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Prime Rondo vs Lowry.

Who's better:
Defensively?
Offensively?
Overall?
Playmaking wise?

Who's better: Lowry
Defensively: Rondo
Offensively: Lowry
Overall: Lowry
Playmaking wise: Rondo

Lowry's shooting/scoring really seperates him from Rondo. He hit a level that Rondo never reached, and as great as his playmaking was, his team's where playing 4v5 at times because of his lack of a jumpshot/aggressiveness.

XTC wrote:Who's better:
Defensively: Rondo
Offensively: Lowry
Overall: Lowry
Playmaking wise: Rondo

Lowry's shooting/scoring really seperates him from Rondo. He hit a level that Rondo never reached, and as great as his playmaking was, his team's where playing 4v5 at times because of his lack of a jumpshot/aggressiveness.

I'm not even that sure about the playmaking, but yeah, I think this is pretty much spot on.

I think overall Lowry is a much better player and someone that can fit in almost any team. Rondo couldn't shoot for most of his career making him useless off ball.

However for the skills that Rondo is good at he's better than Lowry at those skills. Ballhandling, passing creativity/accuracy, and on-ball defense I think Rondo is better than Lowry in those areas.

Who's better: Lowry

Defensively?: Lowry. More fundamentally sound. Rondo is more of a box score defender.

Offensively?: Lowry. He can shoot and is less ball dominant.


Playmaking wise? Not sure. If we define playmaking as a player who makes something happen out of nothing, then it is Rondo - he has a more assertive style. If we mean overall point guard effectiveness then perhaps it is slightly Lowry. Lowry plays more within the flow of his offense, perhaps a bit of a system PG. Rondo racks up a lot of assist but I'm not sure if the quality of the shots he's generating are particularly great.

Rondo's complete inability as a scorer and hesitation to shoot while chasing "Rondo assists" really limits his value. Lowry is very noticeably a better player.

Lowry and it's not really close.

XTC wrote:Who's better: Lowry
Defensively: Rondo
Offensively: Lowry
Overall: Lowry
Playmaking wise: Rondo

Lowry's shooting/scoring really seperates him from Rondo. He hit a level that Rondo never reached, and as great as his playmaking was, his team's where playing 4v5 at times because of his lack of a jumpshot/aggressiveness.

The Celtics were the last team that could win with an offense that was playing 3v5, thats just how great the Big-3 were at making others better

Rondo is a weird player. He clearly has a ton of guile and guts, and has showed up in the playoffs (sometimes out of nowhere) so often in his career. He's been the best player on the floor in meaningful basketball games, playing with and against all-time great, even when it felt he had no business doing so.

But Rondo had a sick gig being the primary ball handler surrounded by hall of famers who didn't need the ball to impact the game. He got to look pretty cool dribbling, but he never seemed to drive strong offense. His defense after the knee injury (and after KG left) was just plain bad. The Mavs flameout was embarrassing, and since then he's been a low-level mercenary. He's 36 now and... not on an NBA roster?

It's Lowry by a comfortable margin for me. He has the opposite career trajectory. Scrapped to get into rotations and looked like a career journeyman. Instead he morphed into one of the most dangerous pick & roll ball handlers into the NBA, and then morphed again into an off-ball menace. Defensively he's always been a little wolverine. Even as he's aged he's still a bitch to play against. Lowry is simply better at almost everything, over the length of their careers.

cupcakesnake wrote:It's Lowry by a comfortable margin for me. He has the opposite career trajectory. Scrapped to get into rotations and looked like a career journeyman. Instead he morphed into one of the most dangerous pick & roll ball handlers into the NBA, and then morphed again into an off-ball menace. Defensively he's always been a little wolverine. Even as he's aged he's still a bitch to play against. Lowry is simply better at almost everything, over the length of their careers.

This might be my favorite description of Lowry ever.