4d
Kyle Lowry Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: G
Born: 03/25/86
Height: 6-0 / 1.83
Weight:175 lbs. / 79.4 kg.
Salary: $28,903,704
Born: 03/25/86
Height: 6-0 / 1.83
Weight:175 lbs. / 79.4 kg.
Salary: $28,903,704
Josh Lewenberg: Here’s Nurse on Lowry: “I love him. 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.” Says he had to sacrifice some touches in the new O last year, but plan is to get the ball in his hands more.
Josh Lewenberg: Nurse said he’s spoken with most of the Raptors’ (current) players. He met with Lowry when he was in town last week and plans on going to see JV, DeRozan and Ibaka over the coming weeks.
There are two ways to look at the hiring of Nurse from the perspective of a Valanciunas supporter. First would be that he does not fit the small-ball, 3-point-heavy direction toward which Nurse will surely take the offense. That’s already gotten renewed trade talk bubbling around Valanciunas. But sources with knowledge of the situation say that’s not likely, that Valaniunas and Nurse will go nicely together. Valanciunas and Nurse had a good working relationship, and there is a sense that Valanciunas will only be encouraged to develop more confidence in his perimeter game, in an effort to space the floor and create passing and driving lanes for guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.
DeRozan, Lowry and Jonas Valanciunas will likely garner the most interest on the market, though Ujiri could look to cut salary in the form of top disappointment Serge Ibaka or Norman Powell, who is about to see his salary take a leap as his extension kicks in.
The product of those years of decision-making brought a bunch of players to the city who have built a special connection with the fanbase, even if they don’t have the same star-level talent as Embiid. Hinkie discussed a bunch of his former players who he remains a big fan of — he raved about former Rockets guard Kyle Lowry — and did a decent enough job of summing up why the fans love a scrapper like McConnell. Hinkie: “I have a special place in my heart for a lot of the players we had in Philly, some of which are still there. Joel Embiid and I are still close, I love him and watch on pins and needles when he plays without his mask or something silly happens. T.J. McConnell I love and sort of what he stands for, Robert Covington I love, everywhere he’s been … I like people who have big dreams for themselves in whatever package they’re in, and trying to outkick their coverage and overachieve.”
Exec weighs in: “If anything does happen with that roster, Lowry is probably the guy who makes the most sense. He can be hard-headed, that was always his reputation, but he seems to have mellowed out now that he’s older. He’s tough and he has two years left on the contract, which makes it easy to take, especially if you can get rid of a bad deal on your books. I think that is what Toronto is going to be looking at with him and of all the possibilities, that’s the most likely.”
