Fans, players show out to celebrate Kyle Lowry as ‘greatest’ Raptor

It’s difficult to define what those eight letters put together fully encapsulate, especially within the theatre of sport.

Yet on a brisk Saturday morning in downtown Toronto, approximately 1,500 people came together to demonstrate exactly what greatest means to them.

A gathering held not for the Toronto Raptors ' all-time leading scorer, DeMar DeRozan. Not even for the player who first thrilled fans north of the border in Vince Carter. And also not for the most talented player to ever wear the franchise's uniform in the recently re-acquired Kawhi Leonard.

No, all those people filled Maple Leaf Square (A.K.A. Jurrasic park) to celebrate Kyle Lowry, who, despite not having any of those superlatives attached to his resume, has been near-unanimously deemed the "greatest Raptor of all time" by both the fans and his peers.

Why all this — a Block Party to celebrate Lowry calling it a career — for a small guard from North Philly, who arrived in Toronto with a rough-around-the-edges attitude and was never known for lighting up the box score? Of all the athletes to compete for a Toronto sports franchise, why was he now the fastest to have his jersey retired?

"The longevity, all the moments, and the stats as well, but the stats are only a little part of it. From start to finish, everything he brought," one fan who preferred to remain anonymous told Sportsnet. "I don't want to get too emotional, but ... I think for everyone, it's pretty clear."

Kuya Naredo, another fan who ended up winning tickets to "A Night For Seven," a charity gala and the final of three events celebrating Lowry over the weekend, echoed that sentiment.

"Kyle Lowry is the greatest Raptor of all time because that man is resilient. He did everything he could every day. He led Toronto, he led Canada and he led the Raptors."

And when Naredo was asked why he decided to attend Saturday morning's festivities in celebration of Lowry, his answer was simple: "Community."

"He brought Toronto together, and so we've got to come together for him."

Saturday was just the latest example of fans piling in front of Scotiabank Arena for Lowry and the Raptors — a point of esteem as far as the six-time all-star was concerned.

"We started this, the whole Jurassic Park thing. Everybody wants to have their own little version, but take pride in knowing we were the first to do this.”

And so that "community" then spent over three hours gathered together on Saturday, exploring Lowry-themed exhibits the organization had on display — including a commemorative Raptor statue — and listening to a handful of the franchise icon's former teammates speak on his lasting impact, which earned him GROAT status.

"He’s an architect of the culture that eventually put the team on the mountaintop," C.J. Miles, who played with Lowry in Toronto between 2017-19, said while addressing the crowd. "I think someone who is that embedded into a city, an organization, a team, and to be able to give his all to something like that, and it reflects him, I think that's what makes him the greatest Raptors of all time."