Kyle Lowry

The Houston Rockets retained the services of point guard Kyle Lowry (number 33 on the Big Board) yesterday, matching the 4 year, $24 million contract the Cleveland Cavs had offered him. Lowry will continue to join Aaron Brooks in an explosive 1-2 punch at the point guard position, a combo that was very successful for Houston last year. Here's where this whole grading thing gets tricky. I love Kyle Lowry. He is a fearless little guy who can get you 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists a night without even trying. He attacks the rim with reckless abandon and he's strong enough to take on much bigger opponents. His stats are impactful, too, which is something a lot of role players don't give you. He's the type of guy that could score 8 points in a game but you really feel those 8 points if you're the other team. All that said, however, $6 million a year is a lot of money for a backup who can't shoot. I can appreciate that Houston wants to keep their core intact and maybe they're the same as the Mavericks, a team that will always be over the salary cap so it doesn't really matter if they overpay their players. And clearly $6 million was the established market for Lowry. I just think if Lowry hit the free agent market next year, he'd probably get $4 million. Everyone is overpaying, though, so I guess it makes sense for the Rockets to join in. I'm happy for Lowry who scraps and works for every single thing he gets in this league; I'm just not sure he's worth this much.

Grade: B

4 y, 24 m