Bowen is the player who sets the tone for the Spurs defensively -- especially in the playoffs. You take Bowen out of the starting lineup, you give teams a chance to get rolling early in the game. What sense does that make?
Spurs fans with their "Spurs should bench Bowen" ish either don't remember the 2000 season or weren't Spurs fans yet. With Sean Elliott out after his kidney transplant and Mario Elie only capable of being a lockdown defender for a few minutes at a time due to his age, the Spurs used to try to save Elie until the end of games. The result was every star perimeter player would destroy the Spurs and then by the time Elie was called to rescue the situation, it was too late. The star perimeter player was too hot.
To keep a star player from exploding, not letting the star player get rolling is perhaps the most important key. Not even Bruce Bowen will be effective against a Kobe, Wade, Carmelo, etc. if the player is already torching the nets by the time he gets the assignment.
The Spurs win championships with defense. Bowen is the defensive tone setter. You use Bowen as some sort of defensive pinch hitter and it'll be 2000 all over again. Some Spurs fans will be shocked with what they see, while others will have seen it before
Yes, Nash being able to save energy while defending Bowen has really worked wonders for Nash over the years. I mean, all those series he has beaten the Spurs can be traced back to him being able to rest against Bowen. The Spurs need to fix that ASAP
Seriously though, whether Nash is on Bowen or Barry or Udoka it doesn't make that much of a difference. I'm glad when I see Nash on Bowen because if Nash leaves him, Bowen is a proven playoff shooter. In fact, Bowen is arguably the most consistent and clutchest three-point shooter in franchise history.
Every year Bowen has been with the Spurs, his three-point percentage has risen from the regular season to the playoffs. Every year. That's an amazing stat and shows how he's legitimate playoff performer on both ends of the court. A team wants to rest a player by putting them against Bowen? Be my guest. I'd rather see Bowen take a wide open three in the playoffs than anyone on this team.
This is this year, T Park.
The Spurs are older, slower and Barry is hurt.
I am so sick of hearing how great a defender Bowen is when the guy that guards him can cheat off him on the other end.
His vaunted defense does not compensate for his awful offense.
We can't keep winning despite him.
Bring his @ss off the bench.
You want to bring Bowen off the bench when the truly great offensive weapons like Elson, Oberto, and Vaughn are playing alongside him? Talk about making Manu go 1 on 5. Bowen needs to start for 2 reasons:
1) Keep the other team's best scorer from going nuts early and putting the Spurs in a big 1st half hole in the playoffs.
2) Keep him on the court with two proven offensive stars in Duncan and Parker along with a still decent shooter in Finley. I think the 2nd unit is much better if Manu has a guy like Udoka who can still defend well but has more of an offensive game.
We had this argument three championships ago. Haters never learn.
I think this view fails to account for the team aspect of basketball. Sure, if Bowen scores only 6 points, and plays good defense but allows 25 points on 18 shots, some might view that as a net loss. Also, you are arguing that Bowen's lack of offense makes him an easy cover by the star offensive player. That's a valid argument.
However, basketball is a team game, and offenses function in such a way that their effectiveness is reliant on the performance of their best players. For example, a team that has a star who produces 25, 30, 35 percent of their points, or a team who has a star that handles the ball for the cast majority of its possessions, is significantly hindered when that star's performance is less than normal. By having a player like Bowen, you are not only making another team's star work for his points, you are throwing their entire offense out of whack, often making other, less skilled players try to compensate. This means that the other team's offense is operating in a way that the team is not comfortable with.
On the other hand, sure, Bowen doesn't do much offensively, but his offensive role doesn't ask him to. Having another team's star rest while guarding Bowen is less of a concern to the Spurs, because the Spurs offense is still functioning normally. And, Bowen's offense is still predicated on the fact that he can hit the open three. So while a defender might be able to relax, they cannot sag off him to help on our other players.
This ability to throw off another team's offensive set, while maintaining our own, is the value of a Bruce Bowen, and it's why the simple "net gain/loss in points" isn't a strong argument.
ajh18, good stuff.
In fact, the only homer to step up and challenge the notion that Bowen costs us on offense and allows his man to rest while not having to cover Bowen on defense.
I guess my concern is that players like Bowen and Vaughn absolutely kill us when the offense is not flowing well.
you mean like when Bowen and Vaughn killed us in last playoffs?
We're not as good as last year, hater. And older.
We're not as healthy as last year and everyone wanted to trade half the team this time last season.
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