One thing I think Dragic does have in his favor long-term is that his style of play is not as hard on his body. Lowry throws his body all over the place, slams into defenders, sprawls on the floor... he's a wrecking ball, it will wear on him and shorten his career over time. Dragic plays a smarter but less physical brand of basketball... that's why he gets fewer rebounds. But at the same time it's much easier to envision Dragic having a Steve Nash like rise to stardom because his body is less likely to break down in 5 years.
That's why I don't see us trading Lowry in draft day and before signing Dragic unless it is a no-brainer, I don't see us risking losing both. Love the way DD's ego keeps trying to undermine Lowry, saying such follies as Dragic being a better rebounder, 3pt shooter (I hate when he shoots it off the dribble) and having better court vision. Saying that Dragic has outplayed Lowry as the starter is very debatable, how are the winning percentages? how about realizing that Lowry has always had a better Assist to T/O ratio, even this year? to meh: Have you forgotten the dark ages point guard play this team had? Getting a point guard is not about getting somebody who can put up stats. You're talking like someone who has been spoiled by how Morey turned the position around, and yes there's a surplus of quality PGs but getting a Lowry or a Dragic is still hard.
I think Dragic's shot is a little more reliable. The numbers don't really back it up, but I like his release more than Lowrys. I think he facilitates the offense a little better and doesn't give up on plays as much sitting on his back complaining about calls. Lowry has had the clutch factor this season, but Dragic has been clutch lately as well. Lowry has been kinda a black hole. I definately think he is hindering Martin's game by passing to him with 3-4 seconds on the shotclock. Its possible defenses start adjusting to Dragic and he hits the same wall Lowry did midseason, so I will hold my judgement.
^^^ I'm sorry, but preferring someone's shot over another because of how their release looks is just plain foolish. Lowry has been consistently improving his J, and the fact is he gets results. Especially in the crunch. We have learned repeatedly in the NBA that funky looking shots can go in. A lot. Childress, Marion, Dirk, Martin... And Lowry's shot doesn't even look that bad. The PG position is strong right now, but it's not because of the "rules". These rules have been in place for a while, but the PG position has only been this strong for a couple years. Before that it was the SG position that was stacked, before that maybe PF, and before that, centers. I know the perimeter defensive rules weren't in place that entire time, but the point is that these strengths seem to rotate in the NBA fairly regularly. Lowry and Dragic have both been playing like top 10 PGs in the NBA when given starter minutes. By definition, not many PGs in the league can say that..
You have to take a risk at some point. i don't see Dragic getting a ridiculously big contract but I guess its possible. If you can package Lowry and a pick to move up in the top 5 and get a player you really like I think you have to take that chance. With the chance of resigning Dragic and also with Lull possibly coming over I think it's a risk well worth taking.
Martin actually shoots a bit more frequently when he's sharing the floor with Lowry compared to when Lowry is on the bench. On the flip side, Lowry's points per 36min increases from 15.1 to 19.0 when he's playing without Martin. And I don't know how many times Martin has passed the ball back to Lowry as the shot clock was expiring, forcing Kyle to take a long contested 3-pointer. That's definitely happened more than the other way around. Maybe you have it backwards, and its Martin that is hindering Lowry.
Am i the only one who wants to keep both of them? I think dragic wouldn't be a bad backup for the 2G spot behind lee, and then can still backup lowry therefor still getting around 30 mins a game. Parsons has shown he can guard 2G's just fine so if lee's tired and dragic is too small we can slide parsons over to the 2. Its just a thought but think it would be a sweet 3 man backcourt for the next 5 years.
I guess by your Logic Chase is the best and most reliable shooter we have, his jumper is so smooth. I was about to dissect your whole post but then it hit me, you are just that other guy who got as butthurt as Dadakota did last year. Peace.
The only thing Lowry seems to have over Dragic is his rebounding, which was much needed because our bigs couldn't rebound. Going forward, if the focus is to acquire a competent big, then the rebounding edge Lowry has isn't as valuable. It may sound good for him to do so much, but in the long term it's not, since it's just going to wear him out. It's still a very similar situation to Brooks/lowry. Time to sell high on Lowry and pay Dragic. Also, in case no one has mentioned this, Lee has never played this kind of basketball, as a Rocket. I think a big reason why is he plays better with Dragic. Lowry dominates the ball more than Dragic, does more for others. If we're going to trade kmart as well, and we should, Lee/dragic would be more effective together than Lowry/lee. This is the Magic/Nets Courtney Lee, and he was a more aggressive offensive player.
That's not a championship contender though... not with our very average frontcourt and no star player who can create his own shot in crunch time. The goal should be to use Kyle Lowry, our best trade asset, to acquire a star big man and move the franchise forward.
trade lowry/scola for gasol trade martin for pekovic/johnson resign dragic lee will probably be too expensive... hopefully sign+trade, draft pick maybe bring over sergio llull bring of dmo dragic/llull johnson/bud/rookie parsons/morris/rookie gasol/pat/dmo pek/dally/smith /armchair
Why would Lee be too expensive? Dragic $6M Lee $6M - Budinger $1M Parsons $1M - Morris $2M Gasol $19M - Patterson $2M Pekovic $5M - Dalembert $7M Total: $49M ($9M cap space left over) Lee is a heck of a lot better than Wesley freakin' Johnson. I don't think Minny is giving up Pek for Martin, by the way.
probably true.. they were at the beginning of the year though how about martell webster and anthony randolph? dragic/llull webster/bud parsons/morris gasol/pat/randolph dally/camby/dmo
If thats posible then cool, but i'm talking about improving the team without a trade. And honestly if we were to do a trade i'd rather trade a package center'd martin and scola. At some point of time we got to keep some players. We can't trade all our player every other year we need to have an untouchable core to build around, star or no star. Our core should be something like this for the next 3/4 years... Lowry-Dragic Lee-Dragic *****-Parsons *****-Patterson *****-Camby
When Lowry comes back from injury naturally he will start off from the bench. I would love to see Lowry run the 2nd unit again with Martin coming off the bench too.
Hi! I registered here because I'm a big fan of Goran Dragič! I'm from Slovenia, his country, and I've been watching him since he exploded in Union Olimpija and then in our National Team. Since he's been posting big numbers in absence of Lowry, I follow your forum after every game and I can't stress how happy I am for him! About trade: I can tell you he feels really really good here. In one of the interviews (I don't know if it was for a US or SLO media) he said he is feeling great here. In Phoenix he was carrying a big burden with everyone expecting he will replace Nash and his play has varied from not-so-good to great (remember 24 points in 4th quarter against San Antonio in playoffs a few years ago?). Anyway, right before trade deadline he expressed hope he won't get traded because he feels great here. He was especially enthusiastic after win against OKC and said this was the best game of his life (I don't know if this still holds true after Lakers game...). I sincerely think he will stay in Houston, but I don't want to see him as a starter just yet becuse I think he is still too ambivalent. Especially in last year's National Team stint, he was the most disappointing player, but one of the reasons is probably also on coach's side who doesn't want to run pick&rolls (and we have a Slovenian Pau gasol in form of Erazem Lorbek who is playing for Barcelona and is one of Top3 PFs in Europe). It's like Dragič freezes when too much is put on his shoulders. You will say I'm wrong, because he is fantastically covering for Lowry; but he knows this is a special situation and nobody will say anything wrong of him if he falters in one or two games. A very different situation would be to give him a big contract and make him a starter, where he can't hide behind Lowry/Nash and has to take full responsability of his actions. I really hope I'm wrong, but I've seen too much players like him, succumbing under pressure in our country (we just have it in our blood...but only with team sports, individual sports are another story).
