Does a prime Lowry bolster this roster into contention?

[ImaBeatDatAzz]

After watching how good RJ has been consistently since the trade, I feel like a prime Lowry on this roster would make a huge difference imo (puts us in the contending pool of teams).

Lowry/Demar/JV made ECF, and 1st in the East. You can say this RJ is equivalent to Demar, if not better, then u still got IQ sticking to his strengths and leaving the playmaking for Lowry/Barnes, then Barnes as the 1B, and Poeltl.

Do yall think a prime Lowry puts us into top 3 in the east? (iq at 2, rj at 3, Barnes and Poeltl at 4 and 5

Im guessing the bench rotation would be Davion, Brown, Dick, KO

[kwajo]

Prime Lowry was a huge floor raiser for any team, he made a difference on both ends of the floor and was incredibly under appreciated by the league for his years of leading 50-win teams. I'm not sure about top 3 in the East, but we'd be on-par with the Knicks IMO.

[redeye514]

I think we need to worry about Playoffs, before we worry about bumping into true contention.

But of course, give me Prime GROAT every day of the week and twice on Sundays, my team will always be better.

[DelAbbot]

Nope

[2019nbachamps]

No. The East is stronger now than when we were top 2 in the conference. Also, we dont have the depth now we had then.

[Potential]

The east is a lot better right now than it was in 2015-2018 with Boston, NYK, Milwaukee, Philly and even India

[ImaBeatDatAzz]

The east is a lot better right now than it was in 2015-2018 with Boston, NYK, Milwaukee, Philly and even India

With prime Lowry I would put us under Boston and Philly, but over NYK, Milwaukee (old roster), and for sure Indiana

[kalel123]

Not sure about top 3 in the East but top 6 definitely. Adding an All-Star level player without losing anybody will always elevate a team. But for contention, the starting lineup you suggest would be undersized at almost every position and our front court issue is still as prevalent as ever. Would be screwed if anything happens to Poeltl.

[GP2]

Would have been nice if Lowry and Scottie overlapped for a season.

[TheGeneral99]

I will say one thing:

If you put prime Lowry instead of Dennis on last years roster before Siakam and OG were traded, we are definitely a top 3 team in the East and would be a dark horse in the playoffs. Lowry, OG, Barnes, Siakam and Poeltl...that's a scary line-up.

People forget Lowry's actual impact was at a superstar level...he was always among the top 5-10 in RPM and Win Shares...dude was a beast.

I used to call him a 6'0 Lebron.

[raptorforlife88]

Prime Lowry was incredibly underrated (and based on the posts here still is). His BPM had him between the 8th to 14th best player in the league for five years. If you add a guy at that level it is going to significantly raise the floor of the team, and he makes everyone else better.

Lowry + Barnes is better than Lowry plus Derozan. Lowry plus Barnes/Quickley/RJ is step above that. If Barnes improves to where he's a top 20 player than yeah that's I think fairly easily a team that is behind Boston but competitive with most other teams in the East.

[2019nbachamps]

I will say one thing:

If you put prime Lowry instead of Dennis on last years roster before Siakam and OG were traded, we are definitely a top 3 team in the East and would be a dark horse in the playoffs. Lowry, OG, Barnes, Siakam and Poeltl...that's a scary line-up.

People forget Lowry's actual impact was at a superstar level...he was always among the top 5-10 in RPM and Win Shares...dude was a beast.

I used to call him a 6'0 Lebron.

He was impressive in the Bubble season. We lost Kawhi and Green (two starters), and Gasol was cooked, yet Lowry carried us to a #2 seed. We would've made the playoffs in Tampa too if we didn't decide to tank after we got hit with COVID.

I agree he was very underrated. He'll never get the respect he deserves since Toronto doesn't have the same media hype as U.S. teams.

However to answer OP's question: Prime Lowry + this team (or last season's team) isn't top 3. You need 8-10 players to compete in the NBA. We had maybe 6-7 guys last year and going into next season we have maybe a handful of proven NBA players.

[Clay Davis]

We'd go from BBQ to BBW-BBQ I don't know if the downtown core could handle that rizz

[Spida888]

No, don't think we'd be contending, but we would probably be in the 4-6 range. Our bench would still suck, and we still won't have that alpha scorer come playoffs.

Now if you put prime Raptors Kawhi on this team, that starting 5 would be interesting.

[DreamTeam09]

I kinda would like to see OG or Pascal with this group before Lowry, but s/o to Lowry tho

[MEDIC]

I think people really underrate Lowry as a leader. Your leader should.always be your hardest worker on the floor & always stands tall no matter what the situation is. Lowry's falearlessness helped everyone on the team walk a little taller.

I see a little bit of that in RJ. I feel as though the team could benefit from someone like Dillon Brooka on the team as well. Someone that just competes hard & does not GAF what anyone thinks of him on the opposing team.......but will run through a brick wall for teammates.

As far as the question goes, a prime Lowry would instantly elevate the team, but I think Lowry would get frustrated with the youth & their lack.of polish. It would still take 2 or 3 years to be top 3 in the east.

We saw those same frustrations in Fred & Pascal. Once you have built youself to a championship level player & have played with championship level veterans, it's tough to take a step back & play witth youth.

[Johnny Bball]

The east is very much on a cycle of having dominant teams. In five years when those traded picks aren't taken and those players are older or gone, it will be a very much different east. But you won't be asking if adding Lowry to a 2013 Raptors helps, it will be more like if adding him to a 2017 or 2018 Raptors helps.

[TheGeneral99]

I will say one thing:

If you put prime Lowry instead of Dennis on last years roster before Siakam and OG were traded, we are definitely a top 3 team in the East and would be a dark horse in the playoffs. Lowry, OG, Barnes, Siakam and Poeltl...that's a scary line-up.

People forget Lowry's actual impact was at a superstar level...he was always among the top 5-10 in RPM and Win Shares...dude was a beast.

I used to call him a 6'0 Lebron.

He was impressive in the Bubble season. We lost Kawhi and Green (two starters), and Gasol was cooked, yet Lowry carried us to a #2 seed. We would've made the playoffs in Tampa too if we didn't decide to tank after we got hit with COVID.

I agree he was very underrated. He'll never get the respect he deserves since Toronto doesn't have the same media hype as U.S. teams.

However to answer OP's question: Prime Lowry + this team (or last season's team) isn't top 3. You need 8-10 players to compete in the NBA. We had maybe 6-7 guys last year and going into next season we have maybe a handful of proven NBA players.

Not just the bubble season.

2014 - led the team to 48 wins
2015 - led the team to 49 wins
2016 - led the team to 56 wins and conference finals
2017 - led the team to 51 wins
2018 - led the team to 58 wins

Also remember that Casey used to stagger line-ups by playing Lowry a lot with the bench which would bolster our bench production.

If you think about it that 2016 team was not incredibly talented. Derozan in 2016 was no where what he was circa 2020-2024. Valanciunas was a very solid center but a defensive liability. Carroll was alright but hurt a lot. We had some okay pieces in Terrance, a rookie Norm, Cory Joseph and Patterson. Biyombo was an energy guy but wildly overrated. Is that more talented than Barnes, Siakam, OG, Gary, and Poeltl? You add Lowry to that line-up and I think that's a very dangerous squad. Definitely better than the 2024 Cavaliers and Knicks.

Demar also was much less efficient during his stint here compared to later on in San Antonio and Chicago.

[Basketball_Jones]

How are we over a healthy New York? OG/Bridges/Hart would make sure Lowry is pretty much nullified come playoff time. We still have no go to scorer even on Brunson or Randle level.

[Morris_Shatford]

We would be much better;
However there is a lot of overlap with the roster we have.

A prime Bosh however....