Lowry seen as floor general for Raptors
Coach urges more of on-court leadership role
Kyle Lowry took a few days, but when he did make himself available to the media, he was the same old Lowry. He wasn’t exactly an open book but willing to discuss the camp, his role, his relationship with the new head coach and the new marquee player brought in to replace his best friend. He still managed to roll his eyes at one question he deemed obvious to everyone but that too is part of the package you get when you’re dealing with Lowry.
If Lowry is, or ever was, stewing over the trading of DeMar DeRozan, he has steadfastly kept that to himself and that didn’t change Friday.
Lowry described his first camp under Nick Nurse as “a little more up-pace, fastpaced.”
He then warned anyone looking to get a read on this team is going to have to wait for a while. According to Lowry, Nurse is taking it slow, not putting in too many principals and just content to let the players play in these early stages and just figure it out from there.
“We’re not going to hit stride early,” Lowry predicted. “We’re going to go out there and take it day by day.”
That wasn’t the end of Lowry’s crystal ball gazing.
Beyond the obvious changes created by the addition of players like Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, Greg Monroe and others, Lowry expects fans will be surprised by some of the combinations they see on the floor in the coming weeks.
“Some people are going to be on the court that have never been together on the court before,” Lowry said. “Everyone is going to have to get used to Kawhi. That’s one thing. You have different type of lineups. You don’t know who is going to play in what lineup. It’s a long grind. Right now (Nurse) wants everyone to go, play and we’ ll figure it out.”
That speaks to the depth this team has and the progress the young guys — like Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet and Delon Wright and even sophomore OG Anunoby — have made over the summer. Those guys with two and three years under their belts are pushing hard for even more meaningful minutes. Lowry sees this as a good problem to have.
“We’re deep, man,” Lowry said. “There’s still some competition going on. It’s going to be an interesting season. There is a lot of upside, a lot of talent. It’s for us to put it together and be on the same page and for everybody to work together as one group.”
As for Lowry himself, he believes, based on his talks with Nurse, that his role will have a different look to it as well.
“Last year was a different year for me,” Lowry said. “My minutes (were) down. My shot attempts were down, my points were down. That was part of the offence. That was part of the scheme. Things have been a bit different this year, having the ball and being a little bit more assertive and a little bit more aggressive.”
Nurse said he wants Lowry more in charge of the offence than he was a year ago.
“I have asked him to take a little bit more of the offensive thought power,” Nurse said. “I am not a coach who needs to call a set every time up and down the floor. I want him to feel what is going on and run some of the stuff he likes to run or if he feels like someone needs a shot, he can tweak something. If he’s tired or out of ideas, he can look over and maybe I’ll throw a few (plays) at him. But I would like him to be more of that guy. I’m putting the ball in his stomach and he needs to run the offence a little bit.”
The expectation is that much of that offence is going to run through Leonard so the question of chemistry between those two figures to be a key.
Lowry likes where they are right now, but he expects it will get progressively better.
“We’ve been in almost every group together,” Lowry said of the first four days of training camp. “We have to be on the same page. I think we’re going to be on the same page. He’s a heck of a player and us being on the same page makes everything a lot easier and getting everyone else on the same page will come.”
Lowry doesn’t anticipate any problems meshing his own game with Leonard’s.
“He’s good, he’s really good,” Lowry said. “He’s a hell of a talent.”