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With Mason in the fold, the problem isn't Bowen, it's Finley. Pop F'd up. There was always a scoring deficit in the starting lineup, with Ginobili coming off the bench. I don't think he realized that Mason should have been plugged in for Finley, and not for Bowen. Fin is shooting well this year, but the opposing teams are just killing him on defense, and Mason could give us everything he does, and more on offense, and still play some defense. The scoring droughts of last year were a result of the Finley/Bowen combo on the floor. Neither of them can create anything beyond their own bowel movement. If you simply plugged Mason in for Finley, you improve both the offense and defense of the starting unit. By plugging Mason in for Bowen, you improved the offense, but drastically cut the defensive effectiveness.
I think ex is on to something.
I think pretty much everyone was surprised when Bowen got moved to the bench. If you rewind to the beginning of this season, and tell everyone that Mason would be guaranteed to blow up as a scorer, I think 99 out of 100 posters would've relegated Finley to the bench and put Mason alongside Bowen on the starting wing. Let Finley try to come in and score his points.
Instead, Pop's man love for Finley continues, and Bowen is now consistently only getting about 15 minutes a game off the bench. Maybe Pop is trying to save his old legs for playoffs, but it's hard to look at a dip in the Spurs defensive production, and a lack of minutes for Bruce, and think they don't go hand in hand.
While Bruce is admittedly a void on offense, Finley is equally as bad on the defensive end, and I don't remember him putting the same stamp on three championships that Bowen did.
Bruce needs to start, period.
