I agree with you that you'd want Lowry as a replacement for Harden because Kyle is a much better leader than Dragic who is more of a complementary star. However, what does the East being a disaster has to do with anything? Raptors are 6-2 against the West. Lowry is balling, having the best season of career, why not acknowledge it? I'm not saying Dragic is bad. In fact, he pretty awesome. But from what Lowry and Dragic showed this year so far, Kyle is the better player.
And for all we know Lowry might have peaked this year. Next year they will trade DeRozan for CP3 and suddenly Lowry will be playing SG, will have a big drop-off in numbers and we will all be saying how Lowry is a mediocre player, right? Also last year Dragic didn't have the luxury of having such teammates as Lowry has this year, so he was constantly doubled. And didn't have the luxury of playing in Eastern Conference. And you are drawing conclusions from 19-game span. I can draw conclusions from 2-game span when Dragic finally got a bit more PG duties due to Thomas' injury. 28 pts/game, 7 rb, 3.5 ast, 2 stl, 4 tov, 60% shooting overall and 57% from 3. Sounds good to me!
Better leader in what way? what is this random intangibles you keep throwing in that really have no basis. The Raptors have played this way for the last half of last seasons, in fact they had one of the best records for the second half, and Lowry played really well during that stretch. Raptors have beaten Utahx2, OKc, Sactown, PHX and Memphis and lost to Dallas and Lakers. Not exactly beating the whos whos of the west are they other than Memphis.
We're not talking about last year, we're not talking about next year, we're not talking about 2 specific games. We're talking about the whole season so far. And in the span of those 19 games, Lowry was definitely a better player.
I live in Toronto bro, I go to as many games as I can, there's absolutely no basis to that statement. He rightfully performs his role as one of the older players on the team, but nothing has stood out that makes him a "better leader" than Dragic. How the hell do you even come up with that so surely
Leadership is not the only quality is base that on. Lowry is more beneficial on the offensive end (although it's probably arguable) and a much better defender. Goran has been abysmal on the defensive end this year. And advanced stats back it up. His opponents' FG%'s go through the roof when they face him as opposed to their season average FG%.
Dragic has been horrendously misused this season, which is probably why his "saying and doing all the right things" facade seems to be cracking a bit.
Dude, you need to watch PHX games if you want to have any credibility with such strong statements. They are both natural leaders. They are both leading with example, the only difference is Goran is a quiet leader while Kyle is more vocal. Lowry was put into a position to succeed this year. Dragic has been put into a position to succeed last year. And yet the only criteria you are using when comparing the two is this year. However when I'm using my own criteria (last two games when Dragic has been put into a position to succeed), you disregard it.
And you have been ignoring what I was saying. At best Dragic is almost as good as Lowry is this season. But there's no evidence to support that statement. There's only one fact and it is in this thread's title - Lowry is killing it this year.
dude this whole seasons has been 19 games, Lowry has played better than Dragic for 19 games that is correct. Lowry has been killing it so has his team, and that is also correct Any other statements don't really mean much, such as it's better to replace Harden with Lowry, or Lowry is clearly the better leader, or Lowry is clearly the better player etc. etc. Look I'm happy Lowry is doing well, I've been a big fan of both him and Lowry, but you are knee jerking really hard in this thread, especially since he actually didn't make a monumental improvement, but more just matured and is playing really well on a winning team.
Exactly. You just made my point for me. That's what I was saying all along. Lowry has clearly been the better player (or you can phrase it differently if you like: 'he was clearly a bigger factor') to his team's success during the span of these 19 games. Yes, it's not the full season, it's roughly a 25% of the full regular season, in which Lowry was better.
To another poster who said he would take Dragic over Lowry, you said: Talent evaluators don't evaluate players based on 19 games span. If they did, you could say Jeremy Lin was Top3 PG at the time of Linsanity. But he wasn't; he was put into a position to succeed. I don't know why is it so hard for you to grasp the concept. Any good player will flourish if you basically build your game around him, which is happening in Toronto and happened last year in PHX for Dragic. I mean, Gortat was a freaking double-double machine in PHX. Does that mean he is a top 5 center? Of course not, but the circumstances helped bring the best out of him, because the coach played to his strenghth. Hornacek isn't playing to Goran's strenghth, so of course he is having a worse year than Lowry, but that doesn't necessarily mean he is worse than Kyle like you are suggesting.
Dude I don't even know how much clearer I should make it: I AGREE WITH YOU - the fact of the matter is Lowry is better this year. You can say whatever you want about him being in a good situation (and I agree with that). I am merely stating facts - Goran doesn't look good this year (whatever the reason) and Lowry does.
Sorry dude but you sort of implied you would never take Dragic over Lowry because Lowry is killing it this year. I just wanted to clarify that this 19 game span doesn't necesserily prove Lowry is better than Dragic. I mean, everyone was pissed off at Ariza as replacement for Parsons, but changed the tune few games into the season. You just don't know how good a player can be until you put him into a situation where his skills can shine.
I like Dragic. He's a very good player. But Lowry is simply having an amazing start of the season. I don't even know why this thread took this route, both are good players, but this particular thread is devoted for appreciation of Lowry.
Well the thread is about best post Rocket PG ever, which is one man's opinion. Others are stating our own opinions. So it's not only about Lowry.
so let me get this straight though on different teams in different conferences the Lowry vs Dragic debate still rages on at Clutchfans?
