Kyle Lowry's placid response to critics of his wrist surgery's timing: 'Come say it to my face'
Our rabbit ears don’t stretch far enough to take hold of Toronto’s airwaves, so it could be possible that Raptor fans and media are up in arms about star guard Kyle Lowry working through All-Star weekend with a bum wrist that eventually netted him season-altering surgery.
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The message boards could be loaded, the ICQ chat rolls steamin’, and the syndicated Sunday night sports shows are probably howling: Kyle Lowry did not have to take part in the Three-Point Shootout and All-Star Game (to say little of an admitted off-day round of golf on the first day of the “break”), prior to doing his rehabilitation on company time. Which, in the world of sports, is far more important than company time. Even to the Raptors’ ownership group.
The point guard could miss the rest of the regular season following wrist surgery, or he could return before expected because, well, we expect that from Kyle Lowry. Whatever the eventual return date is, understand this: if you do have a complaint about his timing issues, Lowry, kindly, would like anyone whispering along those lines to sod off:
“I didn’t pay no attention to it to be honest,” Lowry said. “I enjoyed my all-star weekend. If anybody had any problem with it, come say it to my face. That’s how I feel.”
Here’s how Kyle calmly presented his case on Monday:
The three-time All-Star was seen icing and favoring the wrist during both of his All-Star weekend events, and could not stand to suit up in time for his clubs Feb. 24 win over Boston, a full nine days after the Feb. 15 win over Charlotte that the team initially reported as ground zero for Lowry’s surgery-deserving wrist injury.
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The Raps’ point guard, on Monday, wanted to clarify that this was a career-long buildup. From Mike Ganter at the Toronto Sun:
“From what I’ve been told, it’s a 10-year process,” Lowry said.
“It’s a long process of wear and tear, and bumping and grinding, and hitting guys. It’s a little bit of wear and tear. It was just at the point where it got a little bit worse to the point where I couldn’t play. If it’s that serious for me, I knew it was something that needed to be checked on.”
That makes a whole heck of a lot of sense. Kyle Lowry has been butting heads and, presumably, wrists for a long time.
The ten-year window would have put him back in Memphis, as we’d all like to be, this time in 2007 during Lowry’s rookie year. The Villanova product put up impressive stats and gave us impressive clips during his ten-game stint with the club that season, wowing with his all-out approach and end-to-end derring-do, but the campaign was cut short after he suffered, well, a broken right wrist that went on to require surgery.
Lowry has remained a determined rebounder throughout his career, an active defender and the playcaller worth listening to above all. The 30-year old made his NBA debut on a team with Scott Padgett, though, and he was once a significant part of a trade that also counted Rafer Alston as its lead piece. This is why you can possibly understand Lowry’s insistence on pushing for added championship parts at this year’s trade deadline, with his window shrinking smaller.
He’s been doing this for so damn long at this point, that you tend to forget that the exhaustive style that may have limited his last three postseason runs was well in place a decade ago in Memphis. Where they made mixes like this, featuring Lowry barreling past players like Darko Milicic, and Lucious Harris (it’s that old):
Just because Kyle Lowry didn’t become a starter until LeBron James’ first year as a member of the Miami Heat, or an All-Star until 2014, it doesn’t mean he hasn’t been crusting up the entire NBA with his insistent, perpetual motion this entire time. With those nagging recent playoff failures casting a shadow, perhaps it would be just as kindly and nice to give Kyle Lowry the benefit of the doubt regarding his needed time off, following a decade’s worth of giving his teams a puncher’s chance.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
