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Raptors Report Cards: Kyle Lowry

By Kevin Nimmock

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With the Toronto Raptors’ 2014/15 season finishing sooner than predicted, it is time to start looking back at the team’s players, head coach and general manager. We at Raptors Rapture present our 2014/15 report cards. Stay tuned throughout the next two weeks as we analyze each piece of the current team.

Kyle Lowry‘s 2014/15 campaign should be recounted in two chapters. From the start of the season to the All-Star Game, Lowry was incredible. He averaged 18.6 points, 7.2 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game on 42% shooting from the field going into All-Star Weekend. When the dust cleared at the end of the season, Lowry averaged 17.8 points, 6.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game on 41% shooting. During the playoffs, he regressed even further.

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With context, Lowry’s playoff meltdown looks less embarrassing. He played the best basketball of his career throughout the first half of the season while putting the Raptors on his back. When co-star DeMar DeRozan missed all of December and some of January, Lowry took over as the team’s on-court leader. He logged big minutes and had the ball in his hands more often than not, playing hero several times.

Lowry was rewarded for his stellar play with his first All-Star selection. Unfortunately, he was also rewarded with exhaustion and nagging injuries. Those injuries forced him to miss a few games down the stretch of the season. In the playoffs, he looked drained and thoroughly unable to play like his usual self. Instead, fans were left with a terrible effort from their All-Star.

In the playoffs, Lowry averaged 12.3 points, 4.8 assists and 5.5 rebounds on 31% shooting from the field. That is ugly for a player who was responsible for so much of his team’s production throughout the season. Lowry averaged a player efficiency rating of 19.3 throughout the regular season, only to collapse to 8.0 in the playoffs.

Offensively, Lowry was dominant during the first half of the season, showing off his high  intensity, high effort approach to basketball. He was a workhorse, driving into the paint, shooting well from distance, and distributing the ball effectively. He made his team better by keeping opposing defences on their toes. He is a strong, athletic scorer who can shoot from anywhere and just as easily finish around the rim.

During the second half of the season and into the playoffs, he lost his shooting touch, resulting in an ugly field goal percentage. He wasn’t as quick off the dribble, which reduced his ability to blow by defenders and to get open for catch and shoot opportunities. Lowry also seemed to lack focus, which hurt his ability to distribute the ball as effectively.

Defensively, he has traditionally been the catalyst for a strong team effort. This year, the Raps stunk on D, which should be partly blamed on Lowry. He was great, and then when the fatigue started to pile up, his effort just wasn’t there. When he did go hard, he got into foul trouble, like we saw in the playoffs. Like all other parts of the season, Lowry had great defensive moments and poor ones. Still, having him on the court in defensive sets was always preferable over any of the team’s other options at point guard.

Overall, Lowry’s fall from grace during the playoffs was particularly sad because of how hard he worked to get his team there. He put in everything, and it wasn’t sustainable. The sum total of his season, with good and bad considered, leaves us with the impression that it was a good, but not good enough campaign for the Raptors’ brightest star.

Defence: B+

Offence: B

Overall: B+

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