Kori Ellis
10-19-2006, 12:15 AM
Bowen's value to Spurs goes beyond numbers
Web Posted: 10/19/2006 12:01 AM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA101906.01C.BKNspurs.bowen.3539802.html
Bruce Bowen has won two NBA championships. For six consecutive seasons, the league's coaches have named him to an All-Defense team. Twice, he's been runner-up for the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Bowen has also become one of the Spurs' most timely 3-point shooters, making 43.7 percent of his attempts in the playoffs during his previous five seasons with the team. In 2001-02, he led the league in 3-point accuracy. This summer, USA Basketball invited him to try out for the national team.
Yet in spite of Bowen's accomplishments, only 15 NBA players this season, according to one recent statistical analysis, will be less productive.
ESPN.com released its Player Efficiency Ratings — a mathematical formula that grades a player on his per-minute productivity — for the 2006-07 season this week, and the results weren't too favorable to Bowen. He ranked 63rd among small forwards and 315th of 330 players overall.
Linton Johnson III is ranked ahead of Bowen. So is Pape Sow. Shammond Williams, who hasn't been in the league in two years, sits 65 spots in front of the Spurs forward.
"It's unfortunate that's what life is now," Bowen said. "Everything is predicated on a computer analyst or what a computerized notion might say. But in real life, it doesn't work that way."
Bowen should know. He's already beaten the odds. At 35, he remains one of the league's best perimeter defenders, a skill most frequently found among the young and athletic.
Only a few players in recent years, with Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman among the more notable, have proven to be above-average defenders in their mid-30s. Even Michael Cooper and Bobby Jones retired at 34.
"Reggie Miller was known for being able to shoot the ball. Karl Malone was known for being able to score down low," Bowen said. "And those were things they were able to still do even after 38.
"The one thing I've been able to do in this league is move my feet with guys. When I start getting drilled and (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) starts setting up the whole defense because I'm the weak link, I think that's when it's time for me to say, 'Oh well, it's been fun.'"
Bowen, however, doesn't think that time has arrived. He even hopes to sign a new contract when his current one expires at the end of next season.
So far, Bowen hasn't shown signs of losing a step, though a better indicator could come Saturday if he's asked to guard Miami's Dwyane Wade. For now, though, the Spurs have only seen what they've always seen from Bowen.
"I haven't seen him miss a beat," said Brett Brown, who works closely with Bowen as the Spurs' director of player development.
Because Bowen didn't start playing steady minutes in the NBA until after he turned 29, he doesn't have as much mileage on his legs as most players his age. He also doesn't drink or smoke and he works out year round, taking care of his body as well or better than any player the Spurs have ever had.
Still, 35 is 35, and the Spurs know Bowen can't play forever. The team has prioritized finding a young swingman to groom behind him. During a recent practice, Popovich also told Bowen, who averaged a career-high 33.6 minutes last season, that he plans to monitor his playing time this year. (Pop said the same thing before last season)
Bowen's response?
"I told him there's an old adage, 'If it's not broke, why fix it?'" Bowen said. "My thing is I don't like it when people start tinkering with things when it's not necessary. But if he chooses to do that, what can I say or do? I'm a player and he's the coach. But I wouldn't advise it."
Bowen also has improved his offensive skills each season he's spent with the Spurs. His pull-up jump shot will never be mistaken for that of Sam Cassell, but the coaches also no longer wince when he puts the ball on the floor.
Bowen continues to earn his paycheck, however, by chasing the league's premier scorers. Scouts think once he loses a half-step his productivity will diminish quickly.
According to ESPN.com's player ratings that day may have already arrived — and not just for Bowen. Tim Duncan was ranked 18th among all players, seventh among power forwards — just four spots ahead of Houston's Chuck Hayes — and projected to have a worse season than he did last year.
John Hollinger, who devised the formula for the ratings, wrote that last season's statistics suggested the Spurs were a better defensive team when Bowen was off the floor than on it. The player most similar to Bowen at his age, Hollinger said, is Eric Piatkowski, a talented shooter who couldn't guard a refrigerator.
But Hollinger also admitted his Player Efficiency Ratings were biased against defenders, like Bowen, who don't produce many blocks or steals.
The Spurs, like many NBA teams, have used Hollinger's formulas and other statistical analysis when evaluating players, but as only part of their decision-making process.
"Basketball statistics are a real gray area," said Spurs assistant general manager Sam Presti, "because of the number of them (assists, steals, turnovers) that are attributed through subjective means. There's also a real absence of reliable defensive statistics.
"You can't put a number on Bruce's value to our team."
Web Posted: 10/19/2006 12:01 AM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA101906.01C.BKNspurs.bowen.3539802.html
Bruce Bowen has won two NBA championships. For six consecutive seasons, the league's coaches have named him to an All-Defense team. Twice, he's been runner-up for the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Bowen has also become one of the Spurs' most timely 3-point shooters, making 43.7 percent of his attempts in the playoffs during his previous five seasons with the team. In 2001-02, he led the league in 3-point accuracy. This summer, USA Basketball invited him to try out for the national team.
Yet in spite of Bowen's accomplishments, only 15 NBA players this season, according to one recent statistical analysis, will be less productive.
ESPN.com released its Player Efficiency Ratings — a mathematical formula that grades a player on his per-minute productivity — for the 2006-07 season this week, and the results weren't too favorable to Bowen. He ranked 63rd among small forwards and 315th of 330 players overall.
Linton Johnson III is ranked ahead of Bowen. So is Pape Sow. Shammond Williams, who hasn't been in the league in two years, sits 65 spots in front of the Spurs forward.
"It's unfortunate that's what life is now," Bowen said. "Everything is predicated on a computer analyst or what a computerized notion might say. But in real life, it doesn't work that way."
Bowen should know. He's already beaten the odds. At 35, he remains one of the league's best perimeter defenders, a skill most frequently found among the young and athletic.
Only a few players in recent years, with Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman among the more notable, have proven to be above-average defenders in their mid-30s. Even Michael Cooper and Bobby Jones retired at 34.
"Reggie Miller was known for being able to shoot the ball. Karl Malone was known for being able to score down low," Bowen said. "And those were things they were able to still do even after 38.
"The one thing I've been able to do in this league is move my feet with guys. When I start getting drilled and (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) starts setting up the whole defense because I'm the weak link, I think that's when it's time for me to say, 'Oh well, it's been fun.'"
Bowen, however, doesn't think that time has arrived. He even hopes to sign a new contract when his current one expires at the end of next season.
So far, Bowen hasn't shown signs of losing a step, though a better indicator could come Saturday if he's asked to guard Miami's Dwyane Wade. For now, though, the Spurs have only seen what they've always seen from Bowen.
"I haven't seen him miss a beat," said Brett Brown, who works closely with Bowen as the Spurs' director of player development.
Because Bowen didn't start playing steady minutes in the NBA until after he turned 29, he doesn't have as much mileage on his legs as most players his age. He also doesn't drink or smoke and he works out year round, taking care of his body as well or better than any player the Spurs have ever had.
Still, 35 is 35, and the Spurs know Bowen can't play forever. The team has prioritized finding a young swingman to groom behind him. During a recent practice, Popovich also told Bowen, who averaged a career-high 33.6 minutes last season, that he plans to monitor his playing time this year. (Pop said the same thing before last season)
Bowen's response?
"I told him there's an old adage, 'If it's not broke, why fix it?'" Bowen said. "My thing is I don't like it when people start tinkering with things when it's not necessary. But if he chooses to do that, what can I say or do? I'm a player and he's the coach. But I wouldn't advise it."
Bowen also has improved his offensive skills each season he's spent with the Spurs. His pull-up jump shot will never be mistaken for that of Sam Cassell, but the coaches also no longer wince when he puts the ball on the floor.
Bowen continues to earn his paycheck, however, by chasing the league's premier scorers. Scouts think once he loses a half-step his productivity will diminish quickly.
According to ESPN.com's player ratings that day may have already arrived — and not just for Bowen. Tim Duncan was ranked 18th among all players, seventh among power forwards — just four spots ahead of Houston's Chuck Hayes — and projected to have a worse season than he did last year.
John Hollinger, who devised the formula for the ratings, wrote that last season's statistics suggested the Spurs were a better defensive team when Bowen was off the floor than on it. The player most similar to Bowen at his age, Hollinger said, is Eric Piatkowski, a talented shooter who couldn't guard a refrigerator.
But Hollinger also admitted his Player Efficiency Ratings were biased against defenders, like Bowen, who don't produce many blocks or steals.
The Spurs, like many NBA teams, have used Hollinger's formulas and other statistical analysis when evaluating players, but as only part of their decision-making process.
"Basketball statistics are a real gray area," said Spurs assistant general manager Sam Presti, "because of the number of them (assists, steals, turnovers) that are attributed through subjective means. There's also a real absence of reliable defensive statistics.
"You can't put a number on Bruce's value to our team."