Kyle Lowry will have the No. 1 jersey he wore with the Villanova Wildcats retired at a ceremony Wednesday night and Lowry’s long-time friend and former Villanova teammate, Randy Foye, thinks it’s only a matter of time before a No. 7 Toronto Raptors jersey hangs from the rafters in Scotiabank Area.
Foye, an 11-year NBA veteran who played for seven teams including the Timberwolves Clippers and Nuggets, also believes Lowry deserves to one day find himself enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
“Just look at some other people who go in,” Foye said Wednesday during an appearance on Sportsnet 590 The Fan’s Good Show. “They weren’t the second-best player on a team, a leader who’s won a championship. Six-time all-star. Has basically put not only a team on his back, but also a country. Best player (Kawhi Leonard) leaves last year and everybody’s like, ‘Oh, Toronto’s done.’ Look at (the Raptors) this year, second in the East when the East is pretty good this year and just what he brings to the table. That blue-collar, hard-working (mentality). I would think people would appreciate it.
“Definite jersey retirement in Toronto but I think that as far as Hall of Fame, absolutely.”
Foye and Lowry were teammates for two seasons at Villanova in 2004-05 and 2005-06. Those teams never made it beyond the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament, but both players ended up being selected in the first round of the 2006 NBA Draft.
“Kyle brought a toughness to our program that everyone has had to live up to in the years since,” Wildcats head coach Jay Wright said in January when the jersey retirement announcement was made. “We’re so proud of all his basketball accomplishments, but mostly the man, father and husband that he’s become.”
Lowry’s NBA career began with the Memphis Grizzlies before he was moved to the Houston Rockets where he eventually became a starter. A 2012 trade to the Toronto Raptors is what really changed the trajectory of Lowry’s career and the 33-year-old help lead the franchise to its first NBA title in 2019.
“If it’s all about rings, so many dudes go in there without rings,” Foye said of Lowry, who also won an Olympic gold medal at Rio 2016 with Team USA. “So many dudes go in there with two or three all-star appearances. That guy has been to the all-star game six times, he has a ring and like I said, he didn’t only put a team on his back, or help a team win a championship, but he brought a country together from coast to coast, so that’s my argument for (his place in the HOF).”
Sportsnet’s Michael Grange recently asked Vince Carter whether or not Lowry is a Hall of Famer after Lowry became Toronto’s all-time leader in assists.
“I don’t think people will think that,” Carter said. “But if you look at his body of work, the accomplishment of winning a championship, a gold medal and now franchise leader? His body of work, without looking at the name you’re like, ‘For sure,’ (but) I think sometimes we get caught up in the name. And Kyle is not a top-10 player by name. But his body of work is close to top 10.”
[polldaddy poll=10511695]
[relatedlinks]
