Kyle Lowry took some time before he became the “Kyle Lowry.” Before his time with the Toronto Raptors, he was labeled a trouble maker and was never a consistent starting Point Guard. His road to stardom was an unconventional one, but still a good one to read nonetheless.
To say Kyle Lowry’s road to stardom was an easy one, you’d be wrong. Up until his time with the Toronto Raptors, Kyle Lowry was viewed as a second or third option as a point guard. A very replaceable piece that was labeled as a troublemaker from one of his former coaches. A label that would stop haunting him once he got traded to Toronto.
So what was Lowry’s road before he found glory in Toronto?
2006 NBA Draft, June 28, 2006:
Kyle Lowry was drafted 24th overall by the Memphis Grizzlies from the University of Villanova. Described as a gym rat and a player who will fight for every loose ball. He is always ready to fight and fight for every loose ball.
The great Stephen A. Smith described him as a “Disruptor,” someone who will wreak havoc for the Memphis Grizzlies. His biggest weakness mentioned by the ESPN analyst desk was never his size, but his shooting. He was described as a poor shooter and put in the same category as Rajan Rondo then.
Tough and gritty. Those are the words that best described Kyle Lowry out of the draft. It’s the reason fans hate or love Kyle Lowry, even today.
Memphis Grizzlies
Lowry’s first season was one to forget. He played 10 games off the bench before ultimately breaking his wrist that caused him to go through a season-ending surgery.
His second season was slightly better. He didn’t miss a game and he served as a back-up to someone who we’d thought would be the face of the Toronto Raptors franchise for a long time, Damon Stoudamire. For the second half of the season, he was the backup point guard for a young Mike Conley. He would post an average of 9.6 points and 3.6 assists on 43.6 percent shooting from the field.
The middle of the third season is where things would fall apart for Kyle Lowry and the Memphis Grizzlies. Once head coach Lionel Hollins was hired in January 2009, Lowry’s days were numbered. Hollins would make Conley the starting point guard, and Hollins would later describe Lowry as a bad influence.
Houston Rockets
The feud with Hollins wouldn’t last long, Lowry was traded just a month later to the Houston Rockets who were in a playoff position. This would be Lowry’s first playoff appearance and he played significant minutes playing against the eventual champions, the 2009 Los Angeles Lakers.
The season after losing out against Kobe’s Lakers in the playoffs, Lowry would continue being a backup point guard for the Houston Rockets. He eventually became their starting point guard in his third season for the Houston Rockets. He would lead the Rockets to a 43-39 record, but that still wasn’t enough to net them a playoff ticket in a very stacked western conference.
His last season with the Houston Rockets was slightly better, but once again even with a positive record (34-32 in lockout season), they still failed to make the playoffs with Lowry as their primary point guard. The Rockets would ultimately trade Lowry for draft picks to make cap space for James Harden.
Consecutive first-round exits with Toronto Raptors
It is hard to mention Kyle Lowry’s success without bringing up DeMar DeRozan. Together they would pave the way for the Raptors’ success in the 2010s, not to mention their bromance was the best in NBA history.
Though Lowry’s first season with the Toronto Raptors was one to forget, it wouldn’t take long for him to have his breakthrough season. In his second season, he would break career-highs across the board: points, assists, three-point percentage… His success also aided DeRozan’s development as he got his first All-Star nod that year (2013-2014).
Lowry would lead the Raptors back into the playoffs for the first time in five seasons, but it wouldn’t last long. In Game 7, with the Nets leading by one, the Raptors had the final possession of the game. Kyle Lowry had his shot blocked by Paul Pierce in what was the final shot of the series. That left Lowry devastated and on the floor where he’d get helped back up by no one other than DeRozan.
It’d be the first of many heartbreaking eliminations with the Raptors.
The next season didn’t see Kyle Lowry back down. He’d put up similar numbers and get his first All-Star selection at the age of 28. They finished first in their division for a second straight year but their regular-season showing was not parallel to their playoff showing. They got swept by the Washington Wizards and Lowry had his worst playoff performance to this day.
In the four games against the Wizards, Lowry had a field goal percentage of 31.6 % and shot the three at 21.7%. It was an all-time choke performance from Lowry, and something had to change.
The “LeBronto” era
Before we get to LeBron, let’s address the change Lowry went through in the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 seasons. Lowry would have his best two seasons of his career following the 0-4 sweep against the Wizards. He went from averaging nearly 18 points a game the past two seasons to averaging 21 and 22, respectively.
He made the All-Star team both seasons and even made a third-team All-NBA team in 2016. This is where Lowry would assert himself as a top-five point guard in the league. It just never so happened that his individual success ever translated to team success outside the regular season.
They’d finish with over 50 wins both seasons to lose to LeBron in the conference finals in 2016, and in the semi-finals in 2017. Lowry cannot be to blame here, he and DeRozan had no real supporting cast. The third-best player on the Toronto Raptors was averaging 7.5 points, while the third-best player on the Cavs was Kevin Love. The fact that the Raptors even got two games from them in 2016 shows you how good DeRozan and Lowry were.
The only real chance Lowry and the Raptors seemed to have against LeBron was the 2017-2018 season. Lowry had taken a step back from scoring and the Raptors had their best season in history with 59 wins — only the Rockets had more wins that season with 65. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost Kyrie and completely revamped their team in the middle of the season.
The time to finally beat LeBron was now for the Toronto Raptors and most expected them to beat them after seeing the Cavaliers struggle against the Pacers. Except, much like their last season, the Raptors were swept yet again. In three consecutive playoffs facing LeBron, the Raptors were 2-12. It was clear that the DeRozan-Lowry experiment was never going to work. DeRozan was a great player but was never great enough to be the number one option on a championship team.
That is why what was going to happen next was the best thing to happen to Lowry’s career.
Lowry went from very good point guard to future Hall of Famer in the span of a year
His numbers may have dipped during the season but there was never a season that he played such a crucial part to the team’s system. New coach, Nick Nurse,maximized his playmaking and made him shoot less, but it worked to perfection.
Another great regular season was actually followed by a great playoff run this time around for Lowry and the Raptors.
The very defining Kyle Lowry moment of that whole season was Lowry scoring the first 11 points in Game 6 against the Warriors. He ended the game with a 26/7/10 scoreline, alongside three steals. That was the game Lowry took full control of the game and had that face saying “I’m not (explicit word) losing this.”
That will be the game fans will remember Kyle Lowry for. Not his time in the Memphis Grizzlies where he was labeled as a troublemaker. Not the time he got benched in place of Goran Dragic with the Rockets, or when Paul Pierce blocked a potential game-winner.
Lowry will be remembered for his performance in the finals, being the perfect floor general, taking charges against anyone (even Embiid), his pull up threes with 20 seconds up on the shot clock, and most especially the heart and grit he gives every time he steps on the court for the Toronto Raptors.
Sometimes one little thing is what can cement a player’s legacy, and in this case, it was the Kahwi trade. From repeatedly getting bounced early in the playoffs to winning the whole thing.
Surely a future Hall of Famer and hopefully the first Raptor to have his number retired when it is all said and done. And though no one will remember him as “The Disruptor,” Stephen A. Smith’s assessment was pretty spot-on looking back at it 14 years later.