Houston Rockets: Is Kyle Lowry Their Point Guard of the Future?

Elite point guards are hard to come by.

The organizations lucky enough to find and hang on to one usually rise to the top of the NBA.

That could explain why the Houston Rockets have been stuck in somewhat of a rut for the past 15 years.

More than a handful of legends and perennial All-Stars have donned Rockets red—Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, Moses Malone, Clyde Drexler, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, to name a few—but you have to go back a while to find their last truly elite point guard.

It has been almost 28 years since Calvin Murphy, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993, played his final game in spring 1983. Murphy played 13 seasons in Houston and his No. 23 jersey hangs in the rafters of the Toyota Center.

Due to a lack of strength and stability at basketball's most important position, Houston has won just one playoff series since 1997.

That brings us to Kyle Lowry. 

Lowry is the team's current starter and one of its unquestioned leaders. But is Lowry any more secure than last year's starter, Aaron Brooks, who was traded to Phoenix just months after he earned the 2009-10 NBA's Most Improved Player Award?

The answer is yes, for two reasons.

One, the Rockets are invested in Lowry after giving him a four-year, $24 million contract in July and two, the front office punctuated its faith in him by ridding itself of Brooks, another starter-caliber player at the position.

While Lowry is entrenched as today's starter, can he hold that title well into the future—say, through the life of his new contract?

It's hard to say because general manager Daryl Morey is on the prowl for a true superstar, and you can bet Lowry would have to be included in any deal that would net him one.

However, with each passing day, it appears more likely that this bulldog of a guard is here to stay.

Before even getting to his impact on the court, Lowry has two very important things going for him: He's young (he'll turn 25 on March 25), and he embodies everything the Rockets organization is about—toughness, hard work, commitment and a never-say-die mentality.

He isn't too shabby between the lines, either. In fact, he's getting better by the game. Lowry was named Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday, a day after he notched his first career triple-double in a key victory over old rival Utah.

His 28 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists helped cap a 4-0 week for Houston, during which he averaged 19.3 points, 7.5 assists and 7.3 rebounds. Lowry has a shot at winning conference player of the month, as he has averaged 20.4 points, 7.9 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals in March. 

Not coincidentally, the Rockets have won eight of 11 games this month and are 10-3 since the official changing of the guard occurred at the Feb. 24 trade deadline.

Some will note that the above numbers come in a very small sample and if Houston is looking for an elite player to stabilize the point guard position, it again fell short.

That's understandable, but consider the following: Since the deadline, Lowry has faced off against arguably the league's four best point guards in Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Rajon Rondo and Steve Nash.

In those four games, the Rockets went 3-1 with Lowry averaging 20 points, six assists and three rebounds. Paul, Williams, Nash and Rondo together averaged 7.5 points, 12.2 assists and 2.5 rebounds.

Four games can't elevate a player into a different stratosphere, but these are recent examples of Lowry not only holding his own, but significantly outplaying the best point guards the NBA has to offer.

At such a young age, there is still time for him to become elite. His scoring average is up 3.5 points this season and he has drastically improved his perimeter game, hitting 38 percent from beyond the arc, seven points higher than his first four seasons in the league.

Lowry has logged almost 37 minutes per game during his tear through the month of March, which will remain steady for the remainder of this year.

If that carries over into future seasons, it’s reasonable to suggest he could sustain the aforementioned numbers through an 82-game slate.

This Villanova product and Philadelphia native has all the skills and intangibles to become a championship-level point guard. 

Only time will tell if he can reach that status or something greater.

For now, the Houston Rockets should just be happy to know that Lowry will be their linchpin for the foreseeable future.