Miami Heat can no longer afford for Kyle Lowry to just fit in

The Miami Heat are have taken quite a few blows this season. Losing Markieff Morris more than three weeks ago to an injury in Denver, he hasn’t played since.

With Jimmy Butler always being the rough and tumble type, he has found himself shelved for the last few games as well, hurting his tailbone on a hard fall in last Saturday’s Chicago Bulls win.

Kyle Lowry twisted his ankle really badly in the first game of the year and though he hasn’t missed a substantial amount of time with it, he is always on the floor and scares you every time it happens. Bam Adebayo had been dealing with a knee issue for the last few weeks and to make matters worse, he hurt his thumb in Monday’s contest against the Denver Nuggets.

It was revealed Monday afternoon that he would be down 4-6 weeks with that injury, needing surgery on the thumb. That puts the Miami Heat in a bind until he returns, certainly.

However, that also provides an opportunity for several guys, along with a need for those and others to step it up even more. One of the main components of that group is Kyle Lowry.

The Miami Heat will be without Bam Adebayo for several weeks after surgery on his thumb. In his absence, Kyle Lowry will have to do more than he has so far.

Here’s the thing about Kyle Lowry’s season so far and right off of the back, he does so many good things that it’s hard to criticize the guy. You can literally see the impact, how he makes the team go, and how he helps others elevate their game.

However, the shot-making hasn’t been there. With a career average of nearly 37 percent, he’s shooting just over 30 percent this season in Miami.

He’s also only averaging 12.5 points, his lowest total in eight seasons and though you expected the points production to drop a bit upon arriving in Miami, you didn’t expect it to be like this when it came to the ability to hit shots.

The Miami Heat will need him to revert back to some of those shoot-first tendencies. They will need him to be more than just a guy fitting in to help them win games.

They’ll need him to be a huge part of every win and the core reason that they win some games. Tyler Herro will help a ton, but Kyle Lowry has to step up at this point too, especially without Bam Adebayo and Duncan Robinson being a shell of himself.

The Miami Heat don’t need him to be the near-40 percent shooter on over seven attempts from range that he was last season in Toronto (though that would be nice), but they do need him to be better than the 31 percent shooter he has been this year.

Simply put, they can no longer afford for him to just fit in. If they want to keep standing out, then he’ll have to as well.