I hope Sean is the emcee.
Now, if they will only hire him as an assistant coach.
I don't begrudge fans that dislike him for things like the incidents with Paul and Nash, stuff that I might very well attack if I wasn't a Spurs fan. What I don't get are the constant cries of "DIRTIEST EVER!!!" and then presenting Vince Carter as their star witness.All Realgm going butthurt about Bowen, especially Suns fans ..so funny
He is a top 5 perimeter defender of all-time and he was integral part in 3 of the Spurs championships.
Just Neal with it.
Not only that but some guys were claiming that Ron Artest wasn't dirty. I mean, seriously ?
Just because he didn't score 20+ people feel he doesn't deserve to have his jersey retired.
People there cannot see the difference between a HOF and a guy with a retired jersey. You don't need to be a HOF to have the jersey retired.
He was a key piece here in 3 championships. Bowen meant a lot to San Antonio and that's what matters.
Haters gon' hate.
Props to one of my favorite Spurs ever. This was certainly well-deserved and quite frankly should have happened sooner. But all that matters is his number will soon hang next to the all-time Spurs greats and I can tell my kids I saw #12 play for championships in San Antonio.
Tim may be The Franchise, and Manu may be El Corazon; but Bruce, like David Robinson before him, was the Consummate Spur.
Well deserved, congratulations to Bruce.
I agree. The 2004 Spurs, defensively, were SICK. Had Jackson and Claxton stayed we probably repeat. I believe that team has the record for lowest OPPG for a season
Only Spurs fans would say this, but we know our team so well:
Not counting the two playoff flukes that happened in '04 and '06, this team was good enough to win a 5-peat from '03-'07.
Wow, still following the Spurs' every move, eh?
congrats Bruce!
well deserved
Bruce favorite moment:
Way togo BRUUUUCCCEEE..will be at the game to watch your jersey go up!
Agree. A solid role player for a championship team/teams. Not rafter hanging worthy. Never even made one all star appearance.
Retired numbers should only be for franchise hall of famers.
Then we'd have what, 2 jerseys up there?
I always think it's funny because more players have been more seriously injured from landing on Vince Carter's foot than by Bruce Bowen's "dirty" play.
no you don't
About bloody time. It was the Big 4, not the Big 3.
Congratulations Bruce, well deserved.
Do you all remember this?
much more worthy then aj
true though
http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/p...ional-watchers
(Deservedly) To The Rafters
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Long before he arrived at ESPN as an analyst, Bruce Bowen and I attended Cal State Fullerton for two years together.
So I might not be the best source of unbiased commentary about a defensive specialist who, for all he undeniably contributed to three championship runs in San Antonio, got tagged as "dirty" over the years by a list of luminaries that includes Ray Allen, Vince Carter and Amare Stoudemire.
But Bowen's status as the classic You Hate Him Unless He's On Your Team guy doesn't mean he's unworthy of the honor bestowed on him this week by the Spurs, who announced that his No. 12 will be retired on March 21. Ditto for the fact that Bowen retired in 2009 with a career scoring average of 6.1 points per game.
Don't forget that Bowen made the NBA's All-Defensive Team eight times in his nine seasons in San Antonio, including five straight selections to the first team between 2004 and '08. Only four other perimeter defenders in league history, furthermore, have a streak as long as Bowen's: Scottie Pippen (who made 10 straight All-Defensive Teams from 1991 to 2000), Bobby Jones (nine straight from 1977 to '85), John Havlicek (eight straight from 1969 to '76) and Michael Cooper (eight straight from 1981 to '88).
As Spurs coach Gregg Popovich went on to explain earlier this week, Bowen stands as a prime example of what Team Duncan wants from its role players, having turned himself into a deadly 3-point marksman to supplement all the D through sheer desire and dedication ... when I can assure you he possessed nothing resembling reliable NBA 3-point range back in college.
"Bruce Bowen was the premier perimeter defender in the NBA for close to a decade," Pop says. "His success is proof that hard work and determination do, in fact, pay off. Statistics are meaningless when talking about his importance to this franchise. The simple fact is the Spurs don't win championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007 without Bruce Bowen."
The following, with an assist from my man Ryan Feldman in ESPN Stats & Information, is an assemblage of the top 10 players with scoring averages as modest as Bowen's whose jerseys were retired anyway because of their overall contribution to their respective franchises:
NAME TEAM PPG
Mark Eaton Utah 6.0
Dennis Rodman Detroit 7.3
K.C. Jones Boston 7.4
Brad Davis Dallas 8.2
Larry Steele Portland 8.2
Avery Johnson San Antonio 8.4
Bob Gross Portland 8.9
Johnny Moore San Antonio 9.4
Dave Twardzik Portland 9.5
Satch Sanders Boston 9.6
PS -- Denver's Byron Beck (4.7 ppg), Indiana's Mel Daniels (3.5 ppg) and New Jersey's Bill Melchionni (4.4 ppg) were not included here because their low NBA scoring averages in parentheses don't account for the fact that each of them primarily played in the ABA.
PPS -- Here's a link to a franchise-by-franchise list of every jersey retired in the NBA. Bowen will be the seventh Spur to be so honored, joining James Silas (No. 13), George Gervin (No. 44), Johnny Moore (No. 00), David Robinson (No. 50), Sean Elliott (No. 32) and Avery Johnson (No. 6).
Well... isn't the HoF already just for that? No point in this redundancy.
I'm really glad to see Bowen's number retired. He was one of the best defender of his era, one of the best perimeter defenders EVER and got selected to a load of All-Defensive teams. He was a great Spurs and a key component to 3 championships, shutting down some of the best players out there on a nightly basis.
Retired jerseys are for players who did great things for their franchise, and Bowen definitely qualifies.
Well deserved.
I'm just a little surprised that it happened so soon. I figured Bruce would have to wait until Tim's number went up much as Sean had to wait on David.
Looking forward to being there for the ceremony.
Bowen as busy, and defensive, as ever in retirement
Posted on January 28, 2012 at 9:19 pm by Spurs Nation in Bruce Bowen,
By Richard Oliver
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...in-retirement/
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