Lowry Disappears Again: Are You Worried?

[RaptorsNorth]

No way Kawhi stays when he is only star and has to carry team most nights.... OG, delon and fred have also been big dissapointments..

don't forget brick layer miles.

[And1+2]

This slump happens every year.. more concerned about our bench than Lowry to be honest.

[JShuttlesworth]

Lowry has lost all confidence is his shot. He doesn't want to let the ball fly and everyone knows it, they are letting him shoot and he is missing his shots. It was bad in the loss against Denver and it was bad last night against Brooklyn. When Lowry is hitting shots he's great, no question, right now he just isn't getting it done though.

[Johnny Bball]

There were people in this forum advocating paying Lowry like John Wall... 5yrs/160m-200m

Well, he sure didn't get 75 million over 3 years, so that was pretty wrong. And pretty sure 200 was over his max, so I doubt it.

• Lowry as a 10 year vet had a max that started at 35% of 101m salary cap with 7% raises... Do the math, it's over 200m and damn right there were people in here saying to give the max.
• Not sure if I got as low as 75m over 3 years, I don't think I did... Either way is 3yr/75m a hell of a lot closer than 5 years / 160-200m ??? If you wanna bump the thread though, be my guest I'm comfortable with what I was projecting...

• Is it not common knowledge that Masai outbid for Lowry's services as there was no market for him?
• Did Jalen/Jacoby not just say there wouldn't be that many suitors for Lowry at that salary and that Masai looked out for him?... In other words 3yrs/75m is probably the value he should have received.

I remember it, you did.

No, it's not common knowledge. And for all you know he could have low-balled him and lost him to someone else on an even shorter deal. And then this year never even happens. I'm not sure why you're trying to justify now you were right when Lowry isn't really overpaid by any standard anymore. Wait... one standard... we lost last night and he shot badly. It's one game... or he's shot badly for a bunch and we're still winning and he's still playing well everywhere else.

Since we are bringing up things we said, I said this place will be a madhouse by Christmas when the schedule gets tougher and we lose a few. It didn't take until Christmas, and it was Brooklyn. So close.

[J-Roc]

Also, we're not retaining Kawhi if we're a team full of scrubs. Or if the 2nd best player is Serge Ibaka or Pascal Siakam. Masai needs to think hard about how we'll approach this playoff run, and then retaining Kawhi. We could just stick with this team for the year and even win a championship by riding Kawhi and having everyone else be inconsistent. But that's not a team he'll stick with. Takes a toll on your body being counted on for everything.

[rapswestofthe6]

Also, we're not retaining Kawhi if we're a team full of scrubs. Or if the 2nd best player is Serge Ibaka or Pascal Siakam. Masai needs to think hard about how we'll approach this playoff run, and then retaining Kawhi. We could just stick with this team for the year and even win a championship by riding Kawhi and having everyone else be inconsistent. But that's not a team he'll stick with. Takes a toll on your body being counted on for everything.

players in all professional leagues go through slumps. They are a combination of both mental and physical issues. Kyle is going through a rough patch. Other players are as well. They will bounce back. Why would you say if we're a team full of scrubs? Is Kyle a scrub? How about Ibalka, Pascal, JV, Danny? Take a stance. We wouldn't have the record we do if they are scrubs.

Kawhi isn't going to base his decision to resign off Kyle Lowry. Kyle has one year left on his deal. I'm guessing Kawhi is going to sign for more than a year. A young player like Pascal has more influence over his decision. Masai will use lowry's dollars to re-invest in a winner.

[tdotrep2]

i dont think kyle will be this bad, he's just in a massive slump. what i do worry about is when he loses confidence from missing a few shots. We do need another reliable creator because the second unit can't create jack ****. Siakam need to be playing more with them and we should be looking to acquire a shot creator.

[Kabookalu]

This slump happens every year.. more concerned about our bench than Lowry to be honest.

Yeah, I have no idea why people are acting like we've never seen this before.

[RaptorsNorth]

This slump happens every year.. more concerned about our bench than Lowry to be honest.

Yeah, I have no idea why people are acting like we've never seen this before.

and how did those seasons end ? How many times have the raptors gotten swept after these warning signs ? If anything you should be even more worried knowing what followed these typical, yearly, melt downs.

[Sandman88]

Definitely worried. Not sure how you couldn’t be. This man makes $30 mill and stars are supposed to bring a level of consistency and reliability. I think he’s unmovable at this point. Not to mention his attitude is worse than a teenage girl on her period.

[Lord_Zedd]

He'll be back playing at an all star level when the voting begins. He's always done this, and proceeds to fall off a cliff near the end of the season.

Honestly I'm not worried about Lowry and already used to it. At least he showed up in the playoffs last season, which was nice.

[XxIronChainzxX]

Now that Kawhi is playing like a superstar, I guess there's nothing left for the haters to do but freak out over Lowry. We definitely look like we need another reliable scoring option but people need to chill out.

You're not worried at how terrible he is at scoring and shooting? He was always a suspect scorer but he had a shot. Now he has neither and he's visibly shook on the court, passing up shots looking like a deer caught in headlights. You don't think this is an issue? Dude is garbage and it cannot possibly bode well for Kawhi who is giving his all out there only to look at his supposed other star playing like straight up garbage consistently.

I'm concerned with how he's been playing in this most recent stretch. His shooting is off, and the rest of the team has not been able to make it up. Only Kawhi has been able to score consistently. I'm concerned with how we've been able to generate open shots but have not been able to knock them down.

That said, Lowry is still contributing on both ends. What concerns me more than Lowry's shooting, honestly, is that his poor shooting early leads him to make poor decisions trying to make up for a miss. He did this several times during the Philly game.

[mcgrady_1]

Slumps happen to the best of them. He is still contributing in different ways but obviously we need him to get back to form to be a legit contender.

That being said, I totally trust that Masai will do what needs to be done when whatever needs to be done has to be done. Done, done and done.

[El Mas Chingon]

Calm down. He's injured.

[Yeezus_]

Lowry's historically been a good shooter. So how some of you are concerned over a 10-15 game sample size baffles me. He'll be fine.

[Uncle Dennis]

A lot of talks of an injury, how do we know this is true? Any other player in a slump and they get labelled a trash player, but Lowry seems to be excused. I think he's starting to regress to the mean, if a slump like this is abnormal, then his MVP play earlier this year should be abnormal too. He will meet somewhere in the middle, perhaps 14-15 PPG and 37% from 3, maybe less. Is that still good enough for this team? Absolutely not.

[Skeezo]

Well, he sure didn't get 75 million over 3 years, so that was pretty wrong. And pretty sure 200 was over his max, so I doubt it.

• Lowry as a 10 year vet had a max that started at 35% of 101m salary cap with 7% raises... Do the math, it's over 200m and damn right there were people in here saying to give the max.
• Not sure if I got as low as 75m over 3 years, I don't think I did... Either way is 3yr/75m a hell of a lot closer than 5 years / 160-200m ??? If you wanna bump the thread though, be my guest I'm comfortable with what I was projecting...

• Is it not common knowledge that Masai outbid for Lowry's services as there was no market for him?
• Did Jalen/Jacoby not just say there wouldn't be that many suitors for Lowry at that salary and that Masai looked out for him?... In other words 3yrs/75m is probably the value he should have received.

I remember it, you did.

No, it's not common knowledge. And for all you know he could have low-balled him and lost him to someone else on an even shorter deal. And then this year never even happens. I'm not sure why you're trying to justify now you were right when Lowry isn't really overpaid by any standard anymore. Wait... one standard... we lost last night and he shot badly. It's one game... or he's shot badly for a bunch and we're still winning and he's still playing well everywhere else.

Since we are bringing up things we said, I said this place will be a madhouse by Christmas when the schedule gets tougher and we lose a few. It didn't take until Christmas, and it was Brooklyn. So close.

• Wait, you couldn't remember that Lowry's max was 200m+ and that there was a broad base of members pushing for 160m-200m deals over 5 years, yet you remember my prediction clearly???
• Additionally, I'm not justifying anything, you brought up my prediction, not me...
• Moreover, It is common knowledge when Lowry admitted to wanting to go to Spurs but they didn't offer him a deal. Further evidence is researching the timing of the Free Agency agreements and those with cap space that needed a PG... Nobody with that positional need had more than 25m in cap space at the time of Lowry's agreement...
• As a result, the likelihood of Lowry getting a team to offer him a shorter a 2yr/70m deal rather that would have him walk away from a 3yr/75m likely wasn't there.... This is the reason that Z.Lowe said in his recent "Jump" interview that Masai has treated Lowry fairly... In other words, he could have lowballed KL, but Masai still took care of him.
• Also, tons of things allowed this season to happen (including re-signing Lowry)... However, I would argue trading for Kawhi as a greater reason and that took the re-signing of DeRozan to his deal, and drafting Poeltl to make a trade happen with SAS.

• Finally, I'm not flipping out at the way we are playing at all... I'm sure we will be fine... I'm even sure Kyle's play will turn around a bit (at least until the playoffs) ... However, it is clear Kyle doesn't have 3 more years (after this one) of high-end play in him, which is what a ton of his "Stans" were saying when they were advocating for a max deal over 5 years, hence my post...
• I will admit to being on Lowry's case because he thinks he is better than what he is... He is a pseudo-superstar who acts like a petulant child when it comes to the media and his treatment of the organization. I am a fan of the Raptors more than I am a fan of a specific player which is why I tend to take the organization's side on most things.
• The reason why everyone else is on Lowry's case right now is more because of his interview with Rachel Nichols than it is his play... He opened himself up to the criticism with that stunt... If Lowry didn't stir the pot, more people (including me) would treat his play as a slump that we hope it is.


Ohhh and here is a thread back in 2017 offseason where you and I and others have a bunch of back and forth... Go re-live it yourself https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1571897

[vesku888]

I wish someone could pull up Kyle's stats in nationally televised game this year, or just all big games against good opponents. Maybe average it all out.

I feel like he's disappeared in those games. I know he struggled in Boston, and against Golden state. Then you have his stats from the last three games.

It's definitely concerning

[thelastexit]

Guys, he’s an undersized, non athletic PG who is 33 years old.

It’s not his fault he got offered good money and took it.

It’s not his fault he’s the de facto second option on the team.

He’s a great PG who runs an offense effectively, commands a team, hustles hard, leads by example aka effort, plays strong D, and much more.

His shot isn’t dropping and he’s too old to get crafty around the rim because he’s lost two steps and can’t gain the time he needs to get his shot up through the trees due to his size.

Yes, it’s a slump.
No, we shouldn’t feel confident that he won’t get another one in the playoffs.
Yes, we know he will put everything on the line.
No, he’s not tradable without us losing our two best and young assets (Siakam or OG) - (Delon is like 26)
Yes, his last year of his contract is going to put us in shackles.

Keep moving along.


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[Charlie Sollers]

Whether he's injured or going through a slump, depending on him to be a reliable 2nd option come playoff is a recipe for disaster.