I don't think I appreciated Bowen's value enough...

[toki9]

I think Spurs basketball is about balancing 3 aspects of the game: Interior D, Perimeter D, and shooting the 3's (to help with offensive spacing and interior offense).

If you look at some of the lineups that the team's been fielding this year, the above 3 aspects are rarely in balance.

For instance: Duncan, McDyess, Parker, Hill and RJ. You have good interior defender in Duncan, OK interior defender in McDyess, OK perimeter defender in Parker, good perimeter defender in Hill, and RJ. This unit has a still-developing 3 point-shooter in Hill but that's about it. So you have a pretty good interior D, OK perimeter D, and inconsistent 3-point shooting. This is where RJ's drag is pretty noticeable. With Bowen in RJ's spot, the 3 aspects would be in really good balance. (If you look at Pop's various and numerous lineups according to the Interior/Perimeter D/3-Pointer, you'll see that there hasn't been a lineup that really balances the 3--which is another way of saying that the team has yet to "gel")

And even though RJ is just one player, he's having a cascade effect because he's occupying the old Bowen slot--the glue slot that allowed the Spurs to balance the 3 key aspects of the Spurs' game.

I really miss Bowen...

[DesignatedT]

you never see a good thing til its gone

[kace]

you never see a good thing til its gone

Like the french poet said:

"Happiness, i only recognised you by the sound you made when you left"

[igruex]

I think Spurs basketball is about balancing 3 aspects of the game: Interior D, Perimeter D, and shooting the 3's (to help with offensive spacing and interior offense).

I'm missing Bowen too.

Oh, and that's not Spurs basketball it is just another way to see how some Spurs teams played.

[ChumpDumper]

Does toki mean "duplicate thread" in another language?

[J.T.]

I was hanging out with whottt the other night and we were talking about the Spurs for a little bit, and mostly we were laughing at all of the people here who think firing Pop is a solution to getting this team another championship. But I was telling him that this year's teams reminds me of the early 2000's Spurs teams that just sucked monkey nuts in the 4th quarter of a lot of games it looked like they were going to win.

The common denominator? No Bruce Bowen.

[J.T.]

Does toki mean "duplicate thread" in another language?

It means "time" in Japanese, but it probably means "duplicate thread" in ducks speak.

[baseline bum]

Some of us saw his irreplaceable value since early 02 when the team went to immediately following his injury.

[SA210]

I was hanging out with whottt the other night and we were talking about the Spurs for a little bit, and mostly we were laughing at all of the people here who think firing Pop is a solution to getting this team another championship. But I was telling him that this year's teams reminds me of the early 2000's Spurs teams that just sucked monkey nuts in the 4th quarter of a lot of games it looked like they were going to win.

The common denominator? No Bruce Bowen.

[SA210]

Some of us saw his irreplaceable value since early 02 when the team went to immediately following his injury.

[spurster]

I think Spurs basketball is about balancing 3 aspects of the game: Interior D, Perimeter D, and shooting the 3's (to help with offensive spacing and interior offense).

If you look at some of the lineups that the team's been fielding this year, the above 3 aspects are rarely in balance.

For instance: Duncan, McDyess, Parker, Hill and RJ. You have good interior defender in Duncan, OK interior defender in McDyess, OK perimeter defender in Parker, good perimeter defender in Hill, and RJ. This unit has a still-developing 3 point-shooter in Hill but that's about it. So you have a pretty good interior D, OK perimeter D, and inconsistent 3-point shooting. This is where RJ's drag is pretty noticeable. With Bowen in RJ's spot, the 3 aspects would be in really good balance. (If you look at Pop's various and numerous lineups according to the Interior/Perimeter D/3-Pointer, you'll see that there hasn't been a lineup that really balances the 3--which is another way of saying that the team has yet to "gel")

And even though RJ is just one player, he's having a cascade effect because he's occupying the old Bowen slot--the glue slot that allowed the Spurs to balance the 3 key aspects of the Spurs' game.

I really miss Bowen...

Is that you, Ghostwriter?

[dbreiden83080]

I always knew how valuable he was. First really saw it in the 2003 playoffs with the Lakers. Yeah Kobe got his but Bowen made him work his butt off for all of it. He was such a pest to the top guard scorers in playoff series, his absence is huge..

[5in10]

I want him back, not for his perimeter defending, but for his ability to communicate on defense to the rest of the spurs on d, maybe it would help them get a better grasp on it quicker.

[Russ]

Too bad Bowen has told the Spurs that he would never ever consider returning to play . . .

Oh, wait.