Toronto Raptors: How the Raptors build a championship team

Moving on from Rudy Gay and moving forward with Kyle Lowry

The December 9, 2013 trade of Rudy Gay to the Sacramento Kings for me is the moment that the Raptors took their first step onto the path to an NBA Title. When Ujiri returned to Toronto, both Kyle Lowry and Rudy Gay were part of the roster.

On paper, there were a lot of similarities. Both were 26 years old and in their 7th year in the league. Both averaged double-digit scoring for the Raptors in the 2012- 13 season and some of their other stats also very closely paralleled each other.

Lowry averaged 1.5 steals to Gay’s 1.4. Gay averaged 44 percent from two-point range and 32 percent from 3. Kyle averaged 43 and 36 percent respectively. Lowry got more assists and Gay got more rebounds but that makes sense given that Lowry is a point guard and Gay a small forward.

We know that the choice was made to move forward with Kyle Lowry and move on from Rudy Gay but looking at numbers alone, it’s not immediately clear why the decision was made the way it was. In my opinion, the decision came down to two things.

First, it’s all about the Benjamins. (Or the Queen Elizabeths here in the North.) In the 2012- 13 season, the Raptors paid Rudy Gay $16.5 million while Kyle Lowry came with a much more team-friendly salary of $5.8 million. For two players with such similar production, from a salary standpoint, this was kind of a no-brainer.

The second reason comes down to intangibles and anyone who watches Raptors basketball or knows anything about Kyle Lowry knows he’s the king of intangibles.

In the case of the Rudy Gay trade, I think it was Lowry’s camaraderie with DeMar DeRozan that swung the pendulum in his favor. By the time Kyle Lowry landed in Toronto, DeRozan was in his 4th season in the league and his offensive game was growing consistently. Lowry and DeRozan are one of the NBA’s great bromances but that came about because they decided, together, to lead the Raptors.

Kyle Lowry’s name had been floated in trade rumors basically his entire career and he was within a hairsbreadth of becoming a member of the New York Knicks in December of 2013. Instead, Knicks’ owner James Dolan reportedly vetoed the trade in the eleventh hour.

Having recently finished a deep dive into the Knicks during James Dolan’s ownership, I know that there isn’t much with regards to basketball that Dolan deserves to be thanked for. But this decision by Dolan is one I’m definitely grateful for.

And this series of events is another instance that makes me think about how Ujiri has the Force on his side. Sometimes a Jedi believes the right path lies in a certain direction. Like when Obi-Wan Kenobi believed that Anakin was meant to restore balance to the Force but really, that was the destiny of Anakin’s son, Luke.

Masai was ready to pull the trigger on that trade. Commenting after the trade fell through  Lowry said, “It was done”. But for Dolan deciding not to go forward, who knows where the Raptors would be. Kyle Lowry is the undisputed engine of the Raptors’ Championship team.

Of course, Kawhi Leonard made massive contributions as well, and we’ll definitely get to that, but as Kyle Lowry goes, so go the Raptors. I’m sure I’m not the only Raptors fan to have watched Kyle in the opening minutes of Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors on June 13th and say to themselves in triumph, “It’s over.”