One has never played 80 games in a season, and started missing significant time at 24, and the other started missing remainders of every season at 25.
Ariza coming back and them playing Hill has made more of a difference than Lowry has. He's still a step to slow. Needs to recover.
I do like Aaron more than Lowry, but we have seen that Aaron just isn't as good without Lowry alleviating him heavy minutes. We need Lowry. Also, the defense he put on Billups was part of the reason why we won the game against Denver.
Yeah, when Aaron has someone who can come in and run the team effectively in his absence, it seems to help the rest of his game. Temple had flashes, but all too often Brooks had to log 42+ minutes with Lowry absent. Brooks has been playing well these last few games in no small part due to having his running mate Lowry back in the lineup.
The dropoff for Ariza is Battier. The dropoff for Hill is Jeffries. The dropoff for Lowry is Conroy. If we lose only one of those guys I say Lowry is the biggest loss. To say they all don't have some kind of impact if missing is stupid. I rate them in this order, Lowry Ariza Hill. Hill is playing with the most energy and enthusiasm in his short NBA career but still gets pushed around and beaten on defense. Ariza shot selection is still a little suspect but he is playing better as a 3rd or 4th option as opposed to first option where he failed miserably. Lowry pushes like no one else and makes things happen. When healthy he gets to the line, makes layups and creates for others. Out of the 3 if we had to miss one I still think we could win without Hill. Jeffries and Andersen could take up his slack without to much drop off. Yeah I know they can't rebound like him but they Andersen opens the floor with his shooting and Jeffries brings length and defense. Anyway you look at it we are a better team now than with all 3 of them than without and I would even say we are a better team than in the beginning of the season when we had a good start. Next year yao comes back and we pick up another big either through draft or trade. We have another year of experience for our younger players and we get to gel better as a team. We should be the most improved team of the year and a real threat to any elite team.
Sorry, as much as I defend Brooks from the infinite criticisms he seems to get I can't agree with this. Lowry is a master at what he does. Sometimes when the refs go with the no blood/no foul rules for the Rockets offense he can be a detriment, but he is definately a key contributor.
Just rep'ed you, Old Man Rock. It is beyond me how you have only two of the green blocks when your posts are as iinsightful as this one. Indeed, the current team is better than the one that played well at the beginning of the season. The addition of Martin has exponentially made our players and team play better. When Brooks and Martin are playing well we aer likely to win. When Brooks, Martin and Scola are playing well, we are nearly unbeatable. This Rockets team, offensively speaking, reminds me of some of those GSW, Suns team when they get rolling. Very hard for the opposing team to stop.
Anybody is entitled to opinions, but if this is truly yours in respect to Lowry, I will tell you straight up that it is geometrically opposite of Morey's. That should at least put some doubts in your assessment of Lowry. Morey coveted Lowry because he saw in him a highly efficient player who would fit in like a glove. Indeed, he had to eat a bad contract (our most gloriefied cheerleader) for nearly 2 years.
you cant use ariza and battier in that comparison. Thats a starter-back up comparison. all the others are back up - 3rd string comparison. You also have to take into consideration the number of minutes available at that spot. there's a lot more minutes avilable at the 4 and 5 than at the 1 spot.
That's his style of play. He's tough and its just bad luck that he happens to land on a foot. But lately the reason why he hasn't seem like himself is because he is still trying to get back into game shape. He is often winded pretty early. If Kyle Lowry missed 12 games and is already winded and still trying to get back into game shape, imagine how long it would take Yao to get back into game shape.
Lowry is very important to this team, he gives rest to brooks, and keep the team very well while ab is on the bench. AB got the scoring, but lowry gets the hustle and the intangibles, so both compliment very good. If one is missing, the other can play right.
Actually, the first couple of times were just freak accidents. I remember two or three games after he came back from the first injury and he accidentally stepped on someone's foot going to the hole, which put his out for all the those games. He probably is over doing it and could use some rest but at the same time, Adelman has been playing him in less minutes as well. It isn't Lowry's bulk that is the issue, it is just that unlike AB, he literally throws himself at people to draw contact/fouls and gets thrown all over. And this time of year, refs are getting less likely to call fouls for contact like they did earlier in the season.
