8. Kyle Lowry
Kyle Lowry is fantastic. Although it’s pretty close, he’s secured the best spot any point guard gets in this list. The East has some good ones, but it’s pretty clear that the Western Conference is the one with the great point guards.
Anyway, back to Lowry. He’s exceptional on both ends of the floor, and he’s one of the better three-point shooters the conference has to offer (no player in the East made more threes last season than Lowry). DeMar DeRozan is the one who got the huge payday this summer, but Lowry is the better Raptor.
He had his best shooting season ever on the most attempts he’s ever taken per game last season, hitting 38.8 of his 7.1 three-point attempts per game. All those threes helped boost his points per game up to 21.2 last season–the first time Lowry has broken the 20 points per game mark in his career.
Lowry also added 6.4 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game to the Raptors. He’s the engine that makes Toronto so good year after year–if DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas both have good seasons, the Raptors will once again finish with a top seed, largely thanks to Lowry.
Next: Number Seven