Philadelphia 76ers: Kyle Lowry Signing Would Be Distinctly Anti-Process

Signing Kyle Lowry would go against everything The Process has meant for the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Toronto Raptors’ season ended Sunday night in painstakingly familiar fashion. After their most successful campaign to date, the team, while appearing in the playoffs for a franchise record fourth straight season, had their year ended by a LeBron James-led Cavaliers team. The same Cavaliers team that booted them from the postseason last year while boasting a stranglehold on the Eastern Conference like few teams have had in league history. Toronto is an above average basketball team — and that’s hasn’t been enough.

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In lieu of their defeat, rumors regarding Kyle Lowry’s future began to traverse their way through NBA cyberspace. Some reports detailed Lowry’s interest in migrating to the Western Conference this summer. Lowry himself said that winning a championship is his only goal moving forward, according to Raptors Republic’s Blake Murphy.

"A ring. Nothing else. I just want s ring." - Lowry on free agent priorities
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) May 8, 2017

Perhaps the most interesting of those rumors, however, came from ESPN’s Zach Lowe, who tabbed Philadelphia as a potential destination for Lowry. As Lowe touched on, Lowry’s contract in Toronto — should they re-sign him — would span five years in total, allotting him close to $40 million during his fifth season. He’d be 36 by the end of that fifth year.

That’s a hefty investment for a team like the Raptors, as their recent stint of success still feels as if their efforts came up woefully too short in comparison to the conference’s elite in Cleveland. LeBron James has made the finals every season since joining the Miami Heat back in 2010. Toronto has been stuck in the purgatory of not being good enough. They’ve had the most successful four year run of any team in Raptors history, largely on the back of Lowry’s efforts, yet remain far from equalizing the most competitive force in their way.

And in part, that makes Lowry’s potential desire to look elsewhere understandable. Even though joining the Western Conference presents it’s own unconquerable challenge in Golden State, there’s still an opportunity to shake up his surroundings a bit — and in turn, stir up some unforeseen potential.

It also makes any hesitance in Toronto’s front office well within reason. Shelling out a massive deal that would extend well into Lowry’s eventual decline could restrict the team financially in the future, while their current state has shown no signs of legitimate competitiveness in the league’s upper echelon. Blowing it up could be the best option, as painful as that may seem for a Raptors team that has just recently bared the fruits of their prolonged labors prior to Lowry’s emergence.

Labors that were, in large part, kickstarted by Bryan Colangelo — who now mans the Sixers’ front office.

And that is, perhaps, the most meaningful tie in this fiasco. Lowry is not only a Philly kid, but somebody who has a connection to management. If they’re able to sell him on a long term spot developing alongside the likes of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, there’s a chance that Lowry — even in his quest for a championship — vies for change and a comfortable situation above all else.

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This is a Sixers team with the ability to compete in the coming seasons. They’ll be adding at least one high-end prospect via the draft, while Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons have both flashed superstar potential at some point in the past. Assuming health, they have a chance to genuinely put some of the pieces together, both offensively and defensively, during this upcoming season — and a veteran presence like Lowry on the perimeter could be the glue that solidifies their improvements.

There’s no denying that Lowry makes the team better, especially in the short term. His spacing is something this Sixers team has desperately lacked in process years past, while his playmaking gives Brett Brown a pair of capable creators on the perimeter when he’s operating alongside Simmons. He’s the offensive punch they’ve needed and the experience boost that could up their systematic execution moving forward.

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A young team with a viable veteran to coalesce around is an appealing possibility. It’s also one that Colangelo, whose goal has always been to ramp up the pace of Sam Hinkie’s rebuild, could be committed to pursuing.

Such a move, though, presents long term consequences that could trump any momentary success — with many of them being the same consequences that could give Toronto’s front office pause.

While Philly can’t offer Lowry a five year deal, they can shell out a hefty four year payload — something Lowry is most certainly going to command. Giving that contract to Lowry, tallying around $152 million in total, puts a Sixers team that has been thoroughly committed to building through the draft in a difficult situation moving forward.

Not only do you run the risk of overpaying Lowry for subpar production during the back end of his deal, but you also put a sizable dent in the front office’s checkbooks for when Embiid and Simmons hit free agency in the coming years. Considering the fact that Robert Covington is likely to receive a raise this offseason as well, among other Sixers in the coming years, it’s easy to see the perceived benefits of Lowry’s presence souring over time.

This is the point in the Sixers’ rebuild where making significant strides forward isn’t only understandable, but expected. Chasing additional superstars is something that has been on this front office’s agenda ever since takinng over, and putting the proper pieces around Philadelphia’s youth was going to become a priority sooner rather than later with Hinkie’s departure.

A Lowry signing, though, just doesn’t feel like the correct approach to that improvement. Embiid and Simmons alone are enough to significantly boost the team’s production, while piecing together a solid rotation via mid-tier free agents is enough to — ideally — put this team into the thick of the playoff discussion moving forward. Both this season and next year present opportunities to add quality talent via the draft as well.

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Coughing up the biggest Philadelphia contract in years for a 31-year-old point guard who doesn’t eclipse 6-feet simply doesn’t jibe with the developmental curve this team has tried so hard to establish in the past. They’ll need to get better, but Lowry might not be the most sustainable route towards attaining that.

Let the Spurs have this one.