lol at that video.
I think what set Bowen apart was is intelligence, determination, focus, and keen perception. He could read his opponent like none other and was a master of head games while keeping his own. Minds like his are one in a million. Minds like his attached to a 6'7" physically fit frame with 7' arms are one in 6 billion.
Gee could end up as a damn good defensive perimeter player. He won't be close to Bruce level but at the same time, there isn't a single player in the NBA who is close to Bruce level.
What he cared about more than stats was winning and demoralizing the best players on other teams! That was his mission and he was the best at it! His glory came when lifted that trophy and put on that ring!
Today's players want to take members of the other team to dinner and get a VIP table together at the club. Bruce Bowen just wants to kick people in the face. That's something you can't be taught.
You people are only looking at half the equation.
a) it's hard to find a lock down defender
b) it's hard, these days, to find a 39% 3 point shooter.
Now, try to find both in one player.
the idea that any athlete with the will to can be a bowen-esque defender is an extreme disservice to Bruce. the guy had lightning quick feet, great reaction time, and was as intelligent/disciplined as you will find in a perimeter defender.
asking why it is so hard to find the best perimeter defender in the league for almost a full decade is a question that provides it's own answer.
exactly it doesn't exists and may not again
This.
Bowen was a model of consistency and professionalism.
Paul Silas is as close at it gets to BB. He understood his role and executed it. Most posters are too young to remember PS. I guess these types of players come along rarely. We live in an era where O is God. Bruce may have been the last of the buffaloes.
Thabo is the closest to a "new" Bowen.
Bowen had two things you cannot teach or learn
1) A relentless work ethic
2) He was clutch.
While I agree with the sentiment that Paul Silas understood his role and executed, his role is one that DeJuan Blair could embody. Physical defense, rebound like a mother, and a 2 handed outlet pass that leads to an easy fast break.
I love what Bruce did but to me, I would prefer Sidney Moncrief, he played lockdown defense and his scoring wasn't just confined to the corners, he had enough skill and range to attack from anywhere.
http://www.nba.com/history/players/moncrief_bio.html
Have you not seen Modern Family? Funniest show on television.
because she is damn hot and sure can defend everyone.
(still can't see why Boston traded her out of town)
Oh yeah and Bruce Bowen is a 1 of a kind
we're going nowhere without a stopper IMHO
And I think you're also looking at only half of the equation. The other half is to find such player and get him to agree to be paid in the $3-4 million per year range. The Spurs philosophy has spread in the league (along with the members of the Spurs FO) and lockdown defenders are more and more valued. FOs around the league understand that despite the somtimes unappealing box score, these guys can be virtually impossible to replace, and their trade demands become unrealistic.
A guy like Pietrus, who is really quite good at one-to-one defense and doesn't even shoot the 3 as well as Bowen did, is already getting paid $5.5 million a year by the Magic (and as far as we can tell, they are not letting him go for cheap).
A guy like Batum who is probably Bowen's reincarnation (good defender and .387 career 3-pt shooting and .409 last year actually, with only 2 years under his belt and at the age of 21) is still being paid nothing because of the rookie scale, but Portland has already hinted that they wouldn't let him go if the other team doesn't put a star on the table.
In short, even though Bowen's contributions were nothing short of amazing for the Spurs, what was even more exceptional, and made everything possible to be honest, was to get such a guy for so cheap. THAT is not going to happen again any time soon.
Also, Bowen was a "dirty" player. At least that's what Ray Allen thought.
+1
I was quite surprised nobody mentionned him before. Batum is IMO THE young player nowadays who has the potential to be bowenesque with a lot more Offensive upside than Bruce.
The issue with Batum is his health, Bruce was just a machine, Batum seems to be fragile. On top of that I don't think he has the killer/dirty or whatever you name it instint of Bruce
Bruce was one of those players you hated if he were again you but love if he played with you. Foxhole kind of a player. Hoping his # gets retired soon.
There it is. Sefalosha is widely considered to be the best perimeter defender in the NBA at this time. And even he falls short of the Bowen barometer.
It's tough to find another player of Bowen's skill set and abilities because he was a very unique and unusual player. As someone stated earlier in the thread, Bowen was a self-made player and virtually invented a role for himself. He was smart enough to realize that the NBA had many guys that could score and very few that could defend. He figured out a way to survive in the NBA and worked and willed himself into creating a niche for himself.
Bowen's defensive abilities were as dominant as a shutdown cornerback in pro football. Bowen affect on the opposing team was akin to that of say a Deion Sanders or Darelle Reavis. A shutdown cornerback can literally take away half the field by blanking the opposition's best receiver.
Bowen pretty much did the same, but in his case, he often took the opposition's best perimeter scorer completely out of the game. In fact, the only player that I've ever seen have continuous success against Bowen was LeBron. It was a total mismatch because James was simply too big and too strong. James against just about eveyone is a total mismatch. While Bowen had some success against Kobe over the years, he never had much success trying to defend James one-on-one.
Anyway, as hard as it is to find shutdown cornerbacks in the NFL, so it is with finding lockdown perimeter defenders in the NBA. It takes a combination of skillset, physique, mentality and desire in order to be successful at both.
The problem with finding "another Bowen" isn't finding someone who can do any particular thing as well as he did. It's about finding someone who can do ALL of those things at the level Bruce did.
Physical Ability: Bruce had the height, length, and footspeed to actually inhibit players at three different positions. The only thing he didn't have physically was weight, which is why some of the only guys he struggled with were the big, physical two's and three's (think Bonzi Wells).
Fundamentals: Bruce played fundamentally sound defense. Positioning, angles, not going for blocks or steals except how the situation dictates. This is why someone like Chris Paul, who gets a ton of steals, or Marcus Camby, who gets a lot of blocks, will never be truly elite defenders... because they get these stats by taking risks rather than playing fundamentally sound basketball.
Basketball IQ: Bowen had the mental makeup and intelligence to enhance his physical gifts and fundamentals. He would get inside other players' heads, finding something that irritated them and doing it over and over (Dennis Rodman was a master at this). He would study specific players for tendencies, and take them out of their comfort zones, by making them take the shots they are least accustomed to (Battier tries to do this, too). He would apply every trick, legal and illegal, that he could use to gain an edge over another player (kind of like Manu does on the offensive end).
Mental For ude: Unlike Ron Artest, Bowen had the mental makeup where other players couldn't get in HIS head. Also, if he failed to shut someone down or they scored on a particular possession, it wouldn't change his level of effort. Bowen would come at you 100%, all the time, never getting frustrated or letting up. He was relentless. Plus, few players would be happy being known only for their defense.
The Spurs System: All of those factors would have made Bowen a great defender on any team. But he was better on the Spurs, because we have a system that allowed Bowen to devote more of his energy to defense than almost any other system in the league would have. Our offense still utilized and needed Bowen's greatest strength offensively: three point shooting, particularly from the corner. But the role we needed him for on offense required little energy relative to most starting-player-playing-time roles on most teams.
Finding any one of those things is easy. Finding two or three is hard. Finding all of them together, is almost impossible.
Basketball IQ.
Guys like Horry and Bowen you can't replace. They're as rare as the MJs and Magics of the NBA.
Watching the current world championships. A player who reminds me of Bowen and can develop into a bowen type, is New Zealand's Thomas ABERCROMBIES : Here is a profile link
http://turkey2010.fiba.com/pages/eng...7/profile.html
As a small forward he has the size 6' 7" athleticim , defensive fundamentals but more importantly he has the mental discipline to play consistent defense. I know he dosen't have the resume (Not from a big college) or anything. But din't Bowen come from the same situation. I've been following this guy and I think he could be a find.
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