[Old General Record] The Dirty Man? The Real Side of the First Generation 3D!

"He deliberately kicked my heel and almost injured me. He just did that kind of thing, and the ball was dirty."

"I want to beat him up, is he playing basketball?"

The first sentence comes from Xiaos, and the second sentence comes from Ray Allen. The "he" among the two people refers to the number one person on the dirtiest player list selected by the two major media outlets by the open-air stands and Fox Sports. Former Spurs defensive champion Bruce Bowen, who was selected eight times in the NBA's best defense.

As the representative of violent players, there are many players in the NBA who have accused Bowen of crimes. In addition to the above two, such as Carter, Anthony, Nowitzki, Kobe, etc. When Ball retired in September 2009, when he was interviewed and said that other stars would react to his retirement, Bowen smiled and replied:

"I'm very sure that most people will be happy to know this news."

Back in the 2000s, there were many talents in the swinging position. Kobe, McGrady, Ray Allen, and Carter were all talented scoring experts, and Bowen was responsible for the position of these offensive masters every night.

After being selected for the second team of defensive team for three consecutive years, since 2004, Bao Wen made an appointment for the best defensive team of each year in advance, and was selected for five consecutive years. From 2005 to 2007, he ranked second in the DPOY voting for three consecutive years.

Especially in the 2005 playoffs, Bowen's defensive value was fully demonstrated. In the first round, the new generation scorer Anthony, facing the Supersonics, limited the scorer who averaged 32.4 points per game in the first round to 21.5 points, and his three-point shooting percentage also plummeted to 30%. The Western Conference Finals faced Marion, who averaged 19.4 points per game in the regular season and averaged 21.3 points and 23.3 points per game in the first and second rounds, but Bowen had only 7.8 points in five games, making him the team's largest outside lock.

Of course, as a champion panacea, Bao Wen's value lies not only in defense. Although his average average score of 8.2 points per game in a single season, he also has a stable bottom-line three-pointer, with a career three-point shooting percentage of 39.3%, and even won the top spot in the league's three-point shooting percentage with 44.1% in the 2002-03 season.

In the eight seasons of playing for the Spurs, he topped the team's three-point shooting and hit rate twice. He was responsible for defense and ambushing the outside and shot three-pointers. It can be regarded as the initial template for the 3D players of the era. Especially considering the Spurs, which created the five-year triple-winning Spurs in the 2000s, Bowen's value in the team is particularly critical.

In the 2001 Western Conference Finals, the Spurs were swept out by the Lakers. The inside double towers were actually able to encircle O'Neal, mainly because they were at a loss for Kobe on the outside line. In the whole series, Kobe scored 33.3 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists with a 51.4% shooting percentage. What's embarrassing is that the team's starting point guard Derek Anderson then joined the Trail Blazers, and the scorer Steve Smith who was replaced was not the choice to stop Kobe.

Therefore, in the offseason in 2001, the Spurs' biggest goal was to choose Kobe's counterattack. At that time, even though Bowen was 30 years old, under the guidance of Heat coach Riley, he showed strong defensive attributes and became the first choice for the Spurs' starting small forward in the new season.

In 2003, the Spurs successfully defeated the Lakers and ended the Purple and Gold Dynasty's dream of winning four consecutive championships. Bowen of that year was the first in the league to hit the three-point shooting percentage, facing the Lakers in six games with 17 of 26 three-pointers, with a shooting percentage of up to 65.4%. Although Kobe, who is the main defense, has an output of 32.3 points, he averages 26.5 shots and 4.5 turnovers per game.

After defeating the Lakers, Bowen took home several video videos, which were a collection of offensive highlights of several scorers from Nowitzki and Nash in the next round of the team. These scorers were all tall from tall to short, but for Bowen, it was not an unexpected event. He had already prepared before the game began.

Thanks to this mentality, he will do his best to do whatever task, which also made Bao Wen successfully wear three championship rings and become a real champion. But behind this seemingly glorious, looking back at Bowen's career is a rare difficulty in NBA history.

Bruce Bowen experienced turmoil in his childhood. He had a mother who was addicted to drugs and a father who was engaged in drug trafficking business. During his childhood, he was constantly sent to each other between relatives and friends. Borrowing the interview with his uncle Darryl Bowen:

"My brother is an alcoholic, plus a poisonous insect. Bowen is here this summer, where will he go next summer. When the situation gets worse, he will call and I will go over and pick him up." On his 13th birthday, Bowen wanted to buy a game console and pick it up on the TV to play games, but when he went home, he found that the TV at home was all replaced by his mother for drugs. And he often went to the street to find his mother to come back after he finished his own work. My father also missed his son's childhood for many years. He suddenly appeared after he disappeared for five years and then stole the pocket money his son earned from working in the summer to buy alcohol.

Growing up in such an environment, according to common sense, Bao Wen is likely to be a gangster drunkard wandering on the streets of California when he grows up, but fortunately he meets his real family and a basketball career worth spending his whole life pursuing, which makes his life change.

When he was nine years old, Bowen went to see a high school basketball game, but he was short of one dollar to buy tickets. He met a young man named Quinn Croze outside the stadium and asked him for one dollar:

"I can give it to you, but remember, you borrowed it, and you will pay it back in the future."

Two years later, when Croze met Bowen again, he did come back with a dollar, and the two who were 10 years apart became friends.. In later memories, when talking about Bowen, Croze never regretted getting to know this little brother:

"He was probably on the wrong path, but he didn't make excuses and reasons. Since he was 11 years old, he had already learned to be responsible for his life."

But even if Bowen worked hard enough, the talent gap was still difficult to ease. After high school, Bowen only received a scholarship for the second-level university in NCAA, and no first-level school was interested in him, so Bowen only He could find opportunities by himself, so he called various universities, pretended to be the coach of the high school team, and said in a low voice:

"You have to come and see a player named Bruce Bowen in my team. He is a D1 rookie, and you must not miss him."

Finally, California State University Fullerton threw out an olive branch, and Bowen successfully entered the university arena. While studying in Los Angeles, Bowen met a couple, just like Croze before, and the couple quickly accepted Bowen. At first, Bao Wen called them parents just for convenience, and then he became the adopted son of the couple.

After finding a new family, Bowen began to perform stably in school. He was already the team's scoring champion in his senior season. He was selected into the All-Western League Team with averaging 16.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.

Just as Bowen, who is used to being single-handed, the NBA's door has not been opened to him. In the 1993 draft, Bao Wen was not selected directly. For the NBA at that time, there were many super scorers of the same type. If you wanted to enter the NBA with one offense, Bowen was far from enough.

In desperation, Bowen had to choose to go to the overseas league, stayed in France for two seasons before returning to the United States, and set off for France again after spending a period of time in the secondary league. Whenever the night is late, Bowen doubts himself. His opponents who were in the Great Western Conference with him have already stood firm in the NBA, but he can only play abroad far away.

Refer to his later interview recollection:

"Maybe I can't control all this, I need to learn to be a better player. If I earn 100,000 yuan in France every year and earn 1 million yuan in ten years, I will be very content with this kind of life."

And just as he was about to accept his fate, opportunities began to appear, Pat Riley gave him a ten-day short contract on behalf of the Heat.

For Bowen at that time, he began to realize his value, no longer demonstrated his scoring ability, and began to get used to his blue-collar role. Although Bowen was cut off after the season, he was then given up after staying in the Celtics for two seasons, then the Heat and the 76ers were then traded to the Bulls, and then was cut.

But thanks to his previous cooperation experience, Riley has always taken Bowen's defense to heart. Five days after being cut by the Bulls, the Heat immediately signed Bowen. The following year, the following year, he became the starting small forward of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference. He played 82 games in the season, averaging 32.7 minutes per game, and handed over 7.6 points and 3 rebounds. In the Heat, where defense is first, Bowen's defensive value is eye-catching and he was selected as the second team of the season's best defensive team. In seven years, he has been in three domestic and foreign leagues and nine teams, and Bao Wen finally gained a firm foothold in the NBA. His defensive value is also beginning to be seen by more and more people, especially the attention of the Spurs and Popovich. They then successfully signed a veteran's basic salary with an annual salary of only 710,000 yuan, which is the most cost-effective free agent signing in the history of the Spurs.

After the competition failed, Riley of the Heat was very angry and publicly stated that Bowen was the worst starting small forward in the NBA's offense; while in comparison, Popovich said happily:

"We are very happy to be Bowen's joining. Everyone knows that he is a good defensive player at critical moments and he can solve our urgent needs."

Judging from the facts later, Riley's criticism was basically an angry word, and Bowen ushered in his true value moment at the Spurs. As the tenth team of his career and the last team he played for, both sides ushered in the most successful cooperation experience.

After coming to the Spurs, Bowen had a double tower of Duncan and David Robinson behind him, which made his perimeter defense more bold. The new starting forward with a salary of 710,000 yuan ranked 11th in the team, but helped the Spurs achieve an excellent record of 20 wins and 4 losses in the first season. However, Bowen was still absent for nearly two months due to a finger injury, and during the 23 games, the Spurs only scored 11 wins and 12 losses.

Borrow David Robinson's evaluation:

"Until he was absent, otherwise you really don't know how great Bowen is."

Bowen played 59 games in the season, and the Spurs handed over 47 wins and 12 losses. Judging from such a record, Bao Wen is definitely worthy of credit for the first MVP trophy in Duncan's career.

In the overseas league, Bowen was the team scorer, responsible for breaking through with the ball, fighting for rebounds, and converting fast breaks. However, after wearing the Spurs jersey, there were not only two tower inside, but also ball holders like Parker and Manu. Under such a team, in addition to doing a good job in defense, Bowen mostly lives on the weak side on the offensive end, waiting for opportunities at the bottom corner three-point line.

In his first championship season with the Spurs, Bowen reached the top three-pointer throne in the league. In the playoffs that were crowned in 2003, 2005 and 2007, Bowen's three-point shooting percentage was 43.8%, 43.3%, and 44.6%, respectively. In the eight years of playoffs with the Spurs, his three-point shooting percentage fell below 40% in just one year.

Return to the controversial player's career, three championship trophys, five best defense first team, three best defense second team, most of the personal honors were obtained during the Spurs' time.

In 2009, 38-year-old Bowen was traded by the Spurs to the Bucks for the younger Richard Jefferson. Bowen later announced his retirement, and the Spurs also decided to retire his No. 12 jersey early..

When Bowen retired, he was the only eight Spurs players in the history of the Spurs to play more than 600 games. From February 22, 2002 to March 14, 2008, Bowen played 500 consecutive games, and is still a record in the history of the Spurs. To this day, Bowen is still an important player in the history of the Spurs. He ranked fourth and sixth in the team's history in the regular season, and third and fourth in the team's history in the playoffs.

After retiring, Bao Wen served as the football critic for ESPN. To borrow his explanation:

"I like to broadcast games. I have the opportunity to pass on what I know to everyone. This is not arrogant, because I have experienced a lot, I have been to bad teams and strong teams, and can provide special opinions."

And whenever someone mentions his strange career, Bao Wen's answer is very simple:

"The key point is not how you start, but how you end. I hope to leave the memory to the world. I am an insatiable and constantly improving person, and I hope everyone can remember it."