How about Scola or Martin are not getting the ball where they are comfortable? Maybe thats why they are scoring less and turning the ball over more. Look, I am not trying to hate, but lets be real here. There is nothing to support that Lowry is making his teammates better. If anything, it looks like he is making them worse than the system we used last year. It seems to me that if a player is playing well and is well liked, people like to add: oh he has heart, he is a leader, he makes his teammates better. Meanwhile if the guy is not liked and not playing well, then he has no heart, he's a robin or is mentally weak. IMO Rondo is a better player than Lowry, but people are trying to talk up Lowry because "He's our guy". I don't like those generalizations.
I like Lowry more, and wouldn't trade him for Rondo, but Rondo is currently better. That's largely because of consistency. I'd have Lowry at 8th in the L right now (CP3, Rose, D-Will, Westbrook, Rondo, Nash, and TP over him). Lowry has more scoring potential, with far better range, but he'll be on fire one night and be off the next. Rondo gets his 15 at a higher %, credit that to his teammates or shot selection, but it still is what it is. It's a wash defensively, as they both have their strengths and weaknesses, but all in all they're both amongst the tops at their position. Rondo takes the cake in terms of passing though. Lowry is no pushover there, but Rondo finds his teammates as well as anyone in the L (along with Paul and Nash).
When people in the organization praise his understanding of his teammates strengths/weaknesses and how/when to get them the ball, I think that's a pretty good indication that he does "make his teammates better". I think you're simplifying this to last year was all "system" and this year is all "Lowry" to make your point. Lowry was a significant player in both offenses. And both offenses rely heavily on side to side ball movement and off-the-ball movement. Lowry has been given more responsibility because he's a good player and his abilities warrant it. But he still has a relatively low usage compared to many other leading PGs and is well behind Scola and Martin in that regard, so lets not pretend this is an all-Lowry offense. His numbers were increasing last year under Adelman, and there's no reason to think that trend wouldn't have continued into this season if Adelman was still here.
This is a tough one. Lowry has led a team with similar talent to a better record, in a deeper conference. Rondo has a little bit better court vision, but Lowry has a jumper and a generally larger nutsack. 16-8-5 with 2 steals and 38% shooting from 3 is sexy enough for me to stick with big chunky. It is hard for me to believe that someone can blame Martin and Scola's struggles on Lowry. Honestly, Martin and Scola just suck for long stretches of time, no matter where they get the ball. Especially Scola, who gets set up perfectly every single night. Christ, go get an offensive rebound or something... (He has been playing better of late) What was our record with Adelman at this point last year? Short term memory, bruh.
Lowryball isn't causing Scola's rebounding to drop off like a cliff and taking away all the foul calls Martin used to get. Judging by how much better the team plays when he's on the court vs. off it makes me think he makes teammates better. It's not like he's just ballhogging.
I see the same dumb stuff like trading lowry for westbrook,lol. Rondo is a far superior defender to lowry. Rondo can break the defense down at will and either get in the paint and score or get in the paint and creae for teammates. Rondo has performed at an elite level in the playoffs. Lowry is a better 3 pt shooter, but rondo is a bettr mid rage shooter and scorer. Rondo can get you a high end star,lowry can't and that's. Not by accident. When lowry produces like rondo did in the playoffs ,then wake me up to this discussion.
To me, it comes down to this. Rondo has shown he can take over meaningful playoff games against elite opponents. Lowry is good, and I think he gets the most out of what he has. But I don't think he's capable of dominating playoff games like Rondo has.
Adelman last year: [rquoter]“He makes very good plays and what I really like about Kyle is he knows the strengths of the guys he’s playing with,” said Rockets Head Coach Rick Adelman about his point guard’s ability to orchestrate Houston’s offense down the stretch of close games. “Kyle’s been the guy that we’ve leaned on, he’s been the playmaker. He’s just been terrific and you can’t say enough about him.”[/rquoter]
Swap Rondo for Lowry on that Boston team and they still win. Extremely equal players if you ask me. Each has their own thing they are better at, but neither is hands down better than the other. Rondo gets the love because he was surrounded by 3 future HOF's and won. I imagine if Lowry had the same opportunity he would handle it in the same way.
Me too. I think lowry gets the most out of his talent, but what is clear is he really can't get to the rim or in the paint with frequency. Rondo despite his shooting can get in the paint and break down defenses inside out. Rondo gets in the paint and cause trouble for everyone despite his non 3pt shot. He gets monster triple doubles and is a great defender. Lowry is just a avg defender and can't really keep players in front of him.
Rondo essentially averaged a triple-double in the 2009 playoffs and was either the best or second best player in the entire playoffs in 2010. This isn't really close.
You probably don't watch the games. Some of it is his bigs,but he can't keep guys in front and he sticks to screens like glue. Also,running in for offensive rebs below the ft line kills the floor balance. It happened against memphis and they got a bucket latein the game. Rond rebounds too,but he's normaly ft line and higher. Watch holiday tonight and watch how gets by lowry.
In the past, Rondo>>>Lowry. However with the circumstances as they are now, it's much closer than you think due to his severe limitations on the offensive side. If Rondo could just follow the footsteps of Kidd and develop a damn shot, then he would be in the Rose and Paul category easily.
So it's Lowry's fault the officials have got word down from above not to call fouls for Martin? Interesting.
