LOWRY EXPECTS ROLE TO CHANGE THIS SEASON
Veteran guard believes he’ll have to supply more scoring in NBA champs’ new offence
You could say Kyle Lowry has it all now.
But it would be a mistake to say he’s satisfied.
Lowry and the Toronto Raptors made official on Tuesday his oneyear extension that ensures, barring an unexpected trade, that he has at least two more seasons in a Raptors uniform. It comes hot on the heels of his and Toronto’s first NBA championship.
It coincided with his first real up-and-down court work since June 13, on the eve of the Game 6 win over Golden State in the NBA Finals.
Lowry joked he needed a couple of oxygen tanks and a handful of breaks to get through Tuesday’s practice, but he considered the day a success.
Lowry had been awaiting clearance from the surgeon who operated on his left thumb to repair damaged ligaments. He hurt the thumb during the Eastern Conference semifinals against Philadelphia, but played through the injury the remainder of the playoffs.
According to the 33-year-old point guard, the thumb is fully healed.
He was in Quebec City for training camp and with the team in Japan for the two exhibitions, but did only light drills and shooting until Tuesday.
The extension, a one year-deal that will pay him US$31 million for his 15th season in the NBA, is both a measure of what he has already done for the team and what he can still do.
“Kyle has been at the heart of every successful run our franchise has achieved the past seven seasons,” Raptors president Masai Ujiri said in a released statement. “He is a competitor, a winner at every level, and the engine that our players and city feed off.”
Head coach Nick Nurse knows how important Lowry is to the Raptors’ success going forward. Nurse was in favour of the extension, regardless of age or wear and tear on his feisty point guard.
“If you want my opinion on it, I think he certainly deserves it,” Nurse said. “It’s nice to have him locked in for two more years.
“We know what we’re getting. We’re getting a super ultra-competitive guy, nobody plays harder. To me, he just keeps getting better and better.”
Lowry is obviously behind a lot of his teammates, but he doesn’t anticipate any drop-off by the time the opener rolls around. “I’ll be fine,” he said. General manager Bobby Webster said the negotiation was made somewhat more difficult by the Raptors’ pre-season travel. In the end, Lowry got his extra year.
“Yeah, that was always our goal,” Webster said of the clarity. “You don’t want to go into a season with anything kind of hanging over the team. So we talked early in the summer and we knew this was something that was really important to him, and it was something that was really important to us. As far as timelines go, the plan was always to have it done before the year.”
With Lowry and Marc Gasol both at practice, conversation naturally turned to roles within the team. Lowry, despite his standing as longest serving member on the roster, anticipates changes for himself.
“It’s going to change,” Lowry said. “I’ve got to be a lot more of a scorer. It’s going to be interesting how we play. We always move the ball, this, that and the other, backdoors, play through Marc (Gasol). Myself and Freddie (VanVleet) are going to be on the floor together a lot more, I believe. Pascal (Siakam) is going to get a lot more attention, and I’m going to get a lot more attention, but it’s something where I’m used to it and I’m ready for the challenge again. Got to do what’s best for the team and get back to the promised land.”
Nurse seemed to suggest the 2019-20 Lowry will be more like the pre-Kawhi Leonard player he was.
“I think there are a lot of options there,” Nurse said.
“I think, for us, it’s a little different this year. I would say that there’s two (or) three things we’re trying to patch in. I could see him playing a lot of two (shooting guard) this year and that goes to a) our needs and, b) Freddy’s emergence as well, and they’re getting used to playing together.
“I think his usage probably goes up just in general, right,” Nurse said.
“I think he was super unselfish a year ago, especially early in the year. Again, I’ve said it a few times, I would think his and Marc’s usage both goes up because there’s a different look to the team.”