No way Lowry was going to tip his hand
TORONTO — No matter how the question was posed, Kyle Lowry wouldn’t bite.
The Toronto Raptors point guard will opt out of the final year of his contract and become a free agent, and a lucrative deal beckons.
But less than 24 hours after the Raptors’ season ended in a four-game sweep by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Lowry gave no hints about his intentions.
“Honestly man, I want to just get better, I want to have fun, I want to win a ring. I want to make sure my family is happy,” said Lowry, a father of two young boys. “And that’s all I’ve thought about right now.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t BS you guys. I would, but not this time. Not this time.”
The Raptors met with the media on their traditional post-season locker cleanout day. Hopes for the season had been high after their historic post-season run a year ago. But they collided with Cleveland earlier than expected, and the mood around their Biosteel Centre training facility Monday was one of unrealized goals.
Now Toronto heads into an off-season of uncertainty, with questions not only about the future of Lowry, but coach Dwane Casey and free agents Serge Ibaka, P.J. Tucker and Patrick Patterson.
When asked to assess his performance on the season, Casey said “could have done better. I always feel that way.”
He singled out his players’ confidence in three-point shooting, plus defensive areas such as shot challenges and rotations.
“There’s always areas in our team, in our play, that I feel like I can do a better job, our staff, we all can do better,” Casey said. “There’s nothing we can be satisfied about, with our job performance, especially after the way we went out.”