Kyle Lowry says he asked Goran Dragic for No. 7 with Heat ‘out of straight respect’
Point guards Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic traded places, but they won’t be trading numbers with their new teams.
While Lowry will continue to wear No. 7 with the Miami Heat this season, Dragic decided against requesting No. 7 with the Toronto Raptors out of respect for what Lowry means to that organization. Dragic will wear No. 1 with the Raptors.
“I’ve been in this league for quite awhile and I know that Kyle, he brought a championship to this organization,” Dragic said during the Raptors’ Media Day on Monday. “So I do believe that probably his jersey is going to be in the rafters.”
Although Lowry decided to wear No. 7 with the Heat, he felt it was important to ask Dragic for the number before making it official. They were teammates for two seasons with the Houston Rockers from 2010-12.
“Goran has been a friend of mine for a long, long time now,” Lowry said after the Heat’s second training camp practice on Wednesday at FTX Arena. “And me and him have always been great competitive players against the other, and we always cheered for each other. It’s just out of straight respect for a guy that I’ve been knowing now for 10 years, 11 years now. And I just feel what he did here for this organization, and for me it’s just calling a friend and saying, ‘Listen, no disrespect. If that’s cool with you. No other number means anything to me but seven.’”
Dragic said earlier this week of that conversation with Lowry: “It was nothing. He asked me for the number I said, ‘Yeah, no problem, you’re my guy.’ You know he won a championship and everything so he deserved it. So I’m happy that he can wear No. 7 in Miami.”
The Heat traded Dragic and center Precious Achiuwa to the Raptors to acquire Lowry through a sign-and-trade deal this past offseason.
Through his first two practices with the Heat, Lowry said he’s only focused on learning how to play with his new teammates at this point.
“We’re just kind of just getting on the floor and working on our basic principles,” he said. “As a point guard, it’s just kind of leading the group with that. Right now it’s not about this, that and the other. It’s about us getting on the floor together. Right now, that’s all that really matters, is getting on the floor together, getting our offensive principles, our defensive principles kind of getting on the same page.”
WHAT’S NEW IS OLD
The Heat entered training camp this week with 10 new players on its roster, but it helps that three of them — Lowry, Markieff Morris and P.J. Tucker — are experienced veterans who have recently won NBA championships.
“It sounds daunting if you say, ‘Oh, we have 10 new players,’” Spoelstra said. “But three of them are highly decorated experienced veterans that know how to play, have an IQ for the game, have a feel for the game and have played in a lot of different systems and know how to make it work. They’re winning players. We’ll be able to figure it out.”
The Heat’s first preseason game is Monday against the Atlanta Hawks at FTX Arena.
▪ Forward and team captain Udonis Haslem remained away from the Heat on Wednesday in the wake of the recent passing of his father, Johnnie Haslem.
