Well he’s gone and done it again. Kyle Lowry, the versatile master of layering his game, has added some new stripes to his pebbly, leathery, reptilian skin. While talk was still centred on whether or not Lowry was “fitting in” to the new-look, new-outlook Raptors, the point guard with the greatest smile in all the league has been quietly adding to his defensive arsenal in ways that make him a more nuanced team leader and add depth to the defensive mindset of the team overall.
The biggest, most visible shift by the numbers is that Lowry’s defensive rebounds are up to 5.8 from his previous season’s overall average of 4.0. We’re also very generous people here so, rounding up a tiny bit, that’s basically an average of 6.0. It’s a huge jump for Kyle and it shows depth and versatility in finding areas of improvement that tend to get overlooked. So much emphasis has been put on the 3-point game (in general) and passing (Raptors specific) that this is where everyone’s eyes are. While Kyle can be a reliable 3-point shooter when he’s tuned in, he’s always been the one to figure out the other deficits and do what he can to go the extra mile and deliver. We see this in his drives to the basket, in the crafty plays he deploys with DeRozan, and in the relentless way he defensively dogs opposing teams, especially those that outmatch the Raptors on paper. It’s been most comforting in playoff situations and I can remember more than a few choked breaths I could release watching Lowry outwork the Wizards defence, or the Cavs (both years, for a time). Basically he’s a tinkerer, someone expertly adept at plugging the slow leaks for each iteration of whatever Raptors team he’s been on to elevate their overall performance.
His uppage in defensive rebounds also means he’s continuing to lead the team, and is taking play-making as serious as ever, even with the heightened role of DeRozan and Miles. I like that Lowry hasn’t relaxed his grip on being the one to just throw his body out there and go for it, even when there might be a big nearby who could more nonchalantly extend an arm and simply pluck the rebound from around the net. Lowry leads, but he does it in a way where he never stops playing. He doesn’t make calls while rolling back on his heels, or resting on his laurels. Granted, even though the Raptors are showing some steady, heartening progress in their playmaking and reliable wins lately, getting comfortable with anything is not a luxury this team has ever really had. Lowry especially has never been one to relax, and that tenacity is what’s been on the job in these seemingly smaller, careful ways he’s working on his game.
The more obvious addition to Lowry’s defensive arsenal is in the way he’s putting his whole body out there, quite literally, almost every night. He’s now the league’s leader in taking charge of charges taken, with 19 under his belt so far this season. Drawing a charge is not as delicate a move as executing an expertly timed mid-air pass to dunk conversion, say, but it’s sure as hell a bold one. DeMarcus Cousins, LeBron James and Marc Gasol, all barreling at the basket, is a pretty clear indicator that one ought to get out of the way, but Lowry’s upped his already high ante of being a rubber band man, and by that I mean a man made out of rubber bands.
And his pain most always translates to team gains. Specifically in forcing reliable turnovers via offensive fouls. It might not be the most nuanced ways of getting stops but I’d argue that it’s a more powerful one. Though the motion itself is not the subtlest, the message it sends to his teammates and the opposing team is clear: he’s committed, he’s in it with his whole body. There’s no guarantee that he won’t end up hurt each and every time he takes a charge, and in a season so far rampant with some pretty awful injuries, odds and general bad feelings might seem against him.
As it’s been reported, in a sort of doomsday “what-does-it-really-mean” angle, Lowry’s minutes have decreased this season. His overall athleticism, however, hasn’t lessened along with them. It takes a unique type of mental preparedness and physical poise to take a hit from 200-plus pounds of pure athleticism, to play bigger than your body in every single game, and it puts Kyle in his own class of a new kind of strictly cerebral big man. Not to get entirely Zen but sometimes the competitive advantage comes in harnessing energy being thrown at you, or in Lowry’s case colliding with you, and channeling it back into your own actions. Lowry has admitted it’s a game changer, as in being able to shift the momentum of the game in real time. And for a team that can so often get into their own heads it feels like this could be the added advantage, the extra gear that was missing for the Raptors in the last few bouts of playoff letdowns. However these extra tools in Lowry’s defensive kit lend to the overall prospects for the team going into 2018 remain to be seen, but in the meantime I hope the team has got some really excellent masseurs on call, and/or Casey is getting Kyle a spa day for Christmas. I’m talking about renting out a Body Blitz location here, something with a plunge pool. If we want Lowry to continue playing like a Brinks truck with legs, we’re going to have to treat him right.
