How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game?

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How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#1 » by AleksandarN » Fri Jun 11, 2021 6:05 am

Glorified role player? Or much more?
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#2 » by Duke4life831 » Fri Jun 11, 2021 6:10 am

Hey was a key starter on championship teams. I don’t think his role would really be any different than it was back then though.

Spend all your energy on the defensive end, then on offense camp out in the corner and hit 3s at a solid rate.

He’d basically be a plug it in starter for any championship contending team. Him and Battier are kind of the early prototypes of the 3&D guard and wing.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#3 » by Phreak50 » Fri Jun 11, 2021 6:12 am

Similar to Danny Green but less athletic on smaller guys.

Not as good shooter as Green but he knew his (barely existent) role on offense though. Green sometimes forgets he can't dribble or drive and then attempts to.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#4 » by AleksandarN » Fri Jun 11, 2021 6:13 am

Duke4life831 wrote:Hey was a key starter on championship teams. I don’t think his role would really be any different than it was back then though.

Spend all your energy on the defensive end, then on offense camp out in the corner and hit 3s at a solid rate.

He’d basically be a plug it in starter for any championship contending team. Him and Battier are kind of the early prototypes of the 3&D guard and wing.


I do think he would double his point totals for sure. Since 3 pointers are so important in todays games
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#5 » by Clyde Frazier » Fri Jun 11, 2021 6:15 am

His rep as a dirty player would be more pronounced with social media.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#6 » by Theo Ratliff » Fri Jun 11, 2021 6:29 am

He wouldn't be able to play his style of defense in todays soft NBA. He would foul out of every game.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#7 » by rockmanslim » Fri Jun 11, 2021 6:47 am

Theo Ratliff wrote:He wouldn't be able to play his style of defense in todays soft NBA. He would foul out of every game.

He'd get ejected from every game before he fouled out. He was always pulling some dirty sht, ask Vince.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#8 » by Myth » Fri Jun 11, 2021 6:57 am

rockmanslim wrote:
Theo Ratliff wrote:He wouldn't be able to play his style of defense in todays soft NBA. He would foul out of every game.

He'd get ejected from every game before he fouled out. He was always pulling some dirty sht, ask Vince.

He was pretty smart though, so I think he adapts his dirty plays to the current era.

Overall, I think he would be the same caliber of player in this era as he was in his own.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#9 » by GSWFan1994 » Fri Jun 11, 2021 6:59 am

By the way the game is called now, this would be an offensive foul:

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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#10 » by slicedbread2 » Fri Jun 11, 2021 7:20 am

Besides his reputation as a dirty player who tried to injure people, he'd need to work on that FT shot. He was a career 53.8%FT shooter and teams would hack him to disrupt momentum if it came down to it. He'd be all right and a team would pay him the big bucks, but he'd need to work on that handle.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#11 » by Chuck Everett » Fri Jun 11, 2021 8:15 am

He would struggle the same way Andre Roberson struggled at the end. His career took off in a very specific situation IMO.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#12 » by 76ciology » Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:37 am

Not that good. Because you can’t clamp down a player nowadays unless you have freakish length which allows you to challenge the scorer despite sagging off him.

The ideal way to play defense is without contact and a lot of deflections. Like how Covington or Thybulle plays defense nowadays.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#13 » by God Squad » Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:45 am

Matise Tybulle with a three. Although I think Thybulle is the better defender.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#14 » by bradybunch » Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:19 pm

He'd be hurt by the soft nature of the game, but he'd still be an elite defender.

Elite as you're allowed to be.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#15 » by The_Hater » Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:30 pm

Chuck Everett wrote:He would struggle the same way Andre Roberson struggled at the end. His career took off in a very specific situation IMO.


Roberson couldn’t shoot. At all.

Bowen led the entire league in 3FG% one season and shot almost 40% for his career.

I think those who don’t think he would have been effective are dead wrong, the entire league is looking for quality wing defenders who can make 3’s. The value of these players is probably even higher now.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#16 » by giberish » Fri Jun 11, 2021 1:46 pm

The_Hater wrote:
Chuck Everett wrote:He would struggle the same way Andre Roberson struggled at the end. His career took off in a very specific situation IMO.


Roberson couldn’t shoot. At all.

Bowen led the entire league in 3FG% one season and shot almost 40% for his career.

I think those who don’t think he would have been effective are dead wrong, the entire league is looking for quality wing defenders who can make 3’s. The value of these players is probably even higher now.


Of course Bowen shot that well by only taking open catch and shoot corner 3's. The easiest 3's in the game. He wasn't an above-the-break 3'-point threat and he didn't have a particularly fast release. Taking more shots would have drastically reduced his efficiency.
So he was an extremely marginal floor-spacer (though better then Roberson or Tony Allen). He'd really need to be on a team with a stacked offense that could live with a 5th option SF with limited (but non-zero) floor spacing. He'd probably end up about where he was as a cheap 5th starter with a top team.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#17 » by og15 » Fri Jun 11, 2021 1:50 pm

Why would he be much more? I don't get it. Bruce Bowen is a role player no matter when he plays. He didn't have some skills that were being held back.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#18 » by DoctorX » Fri Jun 11, 2021 2:07 pm

He would be the same type of player today. Even with the rule changes people forget or probably never noticed that Bruce had great lateral quickness. When he was in his prime he could stay in front quick small guards. He also had quick hands that bothered the offensive player.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#19 » by The_Hater » Fri Jun 11, 2021 2:09 pm

giberish wrote:
The_Hater wrote:
Chuck Everett wrote:He would struggle the same way Andre Roberson struggled at the end. His career took off in a very specific situation IMO.


Roberson couldn’t shoot. At all.

Bowen led the entire league in 3FG% one season and shot almost 40% for his career.

I think those who don’t think he would have been effective are dead wrong, the entire league is looking for quality wing defenders who can make 3’s. The value of these players is probably even higher now.


Of course Bowen shot that well by only taking open catch and shoot corner 3's. The easiest 3's in the game. He wasn't an above-the-break 3'-point threat and he didn't have a particularly fast release. Taking more shots would have drastically reduced his efficiency.
So he was an extremely marginal floor-spacer (though better then Roberson or Tony Allen). He'd really need to be on a team with a stacked offense that could live with a 5th option SF with limited (but non-zero) floor spacing. He'd probably end up about where he was as a cheap 5th starter with a top team.


Do you think today’s role players no longer get open, catch and shoot 3’s or something? Their ability to hit those shots is their offensive value, not trying to do Curry/Lillard imitations. The league is chalk full of these guys and most of them don’t play nearly the same level defense as Bowen.
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Re: How good would Bruce Bowen be in today's game? 

Post#20 » by Patches Perry » Fri Jun 11, 2021 2:30 pm

The thing about Bowen is that he was not a good shooter. He shot 40-60% from the free throw line most of his career and even on three pointers, was only reliable in the corner. For that reason, his role today might be more limited because we don't have the same kind of inside-out play that we used to. Still, he was an incredible defender and could hit the corner three, so in some sense, he'd be better version of what PJ Tucker is now.

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