Kyle Lowry: Still Here and Loving It

AU on the Sixer who probably shoulda ejected last offseason but hey why not let's keep him around anyway.

I forgot how much Kyle Lowry actually played when he first got to Philadelphia. In my memory he was already a spot starter at best when we picked him off the waiver wire from Miami, but he started 20 out of the 23 games he played here at the end of the season, as well as the play-in game against his old Heat squad. He played a whopping 39 minutes (and scored 18 points!!) in our game one loss to New York in the first round that year, and though he played gradually less as that series went on and Cam Payne and (eventually) Buddy Hield came to life, he still started all six games of the eventual series loss. He didn't get us where we needed to go, but he played a major part as a Sixer at a time when the team was still decently relevant.

And that probably should've been it. Plan failed, lessons learned, Kyle elsewhere. Certainly by the time it was clear the Sixers' last season would end in tears — around the time, say, that the starting lineup was getting stocked with dudes I need Basketball-Reference's help to remember — we would've expected Kyle to get bought out and head to an actual contender, not just a theoretical one. And if not at that point, then absolutely before this year, with the Sixers barely even pretending they're still expecting their main vets to come back healthy and embracing a stealth youth movement. This summer would absolutely have been the time for Kyle to sign with the Lakers or the Clippers, kick back and enjoy the half-contention, half-retirement phase of his career, and not head back to Philly until the 20-year anniversary of his Nova elite eight run.

But no. He's still here, still on the (ostensibly) active roster. He will be celebrating his 40th birthday this March in his hometown. And the more I think about it, the more into the idea I am.

First off: If Kyle Lowry actually plays meaningful minutes — maybe even meaningful minute — for this team next year, that will mean things have gone terribly, terribly wrong. Certainly not out of the realm of possibility for these Sixers, but even the predictable ways things would go wrong for this team wouldn't necessarily result in actual Lowry PT. This is why you (hopefully) get four guards — young ones, versatile ones — so even if one or maybe two of them goes down, you're not suddenly playing a non-running-or-jumping, non-driving, barely-shooting Kyle Lowry 28 minutes a night. If all goes according to plan — if all even vaguely resembles the faintest notion of plan — we won't see Lowry on the court at any point but the absolute ass-end of games (and/or the absolute ass-end of the season, depending). He's our Udonis Haslem now.

That's cool though. I don't even remember the last dude who we kept around just to be a franchise totem, and whoever it was I promise they were not as beloved, accomplished, badass (or big-assed) as Kyle Lowry. I dunno how else we were planning on using that roster spot, but I feel safe in saying that whoever this year's equivalent of Lonnie Walker IV or Jalen Hood-Schifino would be would not mean as much to this team as having Lowry around would. If he's more a mascot than a contributor now, well, that's fine — this is a city with a rich legacy of mascot greatness, and the Sixers haven't exactly always been pulling their weight in that department. Maybe he can help Franklin fuck with late-game inbounds passes, and give him a little healthy competition in the over-the-head half-court shot department. We all need a veteran mentor.

Come on the Ricky, Evan Turner: Be Our No. 1 Frenemy

And speaking of — we deserve another season, a full one, of the Lowry-McCain show. We saw glimpses of the potential for when these two generation-separated gentlebros interacted for the camera last year, but the ceiling there was really only just barely being glanced at. There's potential for true give-and-take here; McCain can teach Lowry how to do the latest version of the "Whim Whamiee" dance, and Lowry can teach McCain how to drive big men batty by standing his ground against them in the post. This season will certainly have its extended moments of morale-testing, we need these two to help keep things sweet and silly with months of pranking each other, shit-talking each other, loving each other.

Besides, if there is the slightest chance of this team doing something real this season — i.e., the slightest chance of Joel being active, healthy and more the torturer than the tortured — we may need Kyle Lowry to be our resident motherfucker, as well. Any good team still needs a respected oldhead to be the guy to yell at the franchise guy when he's not coming correct; that's certainly not gonna be Paul George and Andre Drummond couldn't do pull it off as anything but comic relief. Kyle has a ring, he has respect, and he's probably the only guy on the team who can still kick Joel's ass at FIFA. If someone needs to P.J. Tucker him (or Nick Nurse, for that matter) up a little at a key moment in the season — again, assuming our season is relevant enough to have key moments in the first place — it's Kyle or it's nobody.

And most likely we won't see hardly any of this. We'll see Kyle on the bench every so often, whooping up a Quentin Grimes three-point spree or catching the holy spirit after a VJ Edgecombe poster dunk, and remember, "Oh, right, Kyle Lowry. He still lives here." And we'll be glad he's on the bench and not on the court — but we'll be glad he's on that bench.

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Andrew Unterberger writes for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez, as part of the 'If Not, Pick Will Convey as Two Second-Rounders' section of the site. You can follow Andrew on Twitter @AUGetoffmygold and can also read him at Billboard.