duncan228
12-19-2008, 11:44 PM
Spurs' Bowen adapts to life on the bench (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_Bowen_adapts_to_life_on_the_bench.html)
By Jeff McDonald
For 555 games spanning eight seasons, Bruce Bowen could always count on it.
If he was in uniform — and with only one exception, he was always in uniform — his name was in the Spurs' starting lineup. Etched in stone, not written in pencil.
That is, until last month.
Looking to infuse his starting lineup with a bit of youth and offensive firepower during an early-season lull, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich moved Bowen to the bench.
Bowen could have fought the change. He could have complained. He could have pointed to his three NBA championship rings and bellyached for respect.
Bowen did none of those things. If he had, he wouldn't have been Bowen.
“As a player and as a competitor, you want to be out there as much as you can,” said Bowen, an eight-time member of the NBA's All-Defensive Team. “When things happen this way, you have to be able to roll with it. You deal with it in a way where you aren't a distraction.”
At 37, the oldest player on the league's oldest team has found himself in the midst of a Spurs youth movement.
As Popovich has moved to work younger players into the rotation — particularly guard Roger Mason Jr. and rookie George Hill — Bowen has had his minutes slashed. He is averaging 21.8 per game, his fewest since 1999-2000, when he averaged 12.7 in 69 games split between Philadelphia and Miami.
After starting the first 555 games of his Spurs career, Bowen has come off the bench in 18 of 25 contests this season. He is likely to open the game in reserve again tonight, when the Spurs return home to face Toronto after an 0-2 road swing.
“Bruce has been great,” Popovich said. “He understands we're trying to work in some younger players right now, and he's been a total pro. We need him, and we're going to continue to need him.”
At this time last season, Bowen was riding the NBA's longest streak of consecutive starts, one that would reach 500 games. It ended not by Popovich's hand, but by NBA Executive VP Stu Jackson's — courtesy of a one-game suspension the league handed Bowen for kicking New Orleans' Chris Paul in a game last March.
Now in his 14th NBA season, Bowen is being used as a situational defender, often clocking in for less than 20 minutes a night.
Popovich first informed Bowen of his new, reduced role before a Nov. 11 game against the Knicks. The coach admits it wasn't a pleasant task.
Bowen didn't exactly turn cartwheels at the news. But he says he understood.
“What could I say?” Bowen said. “There's nothing I can say that was going to change it.”
Bowen isn't the only Spurs veteran ceding minutes this season. Testament to Popovich's trial-and-error approach to his early-season rotation, there are five players who have logged at least one start and at least one DNP-Coach's Decision.
“We're trying to figure out what works best, who works best with each other,” said Tim Duncan, one of the few who can count on consistent minutes each night. “Until we get there, we're going to keep tweaking.”
The motto of the typical Spurs bench player could be borrowed from the Boy Scouts: “Be prepared.”
Bowen demonstrated an innate grasp of that concept in what arguably remains the Spurs' most stirring victory of the season, a Dec. 9 double-overtime thriller at Dallas.
The Mavericks' J.J. Barea was jitterbugging all over the Spurs in the fourth quarter. Having finally seen enough, Popovich turned to his once-and-future defensive stopper to, well, put a stop to it.
Not only did Bowen help slow Barea, he also spent crunch time minutes guarding players as disparate as Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry. And when it came time to win the game, it was Bowen, of all people, who provided the biggest shot, sinking a corner 3-pointer with 1:47 left.
“That's Bruce,” Duncan said. “You know he is always going to be ready.”
Starter or reserve, big minutes or few, that has been the one constant with Bowen, 818 career games and counting.
“That's all you can control in this situation,” Bowen said. “Be ready when you get a chance to play.”
By Jeff McDonald
For 555 games spanning eight seasons, Bruce Bowen could always count on it.
If he was in uniform — and with only one exception, he was always in uniform — his name was in the Spurs' starting lineup. Etched in stone, not written in pencil.
That is, until last month.
Looking to infuse his starting lineup with a bit of youth and offensive firepower during an early-season lull, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich moved Bowen to the bench.
Bowen could have fought the change. He could have complained. He could have pointed to his three NBA championship rings and bellyached for respect.
Bowen did none of those things. If he had, he wouldn't have been Bowen.
“As a player and as a competitor, you want to be out there as much as you can,” said Bowen, an eight-time member of the NBA's All-Defensive Team. “When things happen this way, you have to be able to roll with it. You deal with it in a way where you aren't a distraction.”
At 37, the oldest player on the league's oldest team has found himself in the midst of a Spurs youth movement.
As Popovich has moved to work younger players into the rotation — particularly guard Roger Mason Jr. and rookie George Hill — Bowen has had his minutes slashed. He is averaging 21.8 per game, his fewest since 1999-2000, when he averaged 12.7 in 69 games split between Philadelphia and Miami.
After starting the first 555 games of his Spurs career, Bowen has come off the bench in 18 of 25 contests this season. He is likely to open the game in reserve again tonight, when the Spurs return home to face Toronto after an 0-2 road swing.
“Bruce has been great,” Popovich said. “He understands we're trying to work in some younger players right now, and he's been a total pro. We need him, and we're going to continue to need him.”
At this time last season, Bowen was riding the NBA's longest streak of consecutive starts, one that would reach 500 games. It ended not by Popovich's hand, but by NBA Executive VP Stu Jackson's — courtesy of a one-game suspension the league handed Bowen for kicking New Orleans' Chris Paul in a game last March.
Now in his 14th NBA season, Bowen is being used as a situational defender, often clocking in for less than 20 minutes a night.
Popovich first informed Bowen of his new, reduced role before a Nov. 11 game against the Knicks. The coach admits it wasn't a pleasant task.
Bowen didn't exactly turn cartwheels at the news. But he says he understood.
“What could I say?” Bowen said. “There's nothing I can say that was going to change it.”
Bowen isn't the only Spurs veteran ceding minutes this season. Testament to Popovich's trial-and-error approach to his early-season rotation, there are five players who have logged at least one start and at least one DNP-Coach's Decision.
“We're trying to figure out what works best, who works best with each other,” said Tim Duncan, one of the few who can count on consistent minutes each night. “Until we get there, we're going to keep tweaking.”
The motto of the typical Spurs bench player could be borrowed from the Boy Scouts: “Be prepared.”
Bowen demonstrated an innate grasp of that concept in what arguably remains the Spurs' most stirring victory of the season, a Dec. 9 double-overtime thriller at Dallas.
The Mavericks' J.J. Barea was jitterbugging all over the Spurs in the fourth quarter. Having finally seen enough, Popovich turned to his once-and-future defensive stopper to, well, put a stop to it.
Not only did Bowen help slow Barea, he also spent crunch time minutes guarding players as disparate as Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry. And when it came time to win the game, it was Bowen, of all people, who provided the biggest shot, sinking a corner 3-pointer with 1:47 left.
“That's Bruce,” Duncan said. “You know he is always going to be ready.”
Starter or reserve, big minutes or few, that has been the one constant with Bowen, 818 career games and counting.
“That's all you can control in this situation,” Bowen said. “Be ready when you get a chance to play.”