Getty Kyle Lowry #7 of the Miami Heat warms up prior to Game Four against the Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference Finals at TD Garden on May 23, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Miami Heat held their first media day heading into the 2022 NBA season on Monday, September 26, during which the team’s starting point guard, Kyle Lowry, made some comments concerning team president Pat Riley and his conditioning status that didn’t sit well with fans.
The six-time All-Star appeared to get seriously fit over the summer after Riley basically called him out for being fat during his end-of-the-season press conference. “The bottom line with me and for me as far as hoping that you can get the most out of a player — is that you got to be in world-class shape. You just have to be,” Riley said, almost as a warning to Lowry on June 6, while also noting “I do think that he can be in better shape next year.”
However, when speaking to the media on Monday, the 36-year-old claimed he doesn’t know if he lost weight over the summer and as for his response to the legendary former coach’s comments, “It’s whatever,” Lowry said.
Kyle Lowry said he didn’t hear Pat Riley’s comment about conditioning but was told about it
“I didn’t even hear the comments,” Lowry said of Riley, per Sun Sentinel‘s Ira Winderman. “Someone else told me about ‘em… Honestly, he has his opinion. Everyone has their opinion and it doesn’t do anything for me. All I do is motivate myself, I always motivate myself.”
As for whether he feels like he’s in better shape than last season, “I don’t even know. I’m just working and grinding. We’ll see what happens.”
These reponses didn’t go over well with Heat fans hoping Lowry came back with a vegeance this season. “That’s a terrible attitude,” one person responded on Twitter, while another person surmised, “Sounds like someone who doesn’t care.”
“I’m ngl that was a bad response,” one fan wrote, “Yeah I’m out on Lowry,” tweeted another. One woman was turned off by his “cavalier” attitude, she suggested the Heat cut ties and trade Lowry.
Several people didn’t buy Lowry saying that he didn’t hear Riley’s message. “First lie told of the season,” one person tweeted.
Lowry Said He Did Nothing Different This Offseason
The Heat’s $85 million point guard was one of the main reasons Miami entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the East, however he fell apart during the postseason, unable to power through a nagging hamstring injury which caused him to miss eight playoff games.
Analysts across the league commented on how his weight also belabored his postseason performance. Lowry averaged the least amount of points (7.8) by any starting point guard in 10 games. Of the 86 players who took at least 50 shots during the 2022 playoffs, Lowry’s 29.1% shooting (25-of-86), ranked him dead last.
“I wish I would have been able to play a little bit better, at a higher level, but I didn’t,” Lowry said after the Celtics beat the Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, refusing to offer any excuses for his poor performance. “It just adds fuel. You don’t know how many more opportunities you will have to get back to this, so for me, honestly it was a waste of a year.”
Bleacher Report pegs Kyle Lowry as the worst contract on the Heat
“Kyle Lowry is entering his age-36 season with an average of fewer than 60 appearances per year over the last four.”
On Monday, Lowry said he stands by that statements. “I still feel the same way I felt when I spoke,” he said. “We had a great year, but if it didn’t result in championships for me, I feel the same way. I only play for championships. I play the game to be the last man standing.”
Whether that motivated him to work hard over the summer, as the workout videos posted on social media showed him looking svelte and focused, Lowry shrugged off the notion.
“Same summer as always, do the same thing every year,” he said Monday. “I just put it out a lot more [on] video. Same thing I do every single summer. It was a good summer. I don’t change what I do. I go out there and create my own environment and come back and do my jobs at the highest level.”
Lowry Said His Personal Family Issue Remains Unresolved
Kyle in the building 🏀
Lowry missed the 13 games last season due to personal reasons and told reporters on Monday that that situation continues to linger. As for whether or not it will cause him to miss more games, only time will tell. “We’ll see, we’ll see,” he said, per Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson.
“I’m always going to be attentive to it. It’s life and as you deal with things like that sometimes certain things take a back seat. For me, it’s about growing and continue to stay focused on what I have to do to help this team get to that end goal which is to get another banner.”
The former NBA champion is already ready for a fresh start. “I missed a lot of time last year. I wasn’t able to be me. It was simple as that I definitely wasn’t able to be myself because I missed myself. That wasn’t because of injury. It was a personal reason. This is a new year.”