Houston Rockets: 5 Reasons Kyle Lowry Is the Most Underrated Guard in the NBA
Aaron Brooks was the starting point guard heading into this season after he had a stellar season last year,ย averaging 20 points per game.ย
Unfortunately, against San Antonio, as the halftime buzzer was about to sound, Brooks launched a half-court shot and was undercut by Manu Ginobili.
Kyle Lowry finally got his chance to start for an NBA team and he made the most of it. He improved his three-point percentage a whole 10 percent from last year, while also upping his three-point makes and takes.
Oddly enough though, you never hear about Kyle in the news or on ESPN despite the fact he has improved his game so much and is developing into one of the better young point guards in the National Basketball Association.
2010-11 Statistics: 13.2 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 6.7 APG, +16.81 EFF
Hustle
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Hustle is obviously an effort kinda deal. But Kyle puts forth the effort. Every play you see him busting his butt to get a loose ball or to stay in front of his man.ย
He is constantly putting pressure on the opponent by creating fast-breakย opportunitiesย for him and his teammates with these hustle plays.ย
Even when the team is up 20, you will still see him, along with teammate Luis Scola, hustling for every single ball until that final buzzer sounds.
Defense
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Kyle is one of the toughest players in the NBA and is not afraid of any challengeย defensively.
Every night, he gives some of the game's elite guards fits, even at his barely six-foot stature. His will and want to defend give him that advantage and the Rockets are playing very well because of it.
He also reads passing lanes very well, as he is averaging over a steal per game.ย
Consistency
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Kyle has been one of the most consistent guards in the league this year. It seems he has never gone in a slump and every single game you think he could go for 25 points and 10 assists; lately,ย he has done that just about every game.
In fact, this is what he's averaging in his last 10 games:ย
| 10 | 37.6 | .474 | 5.6 | 7.8 | .1 | 1.0 | 2.7 | 19.7 |
So, in other words, Kyle has been averaging all-star level stats his past 10 games. Very impressive. He has done this consistently as well. Every week you see improvements.
Where He Plays
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Houston doesn't get much TV time since its two big all-stars got hurt. So most of Houston's players are not well known to most basketball fans.
For instance, if Kyle was say on the Heatles, ESPN would be eating him up and you'd see him on TV every two minutes.
But Kyle is stuck in Houston for another five years and hopefully they can become contenders for Kyle and every other underrated player on the team's sake.
So Many Other Good Guards
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It's hard to find the underrated ones when there are so many other great point guards in the league. From the two pictured above in Deron Williams and Chris Paul, to Russel Westbrook and Rajon Rondo.
Then, you also add in more young ones that are developing in Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings and John Wall; it is very hard to make a name for yourself as a point guard.
But Kyle is doing his best to make sure people know who he is and so far, he hasn't done too much of a shoddy job at it.
Conclusion
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Thanks for reading guys hope you enjoyed.
You can email me at jameschmidt1@gmail.com
Follow me on twitterย http://twitter.com/#!/James_Schmidt1
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