LA Clippers Reasons to Avoid a Lowry Trade: The Fit
The LA Clippers also need to consider how Kyle Lowry will fit in their system. We know that Lowry and Kawhi Leonard work well together – they won a title in Toronto together. But how will Lowry work alongside Paul George, and how will his relative lack of spacing affect the offense?
Lowry isn’t a bad shooter, by any means, but his 36.9% three point shooting percentage would be a step down from Patrick Beverley‘s 41.4%. The offense would certainly need to work around having one less sniper on the court, and with Bev and Lou being included in the deal, there wouldn’t be many options to play the point that can shoot it better (depending on how you feel about more Reggie minutes as the lead guard).
Among the current starters, Lowry’s usage rate (a measure of how many possessions end with Lowry scoring, assisting or turning the ball over) of 21.6% would be third, but it’s a full 8% higher than Beverley’s. You have to wonder whether adding another player with a usage rate over 20% to the starters would throw a monkey wrench into a starting lineup that is currently clicking.
The LA Clippers are finally getting comfortable after adding two superstars and trying to figure out how they’ll play together without an offseason to do so in. It seems like a less than wise idea to try to do that again, now that things are finally going well.
I’m not questioning Lowry’s abilities or whether he could contribute to the team. The question is whether he could contribute in a meaningful way quickly enough to make the team more likely to win a championship this year. With Kawhi entering free agency, and all of the stars getting a year older, the LA Clippers can’t afford to throw away another year while figuring out the offense.