Heat’s Kyle Lowry adjusting to bench role as NBA trade deadline looms
Veteran point guard Kyle Lowry fell out of the Miami Heat’s starting lineup in recent days, and more change could be coming for Lowry and the Heat.
The Heat continues to explore trades involving Lowry ahead of the Feb. 8 NBA trade deadline, according to multiple league sources. Lowry holds value on the trade market with his sizable expiring $29.7 million salary.
For now, Lowry is just trying to get used to his new role with the Heat.
After starting in his first 35 appearances of the season, Lowry played his second consecutive game off the bench in Sunday night’s lopsided 105-87 loss to the Orlando Magic at Kia Center. Lowry has expressed his disappointment to the media about Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s decision to move him to the bench after playing as a starter for much of the last decade.
“For me as a professional, of course I’m disappointed to have to adjust,” Lowry said, with the Heat idle until beginning a quick two-game homestand Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies. “But I haven’t played well in the last couple weeks and I understand that coach has made a decision to try to move and shake some things and get in a different flow. So as a professional, of course it’s an adjustment. But I have to make it and figure out how to help the team win.”
Lowry, who turns 38 on March 25, finished Sunday’s loss with two points on 1-of-9 shooting from the field and 0-of-6 shooting on threes, two rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes off the bench.
Lowry is averaging just two points per game on 5-of-30 (16.7 percent) shooting from the field and 0-of-18 shooting on threes in the last five games. He does have 18 assists to only five turnovers during this stretch.
When asked if he’s still on the same page with Spoelstra after moving to the bench, Lowry said: “I don’t know exactly your question. I understand what you’re saying, but I really don’t know how to answer that question.”
“Me and Spo, the first 35 games or whatever, we’ve always been on the same page,” Lowry continued. “He just made this adjustment. He’s the head coach, and I have to go with that he says and figure it out.”
Has Lowry had a conversation with Spoelstra on what the team is looking for from him in his new reserve role?
“No, not yet,” Lowry said. “We haven’t had that conversation. I think he just knows I’m a professional and I’m going to come out and do my job at a high level and try to help this team win games.”
While Lowry hasn’t played off the bench much in recent years, he did finish last season in a reserve role.
Gabe Vincent, who is now with the Los Angeles Lakers, took over as the Heat’s starting point guard in February last season while Lowry missed extended time because of a left knee issue. Vincent remained the starting point guard through the Heat’s run to the NBA Finals. This stretch marked the first time Lowry has been used off the bench since the 2012-13 season with the Toronto Raptors.
“I don’t know,” Lowry said Sunday when asked if something different is required from him as a reserve. “Honestly, this year has been different. Last year, we had Gabe and Max [Strus] and those guys were in the flow. This year, it’s only been two games for me so it’s kind of like getting re-adjusted and trying to figure out the timing of when I’m going in and all those things and the lineups.”
Lowry, who is in his 18th NBA season, is averaging just 8.2 points on 6.5 field-goal attempts and 4.4 three-point attempts per game this season. The last time Lowry averaged fewer than nine points per game in a season was in his third season in 2008-09, the last time he averaged fewer than seven field-goal attempts per game in a season was in 2009-10 and the last time he averaged fewer than five three-point attempts per game in a season was in 2012-13.
Lowry also holds a career-low usage rate (an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while on the court) of 13.3 percent this season.
“If he didn’t have that kind of feel, then he wouldn’t be the kind of player that he is today,” Spoelstra said Sunday of Lowry’s preference to play as a starter. “I’m going with this right now. I think this is an interesting direction and I’ll do whatever we feel like we have to do in this second half of the season.”
With Lowry playing as a reserve, the Heat has gone with a starting lineup of Tyler Herro, Caleb Martin, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovic and Bam Adebayo for the last two games. Both games have been losses, with the Heat currently in the middle of its first three-game losing skid since late November.
“We are not where we want to be,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat entering the week in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. “That’s not an indictment on one player. Kyle has been great as a starter and really impactful last year off the bench. So this really isn’t about him. This is about us trying to get to a higher level on both ends of the court, but also offensively. Combinations do matter, rotations do matter, lineups that bring out the best in each other do matter. And I’m still in the process of trying to help the team figure that out.”
