Thursday, September 3rd, 2009...9:03 am
48MoH’s Greatest Hits: The Bowen Collection
Over the last year and a half Tim and I have written extensively about Bowen and his importance to the franchise. In fact, Bruce has been the inspiration for much of the writing of which I am most proud. It is an honor to revisit some of that writing here today:
During his prime, Bowen’s brilliance on the defensive end of the floor could not be overstated. People do not often talk about defensive plays as acts of self expression, although I have repeatedly argued that they can be seen as such. Bowen is one of the players who makes this conception possible. Game after game he quietly nudges the act of defense beyond craft towards the more lofty title of art.
Bruce Bowen: Myth vs. Reality:
Bowen is most often used in the 4th most common 5-man unit deployed by Popovich. The four other men he most often plays with are Matt Bonner, Michael Finley, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. It’s important to note that of the other four, two are generally regarded as defensive liabilities, particularly for the Spurs’ standards. Of the five most common units, this group of players has the strongest defensive efficiency rating: 87.3. In fact, the second best defensive unit the Spurs deploy has a defensive efficiency rating nearly ten points higher. To put that rating in perspective, the best defensive team in the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers, has a defensive efficiency rating of 98.4.
Honestly, I’m surprised Bruce Bowen didn’t make an appearance in Lewis’ article: He and Battier are probably the two players most often associated with contributions that only exist beyond the box score. In fact, the most frequently referenced metric in the article is adjusted plus/minus, which is where Bowen’s contributions come to life (other advanced metrics, such as PER, do not always give Bruce the credit he deserves). A classic example of this is Bowen’s 3 point, 1 rebound, 0 steal, 0 assist, 4 foul performance in our double overtime win against the Mavericks earlier this season. Bowen led the team with a +21 performance.
Bruce Bowen and the Evolution of the Box Score:
The limited representation of defensive statistics in box scores extends beyond my sympathy for Bruce Bowen, however. Despite what you may think of him, there is much in Bowen’s game that is worthy of imitation from the young. Younger players, those in middle or high school, let alone college, won’t model their games after Bowen. Why? The basketball universe neither provides the necessary windows through which young players can appreciate what Bowen does nor accessibility to the concrete measurements such players would need to model themselves after Bowen. Statistically speaking, their eyes are elsewhere.
But at a professional level basketball is not a gentleman’s game. By no means am I going to disparage guys for handling themselves with dignity on the floor (certainly the sportsmanship that Duncan shows on the court is a point of pride for all Spurs fans). But I do not have a problem when guys push the level of acceptable play.
Sports do not abide by the same ethical codes that we have in regular society. The court (or field or ring) is an inorganically created space in which individuals abide by a set of arbitrarily defined rules. The codes of conduct pursued by the average individual are not valid during a sporting event and vice versa.
15 Comments
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:39 am
It really is a damn shame that he never won the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Defense is so much more than blocks, or even steals, and the coaches of the NBA should all be ashamed of themselves for never recognizing that fact and giving Bruce the award during his prime.
I vote that the award be renamed in Bruce’s honor.
September 3rd, 2009 at 2:07 pm
agreed
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I’ve always felt that the real reason why Bruce Bowen never won the Defensive Player of the Year Award was because of his unjustified reputation as a “dirty player”. If that is the case then shame on the NBA because simply put, Ron Artest won this same award. What kind of message would that send.
I mean, can anybody think of any other logical reason as to why Mr. Bowen never won the Defensive Player of the Year Award.
And while we’re at it, no Spur has won the Defensive player of the Year Award since David Ronbinson won it in 1992. Not a single Spur. To think that Dennis Rodman, Tim Duncan, and Bruce Bowen have all worn silver & black since then and none of them won this award.
We’re talking about the “team of the decade”. The best defensive team, year in year out, since the turn of the Millenium.
I don’t know exactly where, but somewhere along the line justice was not done in Bruce Bowen’s career.
Having said that, one day the Spurs will retire his number. They have to. When that day comes, the feeling of witnessing it will be that much better.
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Rafa,
I’m with you. I think it was a reputation blacklisting…
September 3rd, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Well said, Rafa.
September 3rd, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Even though Mr. Bowen didn’t win the award, he still has more championships then anyone else who has won that trophy.
Since 2001, Ben Wallace, Ron Artest, Marcus Camby, Kevin Garnett, and Dwight Howard have one that award. A combined total of 2 rings.
Bruce Bowen a total of 3 rings.
We shouldn’t be bothered by that.
He was the Kobe Stopper, and the LeBron Stopper.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:26 pm
The coaches probably didn’t vote for him because they didn’t want to add insult to injury to players who already had sore nuts/faces.
September 4th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Furious, you are a big baby. You act like he kicked someone in the nuts/face EVERY night. He stayed in their grill, because he could! Ray Allen cried every game against B.B. Vin-sanity cried. I am not a Kobe fan but I appreciate his skills. Kobe NEVER cried about Bruce that I know of. No one else challenged him that way. I agree with Rafa on the Def POY, he should have won it more than once for his all-around defensive play. If Avery Johnson made it, the Spurs better hang number 12 from the rafters. He gave it all every night that he wore the Silver and Black.
September 4th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
if anybody on this planet earth can honestly say he can lock down a any high scoring dude in the nba - it is none only but bruce bowen.
undeniably he is very instrumental in all of the championship and near championship run by the spurs
if the spurs were known to be the defensive team of the nba then bruce is their man. he epitomizes what the spurs are trying to achieve each and every game - defense.
he might average 8 points per game but must average more than 20 points denied on the opposing team. then he is by far as efficient as tim or manu.
he made the right decision to retire as spurs. it is a shame for him to retire from a struggling team. he knows the feeling already.
as far as i am concerned he retire a winner.
good luck bruce and good sailing
September 4th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Rafa, the reputation might have factored in, but I think more importantly what Bowen did didn’t show in the box score - it’s all the little stuff, and the sudden dip in the opposing player’s FG% for that game.
However I’m afraid that many people who vote for these awards like the flashy numbers and the “stuffing of the box score” - Bowen was never to win at that game. But he won at the real game, which is certainly a bit more important
September 4th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Calm down dude. It was a joke. I have nothing but respect for bruce. I just wish all players had the same approach as him, that would be a damn entertaining league.
September 5th, 2009 at 7:40 am
true fan is absolutely right so does most of the people in here
bruce bowen deserves
an award, a defensive player of the year award
and his jersey retired in spurs
September 5th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Just give him a defensive player of the decade award and that will make it all better
September 9th, 2009 at 4:46 am
Bruce changed the way the NBA played defense. He wasn’t just a pesty defender, he mastered this skill and made it an art. After the Spurs became champions the rest of the league looked at what the Spurs organizaiton exemplified and found that among our stars, we had an awesome clutch shooter who played fiercely against his opponents! We’re going to miss you Mr. Bowen…
October 17th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
As much as I’m willing to acknowledge Bowen’s highly sophisticated and effective defensive skills, he’ll never seem deserving of defender-of-the-year to me simply due to his attempt-to-injure/career-threatening cheap shots. No matter how much it works, it shouldn’t be part of the game and shouldn’t be rewarded when there are guys that do just as much for their teams without the garbage (Battier comes to mind).
The reality of his omission probably has more to do with the box score stats and but as much as his gifts may be unappreciated, as a fan of the game I can’t help but feel that he’s taken away more than he’s added.
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