Last season, Kyle Lowry was the name that every expert said should be an All-Star. There was no debating it, Kyle Lowry should’ve been an All-Star last year and then, he completely snapped and led his Toronto Raptors on a nice run into the playoffs coached by Dwane Casey.
Last years Raptors team was a surprise, they were admittedly in full tank mode after the acquisition of Rudy Gay didn’t work out and they sent him away to the Sacramento Kings. So Kyle Lowry, DeMar Derozan and the bunch surprised some teams and made it to the playoffs.
This year, the Raptors are no surprise and the NBA is ready for them. Toronto is currently in the top half of the Eastern Conference standings, and managed to stay there even while their leading scorer at the time, DeMar DeRozan, went down with an injury that forced him to miss his team’s last 18 games. Derozan but is expected to return soon, as early as Wednesday.
Lowry has stepped up huge during DeRozan’s absence to avoid any sliding in the standings. Lowry is averaging career highs with 20.7 points per game and 7.6 assists per game to go along with a 44.9 field goal percentage, but in terms of All-Star voting, the controllers of the All-Star teams, the fans, haven’t even noticed.
Lowry is just fourth among guards in the East, and with John Wall and Dwyane Wade leading the way by leaps and bounds, catching up to them may be too much to ask for. Don’t forget Bulls guards Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose might cause some concern for Lowry’s voting chances.
So in order to make the All-Star team, Lowry will need to be voted in as a reserve by the coaches. And the Raptors head coach Dwane Casey has now threatened physical violence to those that may choose to do otherwise. Hopefully as a joke?
Dwane Casey, on Kyle Lowry's All-Star bid and the flaws of fan voting: pic.twitter.com/ngCobbbR3q
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) January 6, 2015
Kyle Lowry might not have anything to worry about. The East is thin at the guard spot and he will presumably be voted in to the team either by the fans or the coaches. Now if he was in the West, Casey might have to get his hands ready for a fight because there will be a ton of snubs out West with guys like Mike Conley, Klay Thompson and Damian Lillard not trending well to make the team.
I would enjoy seeing Casey fight someone like Kevin McHale or Tom Thibodeau, that would be entertaining to see.
