Houston Rockets Look to the Future: Is Kyle Lowry the Franchise Point Guard?

Coming into the year, it was all but assumed that Aaron Brooks would the Rockets’ starting point guard for the season. Kyle Lowry had an impressive summer in the gym, but there was no way that the Rockets would hand him the reins after Brooks had averaged 20 points the year before and won the Most Improved Player Award.

However, 54 games into the season, Lowry is starting and Brooks looks like he could be on his way out of town after a nightmarish season. After spraining his ankle in the team’s fifth game, Brooks has failed to return to his past form and now finds himself scrapping for minutes on the bench.

With Lowry entrenched in the starting point guard position, can the Rockets be confident that he can lead a very good team?

The player that Lowry is often compared to is Rafer Alston, the man who led the way for the Rockets from 2005 to 2008 as they struggled to win a playoff series in the Yao Ming-Tracy McGrady era. They are both tough, physical defenders who got under their opponent's skin, solid passers who had a flair for the dramatic and middling outside shooters who took many more three-pointers than they should have.

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Looking at the statistics (thanks to basketball-reference.com), the comparison rings even truer. Per 36 minutes, Lowry and Alston averaged very similar points, assists, steals and turnovers while both struggling from the three-point line, Lowry more than Alston. However, given Lowry's improvements in shooting this year, you can expect Lowry's three-point shooting to begin to creep up towards Alston's mark.

However, Alston never won anything in his career (except an Eastern Conference title after he joined the Magic midseason) and Lowry hasn't either. Is Lowry doomed to follow in Alston's footsteps?

While statistics are a crucial part of any evaluation of a player, any wise basketball mind will say that they only tell a small snippet of the true story. While they are similar in many ways, their differences are why Lowry has the potential to be a better point guard than Alston and a potential franchise building block.

Unlike Alston, who loved the spotlight but failed to convert on countless late game shots, Lowry has a propensity for making shots at the most important times. When the Rockets offense is failing late in games, often Lowry will make a difficult three-pointer to kick-start the team, something Alston often attempted but rarely succeeded in doing.

The next difference in their games has to do with style. Unlike Alston, who loved to leisurely take the ball down the court, Kyle Lowry has the mentality that the extra seconds that walking requires are seconds wasted, as the defense has time to set up. For that reason, Lowry races down the court at any opportunity. While these track meets don't always result in assists for Lowry, they often set up players in advantageous positions.

While Lowry will never be a first or second option on a good team, his overwhelming positives make him a worthwhile option as a starter. He's an elite defender and rebounder at the point guard position, passes well and can make shots on the biggest stages.

If an opportunity presents itself for the Rockets to acquire an elite talent like Chris Paul, Deron Williams or Kyrie Irving sometime down the road, they should not hesitate, but given the Rockets' deficiencies in other positions, they have to feel good about having Kyle Lowry as the point guard for the future. At just 24 years of age, the future is bright for Lowry.