5 Takeaways from Kyle Lowry's Press Conference Ahead of Raptors' Return

It was as if he never left.

Kyle Lowry carried that same bravado as he walked through the bowels of Scotiabank Arena and took his seat in front of a busier-than-usual assembly of Toronto Raptors media. For him, it was home. Maybe the Miami Heat banner that hung behind him was different, but otherwise, everything felt the same.

1. Feels Like Home

There was a special feeling that hit Lowry when he landed in Toronto after a brief flight from Chicago.

"Driving down the Gardiner and seeing all the different points, seeing the CN Tower, drive past OVO, seeing BMO Field and all that stuff. It was like, damn, that’s crazy. It’s home, the place I was for a long, long time. So it was cool," he said.

His children came earlier in the week and have spent the past few days seeing friends. Lowry said they were initially reluctant to leave Toronto where he'd spent the better part of their lives growing up, but they've since settled into Miami.

"They wear shorts and T-shirts every day," he joked.

2. Pride in the Raptors

The success of the Raptors this season may have come as a surprise to some outside the organization, but Lowry isn't the least bit shocked by how well the team has done this year.

"They’ve got Freddy, Pascal, OG, Gary Trent Jr., Scottie Barnes, Nick Nurse. These guys are champions, they’re competitors, they’re guys who have chips on their shoulders. They’re young. Those guys, I don’t expect anything less than what they’re doing," he said.

The group may be at the start of their championship window much like the 2013-14 Raptors that Lowry and DeMar DeRozan led to the playoffs for the first time, but Lowry said this team is much better than that scrappy group ever was.

"We just ended up fighting and getting better as the season went on. These guys are really good. They’re different, they’re athletic, they play hard, they’re smart. Nick has done a great job," he said. "We had an off year, Toronto had an off year of missing the playoffs, a weird year last year, but they’re right back where they expected to be."

3. Lowry is Ready to See His 3-Point Record Fall

Fred VanVleet sits just two three-pointers shy of tying Lowry's single-season franchise record for most three-pointers and the 36-year-old veteran guard said he's ready to see his apprentice knock him out of the record book.

"This is one conversation we had, he’d like 'bro, I took everything you did with that first training camp, your footwork, how you do this, how you do that,' and even two summers ago, we got to work out together, we were talking about, he asked me how to do this and that. And I know, I've been keeping count of how many he needs, and I'm looking forward to him breaking it," Lowry said. "It would be cool for it to happen tonight, listen if he does it tonight, great, long as I win."

"But I'm actually looking forward to that moment. And, if it happens tonight, it'd be great for me to be able to give him a standing ovation like everyone else in the crowd would be."

4. Lowry Happy With Raptors Departure

Lowry's departure from Toronto seems to have worked out for everyone. He seems happy in Miami and thinks he has an opportunity to chase another ring and the Raptors have stepped into a new era that wouldn't have been possible if he was still with the organization.

"That’s due to the respect that I earned, but it’s also the relationship I created with Masai, Bobby, Larry, the Raptors organization. We all were in conversations at all times about everything. And, they looked at me like someone that they was like, ‘Listen, you helped build this thing, we will never disrespect you in any type of way,’ and I felt the same way," Lowry said. "It was just time. It was like naturally a good phase-out, into... the next phase, right. And that’s for Freddy, Pascal, OG to take their next steps."

5. Raptors Culture Persists

Lowry may be gone, but his stamp on the Raptors organization persists in the way that VanVleet leads the team as a fellow tough-nosed undersized guard.

"He's just the shortest one on the team. It's definitely that (mentality). It's definitely a lot of the Freddy stubbornness, the bet on yourself, and no doubt in anything you do," Lowry said. "You know that is just what the leader does: the team takes on their personality. And that's what he's been doing the last couple of years. Now it was his chance to be the guy and he's doing that at a high level. It's pretty cool to watch."

1. Feels Like Home

2. Pride in the Raptors

3. Lowry is Ready to See His 3-Point Record Fall

4. Lowry Happy With Raptors Departure

5. Raptors Culture Persists

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