Lowry comfortable, ready to give more
Lowry wanted to chase a ring and be a max player, and his camp was telling other teams he wanted out until nearly the last moment; the Raptors, and Ujiri, want to win a title. Nobody is getting precisely what they want.
But, you make the best of it. Lowry said, “I believe it’s the best place to win a ring, and even it wasn’t, I want to make it that. But I believe it’s the best place to win a ring.” It’s not, of course, but San Antonio, Houston and Minnesota chose different paths. Asked if he considered leaving Toronto, Lowry said he did.
“You know, you do consider it,” Lowry said. “You know, you say you’ve been here five years, what about this, what about this new adventure, what about trying to start something new, what about trying this or trying that? The thought process is always there. If you say you want to change your job, or you want to work on something else, there’s always a thought process that, hmm, that could be interesting. But you’re comfortable, you’re happy, you want to give more. You feel like you can give more, that makes the decision a lot easier.”
Comfortable. Happy. Lowry is like this: He grouses sometimes, then gives more than any other Raptor can. If he thinks he can give more, that would mean excelling in the playoffs, and it would mean being a franchise centrepiece without any of the negativity that frustrated so many in the organization last year.
“I’ve been in this position now really (four) full years of being a (lead player) there’s a lot that goes into it,” Lowry said.
Asked how he could be better, Lowry named being a better shooter, a better leader, healthy. Asked how he has grown as a leader and what more he could do, he said, “I think just being able to face all types of challenges: bad stretches, bad games, media criticizing you. You have to be able to take that and make it into a positive and somehow accept it, face it head on, and try not to shy back. Because at the end of the day everyone’s going to look at you and you have to be able to say, this is why this is happening.”
“Fix it. Don’t pout on it, don’t dwell on it, make yourself better. Make your team better. Make the organization better, make your life better. Never think about it negatively.”
Lowry underwent a career renaissance here after years of scrapes, of obstinance, of not being willing to trust people. The organization brought him back, and Lowry has one more chance to be everything he has always believed he could be. He won’t get that title here; he and the Raptors can pour their hearts out here for the next few years, and it may amount to nothing of glorious consequence.
But it’s worth trying anyway, to see what you can be. Kyle Lowry is still relatively new to being a star. Now he only has so many years left to get it right.