Toronto – It’s been 35 days since Kyle Lowry had surgery on his shooting wrist to remove a pebble-sized bone fragment and some other loose change.
How much longer the Toronto Raptors all-star point guard will be out of the lineup remains unclear. The only thing for sure is he won’t be playing on Tuesday night in Indiana, the first of five games left the Raptors have in the regular season.
Lowry spoke with the media for the first time since his surgery after taking part in a light workout with his teammates at the BioSteel Centre on Monday, but exactly when he might take the court remains a mystery.
A few takeaways from Lowry’s update?
His wrist remains sore, at times
It’s not up to full strength and he hasn’t yet put it through the type of aggressive, full-speed workouts that suggest he’s confident he won’t have a setback that could keep him out longer.
“I’ll get there when I get there,” he said when asked if he would be ready in time for the playoffs, which the Raptors will likely begin at home on April 15, or thereabouts. “I’m going to see how I feel. There’s no guarantee when I’m coming back.”
Lowry, who is expected to be a free agent this summer and conceivably in line for a $200-million payday, was having the best season of his career before his wrist began bothering him over all-star weekend in New Orleans. He couldn’t pinpoint how or when he aggravated it, but the presence of loose fragments in his right wrist suggest that the condition was pre-existing and all that was required was them shifting position to create a situation where he could no longer play.
Lowry participated in the three-point shootout on All-Star Saturday and in the game on Sunday, launching nine threes and making five as an Eastern Conference reserve. But he was icing his wrist over the weekend although he said he didn’t think anything significant was wrong. When he returned from a few days off on Wednesday, Feb. 22, he felt a sharp pain on his first shot at the Raptors practice facility. He had surgery five days later in New York.
Lowry was fourth in the NBA in made threes per game – 3.4 – at the all-star break and his career-best 41.7 per cent conversion rate trailed only Golden State’s Klay Thompson (42.2) among the players making at least three triples a game.
Remarkably, the Raptors haven’t just survived the absence of their most important player, they’ve thrived, running up a 14-6 mark since the break. The additions of Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker at the trade deadline have helped Toronto become the NBA’s third-best defensive team with a 102.4 rating – they were 16th before the all-star break – while fellow all-star DeMar DeRozan hasn’t missed a beat without his backcourt mate.
[relatedlinks]
Lowry enjoying new perspective from bench
Lowry’s been reduced to playing the role of the NBA’s highest-paid assistant coach.
“I see how [the coaches] think a little bit better so I won’t yell at them as much,” joked Lowry. “But for the fact that I’ve been able to help the coaches – not help the coaches – but give them my opinions and suggestions, it’s given me a little bit different outlook on everything.”
Like anyone, he’s intrigued at what the Raptors might be able to accomplish once his 22.7 points and 6.9 assists are added to what is evidently a pretty solid lineup. The Raptors are in the driver’s seat for the third seed in the East.
“The potential is there,” he said. “But we’ve got to go play. We’ve got to lace them up and keep going. There’s a difference in this time of the year and playoff time of the year. You’ve got some teams that aren’t playing for much. You’ve got some teams ready to go home. You’ve got some teams playing for everything. And then when the playoffs come, everyone is playing for that one big goal. That’s for the trophy.
“There’s a big difference from now until playoff time. … I can’t tell you the potential. I can’t tell you because once we go into the playoffs, it’s a different type of basketball game. It’s a different type of basketball game. It’s not opposite, but it’s a lot harder than the regular season.”
The question ism, when will Lowry be able to pitch in? The Raptors are typically very cautious about providing information about their players’ health and Lowry is also, but what was notable on Monday was that Lowry seemed to be erring on the side of caution regarding his status.
Status of wrist vague
Apart from ruling himself out of playing Tuesday night against Indiana he remained vague about the status of his wrist and the timing of his return. After his surgery he was projected to miss between four and six weeks. This is the fifth week and at the moment it’s not at full health.
“It’s a little sore,” Lowry said. “It was surgery. At the end of the day you’re getting cut open, you’re getting dug into, you’re getting bones scraped, you’re getting things taken out. It’s surgery. Surgery doesn’t just go pain free after surgery. I want to make sure I’m pretty much fully healthy and ready to go before I’m ready to step on the floor and help the guys.
Could he play if it was a playoff game?
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I just want to make sure I’m 100 per cent and ready to go when I’m ready to go. I’m trying to get more stuff in and make sure my wrist reacts the right way. If you do something one day and it doesn’t react the right way, then what?”
Lowry said he’s got full range of motion in his wrist, but hasn’t put it through a full range of basketball activity or even launched a high-volume of his signature deep threes.
“I haven’t shot too much from distance, but it will get there. Once it’s there, it’s there,” he said. “I’ve done a few things, I’ve dribbled a ball. I haven’t been going through four-hour workouts or game-type situations, but I’ve been able to shoot. I’ve just been doing what I have to do to make sure my wrist is strong enough. It gets fatigued quick so I just want to make sure my wrist is right.”
But Lowry remains certain that when he does return – he said his goal remains to get some game action before the playoffs – meshing with his teammates, new and old, won’t be a problem.
“It ain’t going to take no time to figure it out,” he said. “At the end of the day, I’m coming back, and they will adjust. They will adjust.”
The question remains: When?
