Lowry eager to begin working with Butler
“He’s supposed to speak his mind and not hold back. Sometimes he might be a little bit super aggressive and assertive, but that’s where I come in to let him yell at me and I’ll relay the message.”
The bond was so strong that Butler — two years ago — asked Lowry to be the godfather of his daughter. That stunned Lowry.
“It was like: ‘Are you serious, man?’ ” Lowry said. “It’s an honor for me to be able to do that and to be a part of his daughter’s life. He knows that if anything ever happens — God willing it never does — that I’ll hold it down. That’s important to myself and him.”
Lowry said his friendship with Butler impacted his decision to join the Heat “a lot. A lot. Me and Jimmy, we’ve been talking about this for a long time now. He was continuing to chirp about it and talk to me about it [this summer].
“But as a true friend, it doesn’t matter what decision I made; he was going to support me. But he was really on me about coming to the Heat and fulfilling some things that we talked about before. Now I’m looking forward to the opportunity to actually get back on the same team besides the Olympic team.”
Butler calls Lowry “one of my absolute best friends. As competitive as it is, we’re always laughing, always joking around.”
Their on-court chemistry should flourish. Expect to see Butler draw a second defender on drives to the basket, then dish to Lowry for an open three if Lowry’s defender sags off him.
The Lowry/ Bam Adebayo dynamic also will be fascinating to watch evolve.
There should be plenty of alley-oops and Lowry penetrations that should prompt the defense to double him, creating Lowry passes to Adebayo for open midrange shots.
Adebayo shot 45.6 percent from 10 to 15 feet last season, up from 40.9 percent in 2019-20. He
Q: What did you do differently this summer to continue to improve entering your fifth NBA season?
Adebayo: “I got in the weight room. Just because last year, I couldn’t lift as much as I could because I had my shoulder injury from the Finals. So I was thinner up top than I should’ve been. That comes with recovery. should get even more of those shots now with Lowry’s ability to draw defenders on forays to the basket.
Lowry arrives with an appreciation for Adebayo’s unique skill set for a big man.
“Bam can handle the ball,” Lowry said. “He can make plays, super athletic. He’s high energy. He’s competitive,” adding that he wants to help Adebayo “be in better spots and get easier looks, layups and dunks.
“And he’s going to do a lot for me. He’s going to set good screens. So it’s a relationship that can really benefit each other, the confidence to shoot the 15-footer when he’s open, right? Shooting that little floater, and possibly expanding the game out to the three.”
Lowry will instantly exert his leadership in the days ahead.
“A big thing for how I operate, is I want to build everyone’s confidence up to make sure you basically feel like Superman out there,” Lowry said. “And no matter what the situation is, the time, score, I want you to feel like you can do whatever you need to do to help our team win. And that’s what I think I can do for” Adebayo and others.
CHATTER
ESPN’s NBA panel named three Heat players among the top 43 in the sport: Butler at No. 16
(just behind Jayson Tatum and Devin Booker but just ahead of Trae Young), Adebayo at No. 21 (just ahead of Jrue Holiday and just behind
Kyrie Irving) and Lowry at No. 43 (just ahead of
Myles Turner but just behind Julius Randle and
Michael Porter Jr.). Duncan Robinson was rated 90th.
A Here’s one problem as
Jacoby Brissett fills in for
Tua Tagovailoa on Sunday against Las Vegas, and potentially beyond: Brissett averages 2.93 seconds to throw for his career, almost half a second longer than Tagovailoa. Brissett tends to hold onto the ball a while, and that could be
Aproblematic with a suspect offensive line.
A Tagovailoa has now had eight football injuries in the past 3 1⁄ years: a
2 broken index finger (March 2018), knee sprain (didn’t miss a game in 2018), left quadriceps bruise (missed part of a game in 2018), ankle injury (missed part of a game in 2018), high ankle sprain (missed one game in 2019), serious hip injury (in 2019, sidelined rest of season), jammed thumb on throwing hand (missed November game against the Jets last season) and now the fractured ribs.
“That injury-prone tag is a bad, bad narrative, especially early in your career, especially in Tua’s case,” ESPN’s Marcus Spears said. “The last big memory people have of you is you getting hurt.”
The Dolphins chose to overlook Tagovailoa being injury prone before the 2020 draft, but it could ultimately be a factor in motivating them to make another run at Houston’s
Deshaun Watson.
One donor who has contributed $1 million to UM’s athletic program said he severed ties with the program because he believes UM isn’t committed enough to winning in football. A top UM donor met with a key member of the Board of Trustees last week and said no immediate change is expected with the leadership of the football program.
A One scout with a National League team who has evaluated the Marlins’ system said he doesn’t believe Miami has a single starting big-league position player in the minor league system — above the low levels of the minors — to supplement outfielder
Jesus Sanchez, shortstop/ second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., and first baseman Lewin Diaz. He said the only one might be outfielder Peyton Burdick, who could be “a platoon” player or fourth outfielder.
ABarry Jackson: 305-376-3491, @flasportsbuzz