Flying Under The Radar: Kyle Lowry The Best Of The Bench Bunch

The Houston Rockets' Kyle Lowry has come a long way from being the 24th selection in one of the worst drafts in recent history.

Selected behind the likes of busts such as Adam Morrison, Saer Sene, Patrick O'Bryant, Hilton Armstrong and countless others, Lowry is creeping into relevance in NBA circles with his gritty play and never-quit attitude.

Soon he'll be creeping his way into the discussion of the top 10 point guards in the league.

No, I'm not kidding.

If you haven't had the pleasure of watching Kyle play, then should you better find a way to get in front of a 42" plasma the next time the Rockets are on NBA TV.

I would say on TNT or ABC, but the Rockets weren't scheduled for any nationally televised games this year. Strange for a team in the top 15 of all relevant power rankings since the second week of the season.

While Kyle's averages seem modest at 8.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.1 steals, you have to look a little deeper to understand what makes him arguably the most important bench player in the NBA.

Listed at a generous 6'0", Kyle's per-36-minutes rankings tells only half the story, but are as follows: FTA (10th), offensive rebounds (1st), defensive rebounds (3rd), total rebounds (1st), assists (9th), steals (7th), assist-to-turnover ratio (10th), and charges drawn (1st).

He also leads the Rockets in on plus/minus with a plus-9.6. If there were a stat for hustle plays, I'm willing to bet the rent that Kyle would lead the league in that, too.

For the other half of the story, you need to look past the box score.

Did I mention Lowry is the only six-footer in the league with the ability to guard two positions? Despite his vertically-challenged stature, Kyle holds opposing PGs to a PER of 15.0 and opposing SGs to 17.7.

Not bad considering he gives away at least four inches to almost every opposing SG in the league.

Kyle's versatility is integral to the success of the Rockets because it allows Aaron Brooks, the only legitimate scoring threat on the team, to play alongside him. The speed and pressure put forth by the Lowry-Brooks tandem makes them a near-impossible cover for any team, while not causing the Rox to give up too much on the defensive end.

Having Lowry and Brooks on the floor together also helps both players focus on their strengths. On offense, Lowry plays the 1, and on defense he covers the 2-spot.

This allows Lowry to fight for offensive rebounds more aggressively, since he doesn't need to worry about stopping the ball after a missed basket. He has mastered sneaking in behind defenders as soon as they come down with an uncontested board and poking the ball away, usually resulting in an offensive rebound for a teammate (with no mention of this play in the box score).

This is a huge reason why the Rockets are fifth in the NBA in offensive rebounds, despite starting the smallest center in NBA history, 6'6" Chuck Hayes.

Brooks on the other hand, gets to play off the ball, which allows him to get open behind the line with more regularity. When you have a shooter on your team as lethal as Brooks, you have to find a way to get him open. If teams choose to guard Brooks 25 feet from the basket, he blows right by them and into the lane, opening up the offense.

People laughed at Rockets GM Daryl Morey when he said that trading away Rafer Alston in the three-team deal at the trading deadline that netted the Rockets Lowry made them better at the point-guard position.

How could it be that a guy who couldn't get significant minutes in Memphis could now contribute for a playoff team? You have to look no further than the team that traded him.

The Grizz have a history of being amongst the worst teams in the league when its comes to evaluating talent. I'm looking at you, Stromile Swift. And you, Marcus Banks. You too, Darko.

Lowry becomes a restricted free agent after this year, and you can bet he will be making a nice deposit in his bank account this offseason.

Whether it will be courtesy of the Rockets, who declined to extend him this year, or another team remains to be seen.

For now, Lowry is limited to being the leader of the best bench in the NBA along with Sixth Man of the Year candidate Carl Landry, high-flying rookie Chase Budinger, and 29-year-old rookie center David Andersen.

For now.