Kobe Bryant was selected to the All-Defensive team 12 times during his career. Derrick Rose was second in fan-voting for west guards this year, second only to one of the most transformative players of the past 20 years, Steph Curry. David Beckham is recognized as one of the best soccer players of our time. Kobe Bryant is considered one of the most clutch players of all time. Narratives rule perception, and drastically change the outlook on people and things.
Yes, Bryant was at one point an extremely talented defender and Rose was one of the league’s most exciting players. Rose, of course, has an extremely checkered history, one that a lot of people have a problem with (for good reason), but you understand how he attained his following, at least initially. Beckham was a great player, and is still very popular to this day, but he has absolutely no claim to GOAT status. Bryant remains one of the most ineffective clutch players of all time. “Mamba Mentality” and the late game “success” that comes with it, upon review, is a figment. The wider view of Bryant’s late fourth quarter displays leaves much to be desired.
The passive masses have allowed Bryant to ascend to ‘GOAT’ status. Meanwhile, the same masses see Kyle Lowry as a short point guard who’s bad in the playoffs, and now, largely ineffective.
I understand the frustration with Lowry, I do. Basketball is a game about putting the ball in the hoop and Lowry’s skills that directly translate to that end, have fallen off. It’s the indirect translation to success that he has, that validates his place as this team’s leader. However, a lot of these indirect translations read as direct to the team, the writers and some of the fans. Blake Murphy, Anthony Doyle, Joshua Howe, Louis Zatzman at least in their writings, never lose sight of Lowry’s overarching impact on success. I appealed to authority – asked the aforementioned writers to comment on Lowry – so that we might see the nuances of how Lowry is effective, spelled out over and over again.
Blake Murphy: For years, Lowry’s impact on the Raptors has been one of the most difficult to quantify and explain. His numbers are strong but modest. He doesn’t look the part of a star, offensively. And so on. There are reasons, though, that Lowry has always – ALWAYS – driven the Raptors’ success in terms of lineup and on/off data, making him a valuable piece even when his shot isn’t there (which, admittedly, has been more often of late). The first is that Lowry’s a master of the subtle arts. I don’t mean just sneaking in to take charges, either. He sees the game on offense a few passes ahead, puts teammates in the best positions to succeed for their skillsets (teammates consistently shoot better off Lowry passes), controls the team’s tempo, and while he’s no longer quite the defender he was, he’s in constant movement and is the rare guard who works as a sort of coordinator on that end, directing teammates and switches and scrambling around to fill the gaps. We’re six years into this run and Lowry continues to drive not only the team’s success in terms of winning – and please remember, that’s all net rating and on/off data measures – but almost each and every individual’s.
I’d like to remove myself from the “trade Lowry” or “team Lowry” discussions, though. Trading him makes no sense whether you think he’s the best Raptor of all time (and therefore too important to move, with the sort of ethereal institutional knowledge that would mean a comparable point guard is less effective in the same spot) or whether you think he’s the team’s limiting factor (and therefore probably untradeable at 32 and owed over $30M next year).
Anthony Doyle: Despite Lowry’s struggles this season with shooting the ball, and those struggles have been real and something the team needs him to improve upon, he remains a vital part of the team, because while his scoring is necessary, it’s just part of what makes him the valuable player that he is. The Raptors, for as talented of a team as they are, actually have a lack of playmaking on their roster, and Lowry is the best among those they do have. He excels at finding his teammates in positions where they want the ball, and has a knack for finding shot for players who need to get themselves rolling and helping them move in that direction. It’s not just the assists that he provides, although it starts there, but it’s also the fact that he sets the tone offensively which tends to bring out the same in the guys around him, and that’s contributed to the team’s offensive success when he’s on the court. As well, Lowry is a communicator defensively, often times he’s the guy calling out coverages and helping to keep things organized at that end of the floor. Finally, his toughness can be contagious. Everyone knows about the charges he takes, and for a guy his size that’s notable, but he also does this in other ways, through holding his own while being posted up by much larger players, or fighting for rebounds amongst the big men at both ends of the court, he has a tendency to come up with big, momentum changing plays through this. The shooting still needs to be there at some point, but the shooting alone doesn’t define Lowry’s value, and never has, which is why the team has always been at it’s best with him on the court.
Louis Zatzman: Lowry is like the sun; he does everything for Toronto, and casual viewers rarely notice any of it. Lowry has been the heat source for the Raptors for as long as this iteration of the team has been successful. On offence, his shooting and passing are normal point guard skills, sure. But his ability to screen, cut, and direct traffic are foundational elements that keep the team healthy. On defence, he can defend his position, sure. But he also protects the rim either in the air (through verticality) or on the ground (taking charges) when necessary. He sacrifices his body, jumps passing lanes, and sinks into the paint, frequently in just one possession. When Lowry hits his jumpers, his flares burn everything within sight, but he’s still a star when his scoring is limited. He is everything, and much like the sun, he is also over everything. Kyle Lowry has overseen the growth of the Toronto Raptors, and he is still the prime element in charge of providing health, heat, and happiness. Kyle Lowry forever.
Joshua Howe: When you’re talking about Kyle Lowry and his salience to this Raptors team (and really, any version of the club from 2013 onward), you’re talking about the very essence of what makes the race car go, the élan of Toronto’s collective soul, as it were. Without Lowry, whether he’s draining his shots or not, the symphony that is the Raptors’ offence when he’s on the hardwood becomes brassy and tuneless, a janky mess that gives off the impression of survival rather than prosperity. It’s not a surprising result—Lowry does so much more than just spread the floor: He’s one of the best in the NBA at taking charges, has mastered the art of the defensive vertical leap, knows exactly where his teammates want the ball, is a maestro in the pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop, rebounds wonderfully for a six-foot guard, and consistently makes hustle plays that indicate his relentless competitive fire.
Nick Nurse on Lowry at the start of the year, per Blake:
“I’ve never seen a guy compete the way he competes. There is a lot to love about the way he plays and what he’s brought us all, me, the organization, the team.”
Considering Lowry garners this type of praise without a cult of personality, he must be doing something right. Erm, not something, but most things. In a game that has become both more fluid, and more structured, Lowry is constantly melding the two of them. As one of the Raptors biggest proponents of advanced stats, Lowry was in on the three-pointer years before it was in vogue. I remember watching him launch away in Houston while putting up the odd triple-double. Not only was he out in front of that trend, but he’s out in front of everything else. Teams are looking – and still missing, sometimes – for glue-guys who do everything. Players like Lowry and Paul George (George is better) are leagues ahead of other All-Star’s in what they bring as a total package. The proper rotation, the deflections, spacing the floor. Terms that are often saved for journeymen, are embodied by Lowry, demanding the question of what a star is. Is a star a player who makes everyone demonstrably better? Or is a star someone who gets buckets and relaxes on defense?
George has been clowned on by fans in Indiana, Oklahoma City and league-wide for his passiveness. You’ll hear a ton of people suggest that George is overrated when he’s in a shooting slump, but Zach Lowe and Kevin Arnovitz suggest that he’s a top-10 player. Lowry indulges the same response, he is passive, but only in one particular way. He’s never passive in the ways you might see from LeBron James, DeMar DeRozan, or Russell Westbrook.
“Just continue to get back in shape, man. If I keep working at getting back in shape, my shot will come back. It’ll steadily come back, I just have to stay aggressive and keep working.” – Kyle Lowry
Therein lies the problem of the dialogue that surrounds Lowry’s play. That’s why Blake’s comment is so succinct: “For years, Lowry’s impact on the Raptors has been one of the most difficult to quantify and explain.” James, DeRozan and Westbrook are visible ALL the time, to the eye, their playstyle demands it. Lowry’s playstyle has always been visible in wins, net rating, any metric you choose. A lot of this comes back to Lowry’s contract, and what the average fan thinks a $30M player looks like. We have to come to grips, as fans, that 30 million dollars is not just reserved for James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, or Kawhi Leonard. There’s a million things to do well on the court at a given time, and while there’s nothing like Kevin Durant being able to walk up the court and hit game-winners on 50/40/90 shooting splits, there’s so much room for other players to impact the outcome of games.
Game-winners are fantastic, and I’ll never turn my nose up at them. For the same reason that Bryant is considered one of the most clutch players of all time, these days, Lowry is considered pedestrian. We want to boil the game down to one defining moment, it’s romantic and dramatic. Bryant hitting a game-winner is poetry in motion – and helps build his case for top-10 all time – but clutch statistics measure back to the 5-minute mark, and provide perspective. When people evaluate Bryant, it’s the last shot, it’s the narrative people love. Lowry treats every possession, offensive and defensive, with a deep reverence. All the shots that Bryant misses before cementing his legacy with game-winners, that’s exactly where Lowry has created his. Lowry wins the game in the first, the second, the third and the fourth quarters. He is omnipresent for the Raptors, and we can’t truly measure that yet, but the outcome is his greatest ally.
Have a blessed day.
