Kyle Lowry (Raptor Fan)

[Raps199412]

Just curious why did you guys give up this guy for so little, He is tearing it up in toronto and literally carrying the whole team, he is averaging 24 points 7 rebounds 7 assists and 4 steals over three games, what's his potential ?

[Zubby]

Lowry is to me, what Landry is to Kam!

Guys I have been hiding this for a while now, sometimes I cry myself to sleep... but then I always say to myself... Lin could be lowry in two years time, I'll give him a chance.




To answer your question... McFail killed Lowry's trade value toward the end of the season. Kings, Lakers, Orlando didnt want him... ARE you kidding me!!???!!!




Meanwhile everyone saying we have the best backcourt even after they just got out played by Wes Matthews & that rookie.
"But they came off a b2b" - SO did Matthews and that rookie!

Then the guy Lin replaced is out playing everyone... Everyone aside from maybe the bigger version of himself.

FML

[MaxRider]

Just curious why did you guys give up this guy for so little, He is tearing it up in toronto and literally carrying the whole team, he is averaging 24 points 7 rebounds 7 assists and 4 steals over three games, what's his potential ?

he didn't get along with the coach
was the starter and got injured
when return coach bring him off the bench instead of starting him because Dragic was balling
pretty much same story for Ray Allen
what funny is both PG no longer here

[moofs]

I think we undersold on Lowry as well. It's one of the few moves Morey has made that doesn't make sense to me.

Lowry is THE MAN, but some advantanges Lin has over him are: better marketing opportunities (let's not kid ourselves though, without heavy government connections, he's probably not as quite good as Yao, even though he may be more identifiable), three years younger, may end up being almost as good eventually, not as prickly, somewhat more of a name player (something fans clamor for all the time - a young one was available - Lowry has never had a name around the league, for whatever silly reason).

On the downside, Lowry is probably twice as good as Lin is right now and is a hellaciously tough player.

My best guess is that Lowry had decided he'd had enough of management (after being contract lowballed twice and putting up with lots of coaching issues) and asked to be moved as quietly as possible.

[zapatasblood]

McHale did run him into the ground but Kyle has never had great stamina and is always injured

[BaYBaller]

Lowry's discontent with McHale was the main reason, but also consider that Lowry has 2 more years on his bargain contract and dude will get PAID big time when that runs out. There is no way we will be close to contention this year or next so unless you believed Lowry was a cornorstone player and was willing to pay him as such it was a pretty good move. And obviously in hindsight it allowed us to grab Harden as well.

[x-]

I said it back then and still believe it was a terrible trade.

Lowry is a stud, cheap as dirt and yet we traded him for a pick that might not even end up in the lottery.

I blame McHale, because I'd like to believe Morey knew better. He probably was on board with it, but I like to believe otherwise anyway.



I don't care if that pick might have been a curtial part of the Harden trade. There had to be another way.



I miss Lowry.

[Guy986]

I dont think Morey wanted to pay him what hes about to get in Free agency which imo is going to be 12-13 Million per year.

We got an asset for him... we could've and should've gotten more but it is what it is.

[Bruteque]

Ultimately, I think that it comes down to Morey not believing he can re-sign Lowry in two years (quite the reasonable assumption all bad blood considered) and trading Lowry this year with two years left on his contract will fetch a better return. Instead of losing Lowry for nothing in two years or get peanuts in return next year, Morey opted to flip Lowry+Martin+Hill+Lee+1st for James Harden.

[moofs]

^ Actually yeah, that makes more sense.

[BaYBaller]

Ultimately, I think that it comes down to Morey not believing he can re-sign Lowry in two years (quite the reasonable assumption all bad blood considered) and trading Lowry this year with two years left on his contract will fetch a better return. Instead of losing Lowry for nothing in two years or get peanuts in return next year, Morey opted to flip Lowry+Martin+Hill+Lee+1st for James Harden.

Yeah the bottom line is really Morey got something of value (and in hindsight, a LOT of value as it was lynchpin of the Harden trade) for a disgruntled player. Look throughout NBA history and see what other GMs have gotten out of trades where they had to trade a disgruntled player. It's almost always a lopsided trade because the team with the disgruntled player loses a lot of leverage.

[jstarks10]

K-LOW is gonna be HUGE. I'm a knick fan, so I'm not being biased. I dont even like raptors and I never followed kyle lowry, but this guy is the real deal. I can def see him being categorized in the same tier with dwill, cp3, rondo in just a few months. He's not a true PG, but Lowry is incredible.

Imagine if houston still kept him...
Lin
Lowry
Harden
Scola
Asik

[x-]

With Lowry there most likely is no Lin.

Still, a Lowry-Harden backcourt with Asik in the middle.

[Scase]

Here's a question from a raps fan. If you had to choose between McHale and Lowry after what's been seen thus far. Which one do you pick?

[kam_soluusar]

I was suprised when we got rid of Lowry, but then again, I shouldn't be. NBA team management is like sudoku. Just when you think you have it figured, you realise a number is wrong, and it stuffs the whole formula.

This is also why people are fans of PLAYERS and not TEAMS anymore. there is too much player movement in the NBA.

[Vator]

Come on guys, let's pump the brakes. Lowry is leading the Raptors in 7 of 8 major statistical categories. He is good, but he isn't THAT good. You'll see him taper off. There is no way he can sustain this pace he has set for himself. He is greatly exceeding his career starter numbers. No way he shoots 58% for the season or 50% from 3. Expect somewhere around 43% and 37% at best. He began the year last year similar to this too nearly averaging a triple double. Look up the game logs. Lots of guys were trumpeting him as an All Star and he probably was right there on the border of being that type of player. There was a reason we cut Lin last year, he wasn't better than Lowry or Dragic. It would be fun to have either of those guys in the backcourt with Harden right now.

Edit: Oh and this isn't the first time he has had amazing stretches like this. Look at last year between Jan. 11-Jan. 14. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/415 ... ?year=2011

History shows that Lowry has spurts like this every now and then, but he won't sustain it game in and game out over a whole season. He will be very good, but not this good. If he can play like this all year and show consistency, I think he moves into the elite category.

[spaceballer]

I don't care if that pick might have been a curtial part of the Harden trade. There had to be another way.

Doubt it. OKC wanted the pick. Picks offer them the following:
1) Financial flexibility. Cheap rookie contracts that help them avoid luxury tax scenario they're trying to get out of with Harden.
2) Roster flexibility and leverage. Allowing their scouting team to make their own choices of what prospects to select based on team needs and confidence in their own selection system that they invest all that money into.
3) Trade value. The picks are more fungible and easier to package into trades to upgrade OKC's roster or grab another piece or offload bad contracts.

And the Toronto pick had unique protections that guaranteed it be at least a semi-good pick and quite possible an amazing pick. It's difficult to get a potential lottery team to give this type of protection that rolls over year after year to possibly guarantee a lottery pick. All it takes is one major injury or a stretch of bad play and the Toronto pick becomes amazing. Most lower tier teams like the Bobcats or Raptors would be loathe to offer this type of pick protection without getting something significant in return.

Without trading Lowry, what can the Rockets possibly offer a bottom tier team like the Bobcats or Raptors to procure such a pick with such unique protections to offer OKC? What do you have of equal value?

And keep in mind, this is on top of the other stuff included in the trade already; your likely trade assets of Lamb and K-Mart and charlotte early 2nd and dallas 1st round would be already committed to the trade and not be available for use in securing such a special protected pick from a lower tier potential lottery team.

On top of that, the package you traded for Harden was already negotiated downward from OKC's original demands of even more stuff (such as Chandler Parsons, another 1st round pick, etc.). So removing the Toronto pick could have been a likely deal breaker.

And you were working on a timer, since OKC was also in talks with PHX and GSW among other interested suitors.

Bottom line, keeping Lowry means no Harden.

With Lowry there most likely is no Lin nor Harden.

Still, a Lowry-Harden backcourt with Asik in the middle would never happen.

Fixed

[x-]

Here's a question from a raps fan. If you had to choose between McHale and Lowry after what's been seen thus far. Which one do you pick?

Not a big fan of McHale, so this isn't even close for me.

Doubt it.

Yeah, but still!

[Sasaki]

It was for trading, ultimately. Morey observed in an interview that ultimately a draft pick is in a way better than a player in certain circumstances of trading because a team can always use a draft pick, but not necessarily that player. Take the Harden trade – OKC has no reason to want Lowry because they already have a superior point guard, but they have a good reason to want that draft pick.

Maybe Lowry for the draft pick in and of itself wasn't the greatest of moves, but who cares? We got a player who's far superior to Lowry and has more potential thanks to that trade.

[holly1985]

Just curious why did you guys give up this guy for so little, He is tearing it up in toronto and literally carrying the whole team, he is averaging 24 points 7 rebounds 7 assists and 4 steals over three games, what's his potential ?

It's for trading. Morey's ultimate goal is to get 2 super stars. The Toronto pick is an important part of Harden trade. Which one would you rather have? Harden or Lowry? Also Harden have the star power which may help houston attract another star to the team. This is something Lowry can't do.