Lowry happy with off-season changes
Kyle Lowry made himself available for the first time during this training camp, and with a little prompting had plenty of thoughts about the upcoming NBA season.
To hear Lowry tell it, he'll have no issues with the Toronto Raptors' relocation to Tampa for as long as the team remains there.
“I'm an American so I'm in my homeland,” Lowry said of the temporary move to Florida.
“I've got a nice place. We're all there and set up and ready to go in the sense of being here. They've done an unbelievable job with our practice facility, our locker-room. They have done a great job with making everything as `home' as possible. And it's even better because you guys aren't here.”
That's last line was in reference to the lack of media on site, something Lowry would have “enjoyed” even had the team been able to play and practise in Toronto because the league has outlawed any face-to-face interactions with media until the COVID pandemic gets under control.
As for the coming season, Lowry expects the Raptors won't be as familiar or easy to recognize as the team they have been in these past few years.
“Well, we're definitely different,” he said. “We're completely different. Aron (Baynes) is really good. He is a solid big. Chris Boucher is going to have to step up. There will be a lot more small ball, I believe. We got to do that in the bubble. But we are a different team. I think we have an opportunity to surprise some people but at the end of the day, you still got to go out there and lace 'em up and put the ball in the hole and play defence. But this is a long season, a little shortened so a short and long season, but it's not about one or two games. It's about ... the long haul.”
On the departures of Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol, Lowry said while he will miss them, he was extremely happy to see two of his brothers in control of their own situations.
“Serge looked at an opportunity for him to be happy, be successful, get paid, possibly win a championship (with the L.A. Clippers) and go on from there,” Lowry said. “Nothing changes when it comes to the stance or relationship with those guys. Those guys are always going to be my brothers. It definitely hurt because I like Serge. He's wonderful off the court. He's my guy, but I'm happy for him. Same goes for Marc (now with the L.A. Lakers) ... As long as (they're) happy, I'm happy for (them).”
Lowry has always had a close working relationship with his bigs and he sees no reason he won't have a similar good working relationship with newcomer Baynes.
“My goal is to make sure he has the best year that he's had in his career so far ... I think Aron and I, and Freddy ( Vanvliet) and Aron, will have a good relationship. This is a guy that's physical and he wants to hit people but he also wants to learn and win games, and that's the biggest thing, winning games.”
Lowry, like every player with a certain number of years under his belt, knows what a regular season takes and what a shortened off-season might mean to a player of a certain age and his ability to pack more games into a condensed schedule. That said, Lowry — who turns 35 in March — hardly sounds like a guy who is going to take his foot off the gas, even if he probably should.
“Coach will always say he's going to monitor our minutes and then play us 42 in the first game, that's what he does,” Lowry said laughing at his own little joke. “But I think myself and coach will always consistently have an open line of communication when it comes to minutes and games played, and all that stuff, with this being the shortened off-season. But I'm here to a job and y'all know I'm going to do it at the best level I can possibly do it at. And no matter what, I'm going to go out there and if he needs me to play 20 minutes, I'll play 20 minutes. If he needs me to play 48, I'll play 48. All that matters is wins.”
As for his own future, Lowry admits he's not thinking much beyond the next few days. Lowry is signed through this season and then becomes a free agent. To date there have been no talks with management about another contract beyond next year, but that sounds like Lowry's doing more than management.
“My goal is to stay focused on trying to win a championship with the Toronto Raptors,” Lowry said. “That has always been my goal. I will let the other stuff play itself out. Of course, at some point the conversation will happen but right now let's just get started, let's get into the regular season, let's get going and set the goal that we have and that is to win a championship. Other than that I haven't talked to those guys about my personal career after this year ... Right now it's all about just getting ourselves going and get ourselves to start the season and get going here in Tampa and be in a good spot.”