The Raptors are tied for the league’s best record at 6-1, and any trepidation about whether Kyle Lowry merely lucked into his four-year, $48MM deal thanks to an aberration of a season last year is dissolving with each passing game. His 17.9 points per contest this season is precisely the same number he put up in 2013/14, when he set a new career high. While we wait to see just how well Lowry and the Raptors will continue to play, here’s more from Toronto and other Atlantic Division locales:
- Greivis Vasquez and James Johnson haven’t been Raptors teammates for long, but the point guard is already sold on the value of the forward the team signed this past summer, note Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun notes and Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports (Twitter links). “He’s a little spicy, a little crazy, but I love playing with a guy like him because I know he’s got my back,” Vasquez said.
- The decision the Celtics made to keep Phil Pressey past the date his minimum salary became guaranteed this summer is paying off with Marcus Smart injured, as Marc D’Amico of Celtics.com examines.
- Phil Jackson has made his share of changes in his eight months as Knicks president, but none of them appear to have made a difference in the team’s effectiveness, opines Marc Berman of the New York Post.