Matt52 wrote:
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Lowry - I agree he has the mentality and attitude that is desperately needed on this team, but I worry about the level of talent and consistency. I like what I've seen from Casey in his ability to motivate our guys. I mean just looking at what he was able to do with Bargnani before the injuries hit was nothing short of spectacular. But the difference is that Bargnani is a first overall pick. We knew he was talented -- it was a matter of getting him to commit to the level of effort required to sustain it.
Gary Payton is one of the greatest ever so it's unfair to make a comparison, but Payton was a tenacious defender and a scorer. Lowry has the tenacity but may lack the quickness and the talent.
To start, Lowry is a career 42% shooter. Payton was a 47% shooter. That 5% for me is the difference between a starter and a bench player and that's the way I see Lowry. Consider this: http://bkref.com/tiny/Z94LQ, all guards in NBA history of the with over 8000 minutes played, under 300 games started, and shooting 42% or lower. Lowry headlines a list of some seriously mediocre point guards. Even if you raise that to 43%, only Russell Westbrook shows up as good one, but he's raised his average every season and should be well over 45% by the time his career ends.
The other issue is consistency -- Lowry has played in over 350 games and has started less than 150 of them. That's not quite as bad as Jerryd Bayless, but you have to wonder if he's so good -- if he's a legit starting NBA point guard -- then why did his collective NBA coaches allow him to start less than 40% of the games over the first 6 years of his career?
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