There’s a predictable movement going on in the days after the Heat season. It’s the “Kyle Lowry can’t help them” movement, and it’s grown louder.
That’s because Lowry didn’t just have a tortured spring between a hamstring injury and hamstrung game. It’s because of his older age and oversized condition, his smaller size and body size, the Heat’s demanding culture and his apparently wayward condition.
In a sport of streamlined bodies, Lowry looks what people once euphemistically called “husky.” He always has, too, even in his best years. It gets traffic in a new market when he doesn’t seem to hold up his end of the bargain.
None of that should be the first issue, either. It’s who Lowry wants to be now. That’s the prime issue. It’s whether after getting hurt at 36, after shooting 29% and averaging 7.8 points a game in the playoffs, he has a wake-up call of sorts or drifts down the black hole many aging athletes do near the end.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was on another topic Tuesday when he said, “It doesn’t matter what your age is, don’t believe the cliché you can only make big improvement your first few years. Jimmy Butler is an example of that.”
Butler, at 32, performed again like he hadn’t three previous franchises. That says something about him and the Heat. But this isn’t about Butler. It’s about Lowry, who turns 37 before the next playoffs.
This he-can’t-play movement is overdone in the sense it focused only on the playoffs. In February, Lowry shot 49.3% (and 52.3 on 3-pointers) while averaging 13.2 points, 6.1 assists and 2.3 turnovers. That’s a good February for a player who typically picks up his game in April.
“Kyle was in an incredible groove about six weeks before the playoffs,’’ Spoelstra said. “He’s an example if we started the playoffs then, it would’ve been a perfect time for them.”
He had a family issue and missed the start of March. He injured the hamstring early in the playoffs. And, well, it often wasn’t pretty in the playoffs.
Was it conditioning? That’s hard to say. Everyone points at Lowry’s husky body, but teammate Tyler Herro was hurt these playoffs, too. He’s 23. He’s thin. Sometimes there’s no convenient narrative to pack into a story.
But Heat president Pat Riley has a phrase that goes something like, “The older you are, the more you have to work to stay in shape.” He uses the phrase “world class” for the shape he demands players to have — and it comes with a personal story.
Los Angeles Lakers coach Bill Sharman told a 29-year-old Riley the only way to make the team was to report in world-class shape in the next training camp. Sharman gave Riley a workout regimen. Riley dedicated himself. Even on a little getaway before the season started, he told his wife, Chris, to drop him off and drive ahead five miles. He jogged it.
The Heat past is full of players who were injected with that conditioning passion for short-term success. Ike Austin lost 60 pounds, was named the league’s Most Improved Player and got a $15 million contract form Utah.
Shaquille O’Neal reported at 370 pounds in the summer of 2004. He was 323 pounds by the next playoffs. James Johnson. Wayne Ellington. Dion Waiters. They had the same short-term story of losing weight, improving condition and making a lot of money.
Lowry knows what it takes to win at the highest levels, considering he won a title in Toronto. He called this season a “waste of a year,’’ because the Heat didn’t get the ring.
How many good years does a 37-year-old point guard with a pit-bull mentality still have? Lowry’s contract says two expensive years are left, for sure.
Few players are like New England quarterback Tom Brady and seemingly in charge of the time left of the clock. Most get old quickly, most commonly in the playoffs. Look at Chris Paul. He looked good at 37 right until he couldn’t make a play in Phoenix’s playoffs.
Did Lowry get old quickly these playoffs, too? Or was he just hurt? Will conditioning help that? It can’t hurt.
Dwyane Wade had nagging issues from his final season with the Big Three Era in 2014-15 until his final season in 2018-19. He played 72 games.
“I lived in the trainer’s room, making sure my body could go,’’ Wade said.
Heat employees at Game 7 on Sunday wore a T-shirt that said, “Culture.” They believe it. Spoelstra repeatedly says it’s also not for everyone. Of course, in a hallmark of his optimistic coaching, Spoelstra said Lowry will report, “in the best shape of his life next season.”
That’s the question, isn’t it? It’s not if Lowry can help — at least not yet. The question is how much work he’s willing to do to be in shape to help.
