Is Bowen still a high quality defender? I would like to see him back with the Spurs for special defensive assignments which would be extremely valuable in the playoffs. Whats the latest on Bowen returning to Spurs? Go Pistons!! Go Spurs!!
the thing i don't get is how just 2 seasons ago he went from badass to last season not even starting. what happened in camp last season that had pop second-guessing bowen's skills? that i'll never understand.
people here claim he's lost a step but whenever i watched a game last season he was in i saw the same bowen from past seasons. it makes no sense.
Mum's the word.
As it must be for a return.
That being said, the Spurs don't have the roster space for him at the moment, so they'd have to ship someone out before any move could be made.
Somebody can bring up my post last year that was quoted many times by myself and others, where I listed all of Bowen's good/great defensive performances last season..you can also look at his performance against Jason Terry and Barea in the playoffs, where he completely shut them both down when he was covering them..he pretty much blanketed Terry all series, until he had to go defend Barea, and then Terry would beat his defense(when it wasn't Hill, which didn't happen until the end of the series)..
He's no longer a "great" defender, but he's definitely still "good"..there aren't many guys in the NBA right now that are better than Bowen defensively on the perimeter, even though he's old..there really aren't any legit "stoppers" in the NBA right now..
The key with Bowen at this age is his surroundings..his defense is no longer good enough to mask his lack of offense, so you would have to surround him with other great players that can create for him at all times, and he would need more help defensively..he would fit perfectly on a team like Boston, or even with us if we had room..
he's still a very good option for 15 MPG, just not on this team right now..we already have Finley, and we need room for Hairston or Williams, since we have to hope one of them can step ahead of Finley in the rotation..if Finley is gone, I'd love to have Bowen..
ship out matt bonner asap.
I watched a replay of the 4th championship game against the Cavaliers shortly after watching Bowen play against the Cavaliers last season. Bowen was significantly slower last year.
Spurs can have more than 15 players on the roster right now. They would need to cut it to 15 or less when the season starts but that isn't really a problem since the contracts for Haislip, Williams, and Hairston are not fully guarenteed.
Bowen is still the best perimiter defender in the NBA. If we don't bring him back, again I say... we Will regret it.
IIRC he shut down that PG the Mavs have, and he is one fast kid. So yeah he is still productive.
it had to do with teh 2008 series. Have you ever wondered why bowen gets like 25 pts against the lakers from time to time?
Its coz people roam on bowen, to pack the paint against tony, manu, and timmy. And while bowen keeps them honest to an extent with his clutch three, waiting for a three to fall while kobe is rampaging (he stopped being a kobe-stopper), was a losing proposition, as we saw in that lakers-spurs series.
Finally in the fourth the lakers would always come back, and missing open threes puts more pressure until it cascades into a 3 minute drought. Since bowen is not a kobe stopper, it is pointless exchanging threes/droughts for a sure two points each time.
So Pop has abandoned that idea. Hence the change that is required. A more score heavy SF, would mean its tougher to pack the paint. Esp a star that can hit a three, and penetrate for easy baskets, and can beat his man one on one (RJ).
also against teams not named kobe, I dont think we need bowen as much, and we would do fine. The road to the championship leads through the lakers.
Pop wasn't second guessing Bowen's skills. He was managing the minutes of a 37 year old who he was going to need in the playoffs. When the playoffs came Bruce played big minutes.
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