Lowry chalks up early struggles to Raptors' new offense

The Toronto Raptors hinted all summer that changes were coming to the offense after the team finished dead last in assists - and they've turned out to be big changes for star point guard Kyle Lowry.

Alterations to the Raptors' attack have boosted their assist and passing totals dramatically from previous seasons. Meanwhile, however, Lowry's scoring has plummeted from 22.4 points per game to 11.9.

He chalked up his struggles to his unfamiliarity with the new offense, which has limited his touches.

"I think the way we're moving the ball, the ball's not in my hands as much," Lowry explained to TSN's Josh Lewenberg on Monday.

Lowry's seeing 28.6 touches in the frontcourt per game this season, down from 70.3 last year. He's also holding the ball for 5.1 minutes per game, down from 6.5 last season.

Balancing out the offense necessarily means Lowry will hold the rock less, giving him fewer opportunities to score and less time to find a rhythm.

"Last couple of years, coach would give me the game for the first five, six, seven minutes of the game. I could feel out the game and get passes off and get everyone involved, and now it's like everyone has to be involved from the jump," Lowry said.

He's also shooting just 37.6 percent from the floor and 32.7 percent from deep, while only attempting 1.7 free throws per game. One possible explanation is that the Raptors aren't running as many pick-and-roll plays as they did last season.

"We're running a few, some in transition drags, but when other teams score we're in our open series and it's kind of getting off the ball, moving and cutting and reading," Lowry said.

"Right now I'm just trying to figure it out. I'm trying to work within the offense and I'm not trying to force anything."