professional.

“I am really proud of him,” said Villanova coach Jay Wright, in the Wachovia Center both to see Lowry and to serve as a celebrity analyst for the Sixers’ telecast on Comcast SportsNet. “He went from a starter to a backup, back to a starter, to a backup, and not a lot of players could handle that the way he has. He has been very professional.

“They even drafted another point guard in the first round (Mike Conley in 2007), and Kyle never complained. I remember he was out at our place when that happened. He might have been disappointed, but all I remember him saying was, ‘That’s OK, I am going to work. I am going to compete.’ And that’s when it really hit me what kind of professional he was.”

Nor has it been easy for Lowry —- at least not as easy as it appeared for him at Villanova, and before that, at Cardinal Dougherty High. He broke his wrist in his rookie year, missing all but 10 games. But he rallied to play in all 82 games of his second NBA season, improving his shooting percentage from .368 to .432.

By this, his third season, he was in the process of surfacing as a star-level NBA point guard in an era when the position seems to gain nightly in value. Yet through all the pain —- including the discomfort of a recent 12-game losing streak —- Lowry never wondered what so many others wondered: What if he’d stayed at Villanova?

“No second-guessing,” he said. “I was comfortable with the decision when I made it. My coaches supported it. My family supported it. I’m in my third season now and I am happy with my decision.”

It’s only been three years since Lowry was a vital component to the four-guard Villanova attack that came within a game of reaching the Final Four, even if it sometimes seems so much longer. Now, he smiles —- as an older alum might —- at the excellence the Wildcats are showing, and also at the notion that soon some might be comparing it to that of the 2006 team.

“I’ll tell you right now,” he said, in the friendly spirit of the conversation. “No. No, this Villanova team is not better than that team that we had. When you look back, that was really a great year. And you see Randy Foye doing well. Allan Ray is trying to get back in the league. I know that Mike Nardi is making good money overseas. The other guys are all successful in what they are doing. That was a great team.”

And these Grizzlies? Not so much.

“You know, I think we only lost something like 12 games in two years at Villanova,” Lowry said. “I think I might have lost eight games in high school. So it’s different.

“We keep working. Jay and I always text each other; I tell him how good things are going there, and they are. He does a great job of keeping us all informed and involved in what is going on (at Villanova).”

At least Wright does when he is not coaching a team that Lowry says is not as strong as the one Wright coached three years ago. To that, though, Wright will smile. “Isn’t that great?” he said. “Those guys really took pride in that team —- and they should have.”

Lowry takes pride in the Grizzlies, too, which is why he kept that passion, as Hollins calls it. He has kept it through injuries and roster challenges, losses and disappointments.

“I have a lot of family here tonight,” Lowry said. “I really wanted to play. It would have been great, especially knowing that Jay is the analyst.”

He laughed.

“Knowing him, though, he’ll probably criticize my suit.”

Link: http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2009/02/12/sports/doc49939eaed75b3128213213.txt

 

We got Lowry and Cook. Their salary matched Alston's