Rockets starting point guard Kyle Lowry is out 2-4 weeks with a bacterial infection, and when you thought the Rockets' woes were drastic enough - you know, with that whole losing thing - everything suddely gets put in perspective. Houston will be without it's starting point guard for likely a month. That's absolutely devastating. And before I get into this, I'd like to say to Kyle : "Get well man,
It's devasting to the team, to the portion of the fanbase that wants to win and to the Rockets shot at the playoffs. I've never made it a secret that I'm a bigger fan of making the playoffs and seeing what happens than of tanking or simply not putting as solid of a team as possible on the court. As a blog purveyor, of course the Rockets winning, even simply above .500 is better for us than losing is. Though it's inarguable that losing with the guarantee of getting to the elite in a few years is better. The problem is that it's never a guarantee. Kyle Lowry is the reason the Rockets were winning this year, and that too is an inarguable point. Without him, the Rockets just do not have the horse to lose their best player.
Without him, who is going to step up? Clearly Kevin Martin is a lost cause as a Houston Rocket. And that's coming from one of his biggest proponents. The "trade" shattered him and while he has had a few good games, it's despite himself instead of something to see. The good thing is those few good games should allow him to be traded in a few days with a higher upside than he is showing on a nightly basis. Luis Scola has fallen off a bit but is what he has always been, a great third player. With the Rockets he's being asked to be 1C, not 3 on the best players list. At this point in his career that's not going to happen. I'm really hoping he gets traded to a team where he can do just that because as a hard worker and good guy he deserves it. If that player is Goran Dragic, that's great, but now we don't have his minutes coming off the bench and I'm sorry (ok, not really), but Johnny Flynn is just horrible. As is Terrence Williams. The point is, there isn't anyone likely to step up and actually have it matter.
But there is no joy in Rocket-ville --Kyle Lowry is out. So it looks like those of you screaming "Tank, TANK, TAAAAANNNNNNKKKKKKK!!!!!" at the beginning of the season are going to get the result for which you were looking. The Rockets loss the Raptors a few nights ago, to Cleveland last night, and the should have been loss to Brooklyn the night before were just the beginning. This team is in trouble. I hope it's worth it to you to endure the rest of this season. If the Rockets do not make a trade, or two, or three (but not seven) the rest of this season is likely over from a playoff stand point.
Or, the Rockets could just be hiding Kyle out so that no team tries to include him in a trade...