The weight conditions of Kyle Lowry in his first season in South Beach didn’t pass the standards of Pat Riley himself.
In the Miami Heat’s season exit interview, Riley made it clear that the body misfit of Lowry will be addressed moving ahead this offseason.
“I’m not saying when he was younger he wasn’t in the kind of condition that he was in this year, but he definitely is going to have to address that, and it will be addressed,” Riley said, via ESPN’s Nick Friedell.
“I think he can be in better shape, and I do believe that the pain of losing and the reminders that you send out about this might change his mind a little bit, but I do think that he can be in better shape next year.”
Lowry had a wonderful regular season for the first-seeded Miami, compiling an average of 13.4 points, 7.5 dimes, 4.5 boards while becoming the team’s de facto floor general from the often absences of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo due to injuries.
But it was in the postseason that he became unavailable when it mattered most of the time. Bothered by his hamstring injury, the veteran guard wasn’t able to suit up in eight of the 18 playoff games of the Heat, averaging an abysmal statistics of 7.8 points on 29.1% shooting.
But with the franchise’s season finally ending in a grueling Conference Finals series against the Boston Celtics, the long-time executive now only looks forward to what must lie ahead for the 36-year-old.
“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.”
