I guess I don't get why Lowry wouldn't want to stay in Toronto at a reasonable price or why Toronto wouldn't want to keep him. You need a quality PG to have any success in the NBA. Lowry didn't have particularly good career numbers prior to this year. It's obvious that he always had the talent and game but was never in the right situation to excel. He is in a good situation right now. I don't think he would really want to leave. The Knicks would probably sign him on the spot but why play for Dolan when you have a good GM now in Toronto?
True, that was my reaction at first, too. But then again, as the article says: "Honestly, there are not many players in the back half of the 2012 first-round worth missing."
4 all stars is settling? Lowry/parsons as a package carries more worth and wins than either love our Aldridge. If we didn't have Dwight, or harden, than obviously love and Aldridge carry more value to a team. But with two superstars already having 2 all star caliber players is closer to a championship banner than adding any single 3rd star. Me too... every move morey does is questioned and ridiculed.
Trading Aldemir and Knick Flotsam for a pick that won't be conveyed was never questioned or ridiculed to my knowledge (and if so, it was a really small minority that was still fumed about picking Knick Flotsam). Besides that, you are probably correct.
done? are you kidding me? done! you should be done for agreeing with it. T Jones is going to be good value for the next 2 to 3 yrs.
Wouldn't be 4 all-stars, BigMaloe. Gotta be realistic. Lowry would never sniff the All-Star team. I love Lowry. I really do. I was the guy that wanted to trade for him before he even got here. And I was on board with him playing over Brooks. Because he is the better player. However, on this team, with Harden at the controls, we wouldn't get significantly more from Lowry than we do from Pat Bev. And with Harden on the bench, Lowry gets Lin's job for about 10 minutes a night. It's called settling because if we trade and re-sign Lowry for some monster $10 million per season deal then we are locking ourselves out of acquiring that third guy Morey keeps talking about. It's called settling because if we set the team up like that it won't be good enough to get past Lebron & friends. We become the Stockton/Malone Utah Jazz. We become the Adelman Sac Kings team. We've got to leave ourselves open until 2015 to bring another superstar player to town, whether that is Love, Aldridge, or whoever. After that point is when you add players of Lowry's ilk. Now, here's a possibility of something that could happen this season and off season. We could trade for an expiring contract like Lowry. And I'm pretty sure we would trade for Lowry if we could move out Lin's contract in that trade and KEEP Asik's contract for a separate deal. Then play out the season with Lowry. Then Lowry hits free agency. He's probably going to get somewhere around $30-32 million over 4 years. Perhaps a team like Sacramento steps up and offers him more. I don't know. But if they do, they are overpaying. The market for point guards that are not Chris Paul is around $8 million per season. Here's a list of possible suitors for Lowry this off season barring the trade deadline changing the point guard landscape: 1. Bobcats - but they've got Kemba Walker on a rookie deal, so unlikely. 2. Lakers - they may backpedal into Lowry if Nash retires and they can't attract anybody else. Still....they won't offer more than around $30-32 million for Lowry if that much. 3. Heat - I'm sure they'd love to have him. MLE money though. 4. Bucks - They could probably use a PG depending on what they do in the draft. However they do have Brandon Knight and he appears to be coming on. Once again, hard to see them paying Lowry more than $8 million per season, especially after the Jennings move last year. 5. Knicks - only MLE available. I supposed they could revisit same trade they discussed already in a sign-and-trade proposal to Toronto. 6. Magic - They'd have to pay Jameer $2 million to leave town. And Lowry really doesn't fit there on a long-term deal. They're trying to build young. 6. 76ers - dark horse for Lowry. His home town. I'm sure he'd like to go back there. And Hinkie knows him well. But they're in the same position Orlando is. Hard to see them offer him big money. And they've got MCW. 7. Sacramento - probably a strong candidate to go after Lowry. Once again though, hard to see them overpaying. 8. Spurs - They could turn down Parker and sign Lowry. Not likely. 9. Raptors - Uriji isn't going to overpay for him either. So with that in mind, let's say we went into the off season and we could not get our #3 guy to go along with H2P. And Lowry is looking at $30-32 million to go to a lesser team. Well, we could offer Lowry a big contract, say $15 million first year guaranteed with decreasing salaries for the following seasons with a very small 2nd year guarantee. What that contract essentially does is make Lowry a trade-able commodity for salary filling purposes. We can go into the 2015 trade deadline with him on that contract, save our cash to send out with him and then we could fill in the rest of a blockbuster trade (if one becomes available) with his contract and our youngsters, picks, etc. Team B that trades their superstar for our pile of assets isn't obligated to Lowry long-term. They can simply cut him if they want. And possibly even negotiate a buyout of the small guarantee he is owed for year 2. This type of contract allows Lowry to then sign with a contender for the MLE. This would essentially be the same money he would have made toiling away in Sacramento for 4 years. So, there are creative ways to trade for an expiring contract that will help us make a stretch run here and still retain the asset (if we want to) for use in helping us either make a trade for a superstar at the 2015 trade deadline or have cap space to outright sign a guy in 2015 free agency. Lowry (or some other star-level player) could be intrigued by such and offer, knowing what the plan is, knowing that he is going to be bought out and re-signed for the MLE. At that point he becomes great value and could be a huge piece to putting a team with 3 superstars and another star-level player (Parsons) over the top. Now, do I think any of this will happen with Lowry? Nope. But that is the general way you have to look at players like Lowry and Spencer Hawes, and even guys like Danny Granger, etc. Until we either trade or sign a premier 3rd superstar player, either this summer, or at the 2015 trade deadline, or during the 2015 off season, then we really can't tap out and settle by signing a guy long-term for money that makes him hard to trade. Only guys we can take on long-term are guys that are significantly outperforming their contracts and can be traded easily. I can't think of any player like that right now.
I understand he won't be an all star, but he's all star caliber, same as Parsons and honestly likely more so. I said 8-10 because his value is likely 7-8 mill unless some meddling team like Sacramento over pays and offers 9-10. So i agree on both of those points. But he does provide more than pat bev. Even if it's only 10-15 minutes max, having a second player you can rely on is a huge bonus. It's similar to asik providing 48 minutes of elite rim defender. Lowry provides 48 minutes of of all-star production it of the bc. You have to think about Parsons as well, and idk your opinion on whether to restrict him out use the team option. But I'm all for restricting him and matching anyoffer, hoping you get decent value. If i had to guess, i would think your on the team option side in hopes of 2015 bonanza and third star. Personally i think love is the ultimate and only likely target. I also think he gets traded at next year's deadline(along with any other pending fa star a team is afraid of losing for nothing). You have to worry about that and trade possibilities. I know we recently struck gold with dwight, but we struck out multiple off seasons in a row before that, so i know and you do as well, that 2015 is no guarantee. Than you would have Parsons potentially leaving while you 'star' hunt. And also striking out is a possible outcome on top. So than you waste next season for flexibility, and possibly end up in a worse situation. And lose a key player. Whereas, if you trade for Lowry and extend him for 32mill and give Parsons 32 extension. Those are still valued contracts and good assets for a trade of a superstar. If you ask me it makes much more sense, than risking everything on an UN certain 2015 sweepstakes.
@WojYahooNBA: Toronto has shown significant reluctance to part with Kyle Lowry, preferring to make a playoff run with him, league sources tell Yahoo.
@WojYahooNBA: Adds an executive with a team that's been a suitor of Kyle Lowry, "We've heard it from (Toronto) that he won't be moved."
@WojYahooNBA: Y! Sources: As Toronto prepares for playoff push, Kyle Lowry's turning into a keeper at trade deadline. http://t.co/SFfDwDwBcR
You can also make the argument that he's considered above god to some, and could never do wrong with anything
Typical Toronto. They've got a homegrown talent going in the top of the draft and they're gunning for the playoffs. Normally, I like teams going for the playoffs, but I really don't get it for Toronto.
They are a top 4 team in the East. I don't think you pass up a great chance at getting to the 2nd round for the 2nd time in franchise history (the other time was way back in 2001).
Why draft the homegrown talent and wait until they are experienced enough when you can let a tanking team do that job for you and then snatch the player. Also, They have a quite good winning percentage after the Gay trade (was 6-12 before) even while getting screwed by the refs here and there. Why not continue on top of that?
I'm for restricting Parsons only if we are able to trade Lin and Asik for substantial assets (picks/young players/2015 expirings) that can be moved in a trade for a superstar.(Very unlikely) If we can't get substantial assets for Lin and Asik, I'm for keeping him on the minimum deal and fishing 2014 free agency if we can move out Asik and Lin for expirings now. If we get the big free agent signing or trade and we've already had to opt in to Parson's 4th season, Morey still has the opportunity to negotiate an extension for Parsons during the season. I have a lot of confidence that Morey is going to overpay and front load his contract offer to Parsons so that Parsons has to take it. If we made a big trade as late as the 2015 trade deadline, I expect Morey's very next move the next day is to offer Parsons a 4-year extension. It will be for enough money that Parsons will sign the extension before he hits unrestricted free agency. And if we don't make the big acquisition before 2015 off season, I fully expect Morey will top any offer out there for Parsons but will hold Parsons with a verbal guarantee while he tries to secure Love, Millsap, or some other big free agent.
Lowry and Gibson would definitely make this team one of the four teams most favored to win it all, along with OKC, Miami and the Pacers. Parsons, Howard, and Harden are consistent. Lin, Tjones and to a much lesser extent Bev are not. Lowry and Gibson would fix the consistency issue in two of our weakest positions. In addition, that starting lineup is full of two-way players (Harden can play good D when he wants it, as opposed to Kevin Martin, who could not even if his life was dependent on it). Make it happen, Morey. No need to wait for 2015.
How is making the playoffs in the east even a goal? There are bigger things in life to worry about than making the playoffs in the east right now. They need to do what's best long term.
even if they traded Lowry, they'd still win at least .500 of their games in the East. You can't just tell players to lose on purpose. They are too talented to tank effectively. Might as well get to the 2nd round and see what happens. Plus the Rockets never tanked and looked where we are now.
