The Miami Heat responded to a brutal season with a sign and trade involving All-Star guard, Kyle Lowry. The sign and trade made sense for both Lowry and the Heat.
Lowry is best friends with Jimmy Butler, is a good leader on and off the court, always gives his best effort, and most importantly for Heat fans, is a new guy to cheer for. Lowry was welcomed with open arms, but this is just the honeymoon phase.
Lowry knows better than anyone, that it’s time to work. The Heat are not a middle of the road young team looking for their first taste of the playoffs.
This is a team that was an Adebayo and Dragic injury away from bringing a fourth banner home. To bring that fourth banner to Miami, Lowry is going to have to maximize his skillset in ways that can separate Miami from what is a strong Eastern Conference.
What role does he play this year? To look at what he’ll do this year, we need to briefly look at what he did to win an NBA championship a few seasons back.
Miami Heat: Defining Kyle Lowry’s Role In Roation… The Floor General
In the 2018-19 season, when Lowry played with Kawhi Leonard and eventually won the 2019 NBA Championship, Lowry averaged 15 points, 6.6 assists and 4.9 rebounds during that run. And all while Kawhi was the main guy, Lowry was there to help him when he needed it.
He served as the main ball handler and playmaker, but knew when to give the ball to Kawhi (which happened to be almost every play). Lowry didn’t need to be the big superstar, but he needed to be the perfect co-star.
This is where his main role is here with the Miami Heat. His role requires a lot of work, but can be said simply.
Help Jimmy Butler. Butler, over the past two seasons has been looked at to do it all for the Heat on both sides of the ball and at an elite level.
Jimmy pays no mind shouldering the load, but this plan is not ideal for your franchise guy. Lowry needs to be able to relieve the pressure off Jimmy’s shoulders, where Butler can play his game.
Jimmy just wants to drive, get his lay ups, and free throws, then get back on defense to play the passing lanes.
Miami Heat: Kyle Lowry Will Distribute The Rock So That Jimmy Doesn’t Have To
When your franchise guy doesn’t have to worry about getting everyone their shots because he knows his point guard has it covered, he’ll be able to play his game at an elite level. Butler, in this current day, still loves to create for others but maybe Lowry can help instill more ways of winning ball games.
Whether it be via creating for himself or others, Lowry just needs to make life easier for Miami’s superstar. Well, how does Lowry make life easier for Butler then?
The answer to that is simple as well. That’s by making life easier for everyone else.
Looking at the roster, you see where Lowry can improve their game, which then raises the ceiling for the team. This addition is extremely crucial for Bam Adebayo.
Giving Bam a point guard that can create off a pick and roll or drive and dish easily improves his numbers. This can help Bam become confident in his jumper and help find his spots on the court where he feels most comfortable.
Bam is always looking to help Butler facilitate, but now he doesn’t have to have that busy mindset. He can come in and look to take his next step in development, that will only help benefit the team.
Shooters can actually get the opportunity to catch and shoot now. Duncan and Tyler had to run miles and come off screens to be able to get a shot up.
With Lowry attacking the basket and being able to penetrate the defense, teams will have to help, which can cause kick outs that will let the boys be the snipers that they want to be.
Miami Heat: Kyle Lowry’s Defense Will Be Just As Valuable As Anything Else
Lowry solves a lot of problems offensively, but defensively he’s just as special. Butler now has a point guard who loves to play defense and wreak havoc in the passing lanes.
Lowry is a smart defender and the fact that these younger guards get to watch and learn from Butler and Lowry will only help this team throughout the season. Lowry brings a variety of attributes to the team too, such as being a capable shooter and hitting big shots at any moment.
As an overall clutch and unpredictable player, Erik Spoelstra will probably run some interesting lineups and schemes throughout the season. The Miami Heat shocked everyone with their direct handoffs with Bam and Duncan, with that being simple yet successful, but it’s intriguing to think of whats in store.
There are lots of top-heavy talented teams, but being able to be versatile can allow the Heat to throw teams off their game plans come playoff time. There is another expectation for Lowry that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, but is still a huge priority.
What’s that though?
Miami Heat: Kyle Lowry Also Brings Value That Doesn’t Always Show Up In Stats
Lowry is going to have to re-energize this team. Running it back with almost exactly the same team can be lackluster after a while.
Everything becomes predictable and once you felt like you’ve peaked, it’s hard to run it back and say things will be different. Miami’s rivals, the Milwaukee Bucks made a similar move in last year’s offseason.
They needed a shake up… bad, and now they’re NBA champions. Obviously there are other contributing factors that play into winning championships, but you need talent and different pieces to give yourself a chance.
With Jimmy Butler recently celebrating his 32nd birthday, the window is looking tighter and tighter every season. Now, the Heat have Lowry, which gives the team some newfound confidence and rightfully so.
Both Lowry and the Miami Heat have something to prove coming into this season. The Heat are ready to erase the talks of being ‘bubble flukes’ and show that they are a team to be taken seriously.
Lowry is ready to show, despite his age, he can still contribute to winning a championship. It’s all about filling roles and Kyle Lowry knows what he signed up for.
Lowry’s role was giving his co-star, Kawhi, a chance to breathe so he could take over games. Kyle Lowry can now come in and hopefully, do the same for the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler.