thanks Bruce Bowen

[ivanfromwestwood]

You are the biggest unsung hero in the history of sports. Spurs defensive died the day we traded you. You are the reason for 3 of our titles and I want you to know evertime we get scored on, I think of you.

R.I.P. (retire in peace)

[toki9]

You are the biggest unsung hero in the history of sports. Spurs defensive died the day we traded you. You are the reason for 3 of our titles and I want you to know evertime we get scored on, I think of you.

R.I.P. (retire in peace)

But please stop with the bow tie...

[Sean Cagney]

He played a big role, but the reason we won three? Not Tim? NOT MANU? NOT TONY OR HORRY! Come on man, he was a huge key but to discount others there come on now man, they were the team! Bowen was huge there, but they all were huge, they were a hot damn unit!

[ivanfromwestwood]

We put Bruce on whoever was hot on the other team. Didn't matter if it was Nash or Dirk. 6ft or 7ft and he always did a good job. I think he was our defense along with Duncan. I bet he could come back and still be productive. Do it RC!

[howbouthemspurs]

Without Bowen's amazing hall of fame defense on the perimeter players, the Spurs would only have 1 championship. The Defense started with Bowen and it ended with Duncan on every play.

[Sean Cagney]

Remember Bowen switch to Billups in 05 and basically win that there on that alone! That alone won that title IMO sides Horry's shot! Bowen on whoever was key in alot of series, yes without him we get less titles, period.

[SA210]

Without Bowen's amazing hall of fame defense on the perimeter players, the Spurs would only have 1 championship. The Defense started with Bowen and it ended with Duncan on every play.

Manu was a huge part of the playmaking that got us the Championships, but I agree, Bowen is the reason when it came to being that defensive stopping team.

I miss Bruce, Pop f'ed him over and he could still defend better than anyone in on our team right now.

[SA210]

You are the biggest unsung hero in the history of sports. Spurs defensive died the day we traded you. You are the reason for 3 of our titles and I want you to know evertime we get scored on, I think of you.

R.I.P. (retire in peace)

:toast:depressed

[Fpoonsie]

I remember my "Bowen 12" rubber wristband broke the day we traded him.

I hadn't taken that thing off in years. It was...eerily fitting, yet completely devastating.

[Holden_Caulfield]

i miss defense.

[LongtimeSpursFan]

Spurs made the move for Bowen to help counter Kobe. Now that Kobe is on the decline we have no need for a great lockdown perimeter defender.

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

At least we can still watch him on ESPN still as an analyst.

[mingus]

Spurs made the move for Bowen to help counter Kobe. Now that Kobe is on the decline we have no need for a great lockdown perimeter defender.

Yeah cuz there aren't any good perimiter scorers that can hurt the Spurs now.

[Obstructed_View]

I think there was an understood blue in LTSF's post.

[Juanobili]

man I fucking miss that guy :(

[Calispursfan11]

you are the biggest unsung hero in the history of sports. Spurs defensive died the day we traded you. You are the reason for 3 of our titles and i want you to know evertime we get scored on, i think of you.

R.i.p. (retire in peace)

like!

[Cessation]

Bowen was definetly underrated, never got DPOY is a travesty.

[honestfool84]

this thread is two years old. :tu good job.

[Creation88]

we didnt have a big 3 but a big 4. Bowen should have won MVP in the '07 Finals for shutting down Lebron. needs his jersey retired.

[ManuBalboa]

Far more deserving of being in the rafters than #6. Thanks for the D Bruce. Spurs basketball is dead now.

[stnick2261]

I completely agree with the OP, except the defense was the dead in Bowen's final year as well (as much as it pained me to watch)...

... in '05, when everyone argued who the finals MVP should be, I said it should have been Bowen because he was the only guy who played consistently for every game (everyone else had good and bad games)

[ivanfromwestwood]

Didn't he get benched in his final year so that Fin could start? Lmao.


Hey Bruce. If you lurk and read this, I would also like you to know I think you are a true example of self dicipline. You are a perfect example of what you can do if you put your mind to it :toast

[dunkman]

In his first season with the Spurs he missed some games, and the Spurs had awful record without him. He never missed a game after that, so it wasn't clear how important was Bowen for the Spurs success.

After 99, Bowen was a huge reason why the Spurs have won championships, he was as important as Manu or Parker. However, I think that the Spurs still can win championships with better offense and somewhat less defense.

The Spurs FO is too slow to find an all-defensive SG/SF swing to replace Bowen, before Splitter the Spurs struggled to find an all-defensive or all-star big to complement Duncan, and are too slow to find an SF/PF 6'10" tweener for the bench. With RJ, the Spurs sacrificed defense by design, that was to be compensated with RJ's offense and because of his efficiency, the Spurs should make some additional plays for him.

Pop isn't Riley when it comes to developing all-defensive players. I guess that Bowen could help as assistant coach. Duncan was already an excellent player as rookie, so I don't think Pop developed him.

[BruceBowenFan]

I still wear my Bowen jersey on game days.

[realtimmyfan]

Now we need a defensive big.

[Cane]

I completely agree with the OP, except the defense was the dead in Bowen's final year as well (as much as it pained me to watch)...


True that. At least Bowen was able to pass down some lessons to George Hill.