Blazers Edge: Why Kyle Lowry May Become a Blazer on Draft Night

These two points are exactly the kinds of things that teams trying to acquire Kyle would say to us. From a Rockets standpoint, however, they are immaterial because

a.) all the reasons I listed for why Kyle is good are intrinsic, meaning they exist as attributes of the player and would carry over regardless of which team he's on; where these two reasons are circumstantial, meaning they exist only in the context of his position on the Rockets and would become irrelevant to any team that acquired him;

and b.) there's actually not much truth to the second statement.

Whatever Kyle said in the media, your statement that we are losing Kyle one way or another cannot be true until two years from now. Until then we control him. If we decide not to trade him and not to get rid of McHale, then he has no choice. He can harm us a little bit and harm himself a lot more by not playing well, or he can agree to mutual interests and do what's best for both parties by playing his best. This guy is not Chris Paul or Carmelo Anthony or Dwight Howard. He does not have much leverage one way or another. He's not an expiring, and he's not a superstar. Like I said before, he's an almost all-star, and if he wants to become a bonafide all-star, he will play and play well for whatever team he's on regardless of the coach.

If I'm the Rockets, I separate the Dragic and Lowry situations entirely. You open discussions for trades with Lowry but don't have to explain to other teams how you will handle your starting PG position should you lose Lowry. You tell Dragic on the other side that us trading Lowry is inevitable and that he has a starting spot waiting for him if he waits for us. Morey's shown he's a master at these under the table dealings. I am confident that we won't get gypped in any deal we craft for Kyle.

 

Yes and Morey calling BS on the former line of thinking and "playing it safe" has kept us in mediocrity and put his own job in jeopardy.

 

If a GM makes nothing but good trades, and the team suffers as a result of not sucking enough, then I'm sorry that's the NBA's problem that's not Morey's problem.

Like Clutch said in his podcast, Portland and New Orleans are models of making good trades while still falling back in the W/L columns. You don't have to make stupid trades to rebuild. It's the fault of ownership and not Morey for choosing this "treadmill of mediocrity".

 

I don't want to get gypped for any deal that involves Lowry and I don't think we will as I agree with your points but when you say we control Lowry for the next 2 years... do we really? I'm sick of the same old story... players sulking and decreasing their own value. We've seen it with K-Mart this past year, more recently with Tmac and in the distant past with Quitten.

If I were to choose between keeping Lowry or getting rid of McHale... I'm keeping Lowry 10 time out of 10. Le$ not so much.

 

I'd trade Lowry and #14 for a chance to draft Meyers, or Drummond, or Perry, or maybe even Barnes, because none of those guys are slipping to 14th. Yeah, in a heart beat.

 

What good trades did Portland make? They flipped Foye and Tyrus Thomas for Roy and Aldridge basically. But in order to get into that position you need to put yourself in that position to potentially acquire a player like Roy or Aldridge. Not trading Lowry for a chance at a player like that is stupid with all things considered.

 

When I first read this post I was like, WOW how could anyone expect to get that much? Then I noticed the posters name. Mystery solved!

 

I'm not saying that we shouldn't trade Lowry for the #6 straight up, it's just that from a value standpoint a generic #6 pick should be worth less than what Kyle is to us as a player right now. HOWEVA, if the Rockets and their scouting staff were to identify someone (perhaps Drummond?) with a ceiling high enough to warrant risking the loss of Lowry, then I would understand it. It's gotta be a guy with potential to be a superstar though, no less.

 

How about the Gerald Wallace trade to get the Nets draft pick? I liked that trade.

 

People comparing Drummond to Thabeet....ok.....

Regardless, outside of Davis....he is the only big man with the potential to be what we have all cried for for 3 years. And when people come up with a realistic way it could happen, everyone gets cold feet and acts like there is something else just on the horizon with more promise. Eventually you take a risk....either way we will eventually get what we want, despite Alexander's insistence on mediocrity over higher draft slots. Either a great player or we end up bombing without Lowry and the new bust we drafted and we end up with another shot. Best case scenario is he shows some flashes the first year but we still suck and get a top 7 pick.

 

Living in Portland I was shocked when that trade was made and so were a lot of other Portlander's. G-Force was a fan favorite but it was a great trade looking ahead (now). They were basically in a similar situation (slightly worse) before they decided to blow it up by trading Wallace, firing McMillan, trading Camby etc. They did did the right thing though.

 

Paul pierce,dirk,amare,marion all went 8th or so. See, I don't look at it as #6 pick as much as the talent availible. Would u give up lowry and the 14 for a healthy brook lopez? He was drafted 10th. What about lowry for hibbert who went 13th?

 

For anyone comparing Drummond to Thabeet I recommend the following link. It has some great videos and a good analysis of Drummond that agrees with other scouting reports:

http://swishscout.com/?page_id=1632

 

Thank you for this. Thabeet's body looked as about as athletic as a mailbox post. My shoulders were broader when I was 12 years old. Did I know or did this tell me for sure he would be a best...nope. But Drummond accomplished more than Thabeet ever even thought about....plus he actually measured out. Thabeet and his agent new he was a stiff from the beginning.

 

Damn, it's late - fixed.

 

IMHO you trade up to get Drummond - whatever it takes. The best physical and athletic package since Howard. He has a chance (what that chance actually is I have no clue - 33%???) of becoming a Howard type player. He is only 18 years old so it will take a few years for him to develop. If he does not pan out what do you have? A Cousins? Maybe somewhat lower. But certainly a serviceable 5.

 

Save it for the D&D.

 

Damn. Off topic but did anyone notice this tidbit -

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Miles-Plumlee-5261

40.5 Max Vert and some of the best Bench, Agility and Sprint times of the big men....that was....unexpected. Wouldn't mind seeing us buy a pick just for McHale to take a look at....

 

Yes I did. But he could not crack the starting lineup in college. I have no idea what is happening here.

 

Brian Cushing with a basketball?