Seeing Dwayne Casey, DeMar DeRozan Will Be 'Weird,' Kyle Lowry Says

Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry says it will be weird to see coach Dwayne Casey and DeMar DeRozan back at the Scotiabank Arena.

The trio helped the Raptors finish as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference last season as they went on to reach the semifinals of the playoffs.

However, much like in the past, they suffered against LeBron James as they were swept by a really poor Cleveland Cavaliers side and failed to reach their potential yet again.

Since then, Casey was fired while DeRozan was involved in the trade package to the San Antonio Spurs for disgruntled star Kawhi Leonard.

DeRozan will return to Toronto when the Spurs take on the Raptors in February while Casey, now head coach of the Detroit Pistons, will be returning next week, and Lowry is not exactly looking forward to it.

“I still haven’t reflected,” Lowry told the Undefeated. “I’m not looking forward to seeing Coach next week. It’s weird. Then seeing DeMar is going to be different. It’s going to be weird. And I’m sure they are going to show a video tribute, and I might get emotional."

"I won’t cry. I won’t do that. We have always talked about it by saying that we’re going to reflect on our careers when we are done and sitting on our porches chilling sipping on some lemonade.”

Despite the wholesale changes in Toronto, it's contributed to their best-ever start of 11-1 for the season so far.

Leonard's performances have been a huge factor, but so have Lowry's, as he is averaging 17.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 11.3 assists per game this season.

Meanwhile, DeRozan is also flourishing in San Antonio as he is averaging 26.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.8 assists for his new team.

"Unbelievable. I push him even more because he is not on my team," Lowry said of DeRozan's performances. "I can push him to be a better player every single night because I can watch from afar."

"I can tell him what he is doing, what I see and help him even more because I’m not on the floor with him. I can see with the naked eye, ‘You can do this.’ When I play against him, I am going to try to take his head off. That is the relationship that the game brings."

As for Toronto, Lowry believes the whole team is playing well, but it will only matter in the long term if they can sustain it when the playoffs arrive.

"Our record is good. We’re playing well. For me, it’s long-, long-term," Lowry explained. "Stay level [headed]. You can’t worry about this and that. You got to make sure that when the time comes, April, May, June, that we are still playing."

"That’s when you get asked about what the team is and what this year is. Right now, we’re just 12 games in. It’s too early to tell. We got to just stay the path."