Why didn't we just get the 1 round pick. I would much prefer that. As it stands we have nothing to look forward to on the draft.
C'mon guys. Just because Rafer played well lately doesnt mean hes a great point guard for our team overall. This is indeed an upgrade. Lowry is young. You guys who vote no probably just because you expected too much (Carter/Barons, etc).
The problem is Lowry is a significantly worse outside shooter than Rafer... Sure Lowry may be a better finisher at the rim, but with Yao in the middle you need your PG to at least have a chance to hit an outside shot. I mean Rafer was below average and Lowry shoots 10% worse from 3pt range! Also Rafer tended step his game up when Tmac was out. Rafer was the primary distributor for the team, rather than the spot up shooter role he was stuck with when Tmac dominated the ball. Unless there are more players involved in the trade than have been reported, it's hard to see this as any thing but a down grade. Certainly that seems to be the slant nationally, as the headlines read Magic aquire Alston, not Rockets aquire Lowry.
KYLE LOWERY is the guy that dropped the triple double on us,and tipped in the game winning shot not to LONG aGO!
Wow that's a pretty definitive NO right now. 75% do not like the trade. Reading the board you wouldn't think the percentages would be that skewed, or maybe the Rafer Haters are just more loud and obnoxious.
Rafer is horrible at two point shots. Lowery is not. Rox have enough three point guys: battier, Artest, Brooks, Wafer, Barry. What rox really needed was a penetrater that can finish. ONly guys that could do it was AB, Wafer. Lowry will have an impact on this team. Just wait. He will also shut down the elite guards in the west.
I think Morey did this deal just to shut up Ocho Texto. Otherwise, I don't understand the rationale if Brian Cook has a player option at $3.5 million for next year, meaning we will not clear luxury tax room. If this is about starting AB, there was nothing preventing us from starting AB and bringing Rafer off the bench.
As much as Rafer was maligned around here, I don't think anybody hated him so much that they wanted to trade him for a downgrade in talent. Personally, I liked what he brought to the team (especially when T-mac and his ball-hogging ways were out of the lineup) and think many here were so caught up in his hot-cold shooting that they missed all the other things he did. I think they've forgotten (or just never seen) how bad this team can look with a "point guard" who can't direct the offense (i.e. Francis, Lue, Jackson). To me, Lowry looks like another small athletic guard with minimal PG skills and no outside shot - these guys are a dime a dozen in every draft so I see no reason to trade our starting PG for such a player (and to take on a massive scrub like Cook makes it even worse). As I said in another thread, this smells like a salary dump - Les has probably told Morey to start selling our players off because we aren't getting a championship anytime soon. That disappoints me - Rafer has played great when Tmac is out and I felt like he would continue that trend.
ESPN: The Rockets are expected to receive Grizzlies guard Kyle Lowry, Orlando forward Brian Cook and perhaps two other minimum-salaried players to make the finances work.
Did we really need to get rid of Alston's contract or did they really want to get Lowery and Cook. Did not see this trade coming.
