RaptorPride wrote:Roco14 wrote:celticfan42487 wrote:
Yeah it's pretty absurd to think the Celtics with Lowry would be challenging MIL.
And while the lack of having the biggest poison in the NBA of Irving has helped. I think part of the reason that the Celtics team is doing well is because no one can play well with Irving and Walker plays a conventional game instead of a dribble, grab 3 defenders, shoot a shot over 3 people.
Walker instead does the traditional drive and kick game to get others open shots along with getting in the top 5 or 10 or so in charges taken every season on defense right with Lowry. And that just helps the entire team and it's no surprise with his complementary and more PG type game that suddenly Tatum and Brown have gone off. Neither Brown nor Tatum are yet at an offensive ball in his hands every play lead person and benefit from having an actual PG setting up players with his drive and kick game and running plays. As well as forcing the opposition to guard him with that 37% from 3 on 8 attempts per game (also just like Lowry).
Honestly I think the best way to describe Kemba is he's Lowry but instead of the high aspg he's got the Irving ISO and scoring ability. Similar level players in a different flavor but I 100% doubt Tatum or Siakam would have had the success they've had without those critical team players skills (top 10 in charges on defense every year, 7+ 3PA on high %s every year, running the offense either drive and kick with Walker or tremendous passing to undress the defense in Lowry).
Again let's just hope they can keep it up for next year and we get to enjoy it. For each player every year could be their last year as a solid borderline all-star level player.
When I said I think the Celtics would be favored in the East with Lowry, I didn't mean it as to say that Lowry is a significantly better individual player than Kemba; he's not. Kemba is clearly one of the best scoring guards in the league and better at a lot of things than Lowry.
However, I really do believe that Lowry is one of the best in the league strictly at getting the most out of his teammates, which I would think would be more valuable to the Celtics right now. It's a massive part of why the raptors have had so many winning seasons since he got here. Guys like JV, Delon, Bismack Biyombo, CJ Miles were really great for us and have seemingly fallen off a bit since leaving.
I just feel like if you paired Lowry with a true closer like Tatum and other key pieces like Brown, Smart, Hayward - they'd have a fantastic shot to win the East, even against Giannis. If they had a great interior defender I would definitely bet on them to do so.
I feel like Lowry can fit on any team with any playstyle and he will still be productive. Playing with someone like young DeRozan really helped him out when Kawhi got here. He knew exactly how to play with a ball dominate iso player while still impacting the game.
Okay in that case the only part I think is crazy is the idea we can win without an MVP level player on our team.
So no contention on Lowry, just moreso I think I value the Celtics players a little less than you
Tatum is doing well as a scorer but he only went on a hot streak, he's developing but isn't really on a different tier than a Kemba or a Lowry himself.
Tatum and Daniel Theis are sneaky excellent team defenders that really boost there value. But yeah, Boston much like the past idk 6 years needs one of "the man" players. And we'd still not have one. Maybe if Tatum experiences like Siakam level growth he could get there, but damn he'd have to like develop Durant level shooting to do it.
And sadly Hayward is really broke down, he can do it against bad teams and sometimes against good teams but I doubt his body has enough jump in it left to really be consistent in playoff level games. That's one thing I do respect about the playoffs... they really bring out the advantages of freaks of natures athletically to the fore. Probably due to the 48 minute intensity and lack of soft fouls.