Raptors: Where do Kyle Lowry and Danny Green rank among best backcourts?
By Anisa Jamal
Where does the new Toronto Raptors back court of Kyle Lowry and Danny Green rank and compare among the rest in the NBA.
Last season, the Toronto Raptors backcourt duo of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan was arguably one of the five best in the league. A backcourt that was recently broken up via trade, a trade that sent DeRozan out and received Danny Green in return. (Also this Kawhi Leonard guy)
With DeMar gone, the Raptors back court definitely falls lower on the list. The team loses DeMar’s scoring but gains Green’s defense. When it comes to ranking the best players in the league, its easy to notice that the NBA values offense over defense. When deciding between the two players, DeRozan clearly is the first option.
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Lowry, as last season’s number two option, sacrificed some of his scoring to give way to the culture reset. The team in turn benefited from this change, so don’t be surprised if he takes on a similar role this year, whilst making room for Green alongside him as well.
With everyone curious how the Raptors will fare this upcoming season, it’s important to note that Kawhi may not reach his 2016-2017 potential right off the bat, due to his lack of play this past year.
Meaning, Lowry would have to assume a higher scoring role for the time being, should Kawhi need more rest.
Green may not be an all-star caliber player, but he could compliment Kyle perfectly. He compliments Lowry’s defensive liabilities, with the ability to guard the better/taller of the two opposing guards.
He has the ability to guard positions one-through-three. With Toronto’s many point guards, Green might be tasked with guarding opposing small forwards, often.
Where do Lowry and Green rank among the starting backcourts in the league? Well to judge that we will need to start at the very top:
The top four would look like this:
From rank 5 on is where it’s up for debate. Based simply on experience and time played together as a back court, these are where I rank the next eight:
7.Ben Simmons/ JJ Reddick
8.Russell Westbrook/Andre Roberson
9. DeMar DeRozan/Dejounte Murray
10.Victor Oladipo/Darren Collison
11.Ricky Rubio/Donovan Mitchell
12. Kyle Lowry/Danny Green
The list could change in the upcoming season, as several of the back courts on this list have only played together for a year, if at all.
Next. Where does Kawhi Leonard rank among Eastern Conference players?. dark
Its also possible that someone else beats out Danny Green for the starting shooting guard spot. We could see OG, VanVleet, or even C.J. Miles starting next season in this position. Still, no matter the backcourt mate it’s very likely Toronto’s starters remains somewhere in the 10th-20th spot.