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NBA Essentials: Troy Murphy's Passion for Weddings and the Ethics of Bruce Bowen

Tom ZillerPosted Jan 5th 2009 2:45PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Knicks, Pacers, Spurs, Suns

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* Troy Murphy: "I'm going to be an event planner - weddings, bar mitzvahs, everything like that. That's my passion. It is. I've just taken it up the last couple of years." -- South Bend Tribune, via Cornrows.

* "[Bruce] Bowen's style of play does not undermine the quality of the game; in fact, it takes basketball (and basketball fandom) to the peak of its dramatic heights." -- 48 Minutes of Hell.

* "[T]here's a reason that no one goes around quoting any of Christian Bale's lines from [The Dark Knight], a reason that [Heath] Ledger is posthumously up for an Oscar and was spoken of a nomination before his passing, a reason that when you think of that film, you think of the Joker. And it's the same reason kids love to dunk, that we like the fastbreak more than the halfcourt, and why Gilbert Arenas is on the All-Star ballot despite not playing a tick [...]" -- Hardwood Paroxysm.

* Amare Stoudemire: "Refs don't like me as much as the cops didn't like Tupac." -- Arizona Republic (last week).

* This week's NBA on TV announcing schedule, the first Basketball Jones of the New Year, and Getting to Know Robert Swift.

Bruce Bowen Calls Out the Cowboys for Not Having a 'Team First Mentality'

Will BrinsonPosted Dec 30th 2008 4:00PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Cowboys, NFL Fans, NFL Eliminated Teams, NFL Coaching, NFL Media Watch, NFL Real Talk

The nice thing about being anyone on the San Antonio Spurs is that, well, you can generally sling criticism around; it's not a characteristic trait of any particular player on that team, but after so many years of solid team play and, well, just winning, they've got some sturdier walls than most glass houses.

Hence Bruce Bowen's recent comments to the San Antonio Express about the Dallas Cowboys, his favorite football team. See, it appears that Bruce, like every single person in the free world except Jerry Jones and Wade Phillips, doesn't think the Cowboys really have good chemistry.
"It's very disappointing," Bowen said of Sunday's painful showing by his favorites, "but character wins out over talent any day, at least in my book. You can see how infectious certain characters can be down the end of the road."

Bowen declined to name which of the Cowboys characters he considered "infectious," but he made it clear he believed the Cowboys were doomed by self-centered players.
Well, Bowen might have declined, but allow me: Pacman Jones, Terrell Owens and Roy Williams (the receiver). Of course, Pacman was probably more of a distraction than a totally destructive locker room presence, but still, anyone who thought bringing him to the Cowboys would result in anything positive is running a fool's errand.

And while Bowen is getting a bit aggressive in calling out another sport's players, what are the Cowboys going to do? Tell him he's wrong? Because, um, he's not.

Bruce Bowen Calls Out the Cowboys for Not Having a 'Team First Mentality'

Will BrinsonPosted Dec 30th 2008 4:00PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Spurs, NBA Gossip, NBA Media Watch

The nice thing about being anyone on the San Antonio Spurs is that, well, you can generally sling criticism around; it's not a characteristic trait of any particular player on that team, but after so many years of solid team play and, well, just winning, they've got some sturdier walls than most glass houses.

Hence Bruce Bowen's recent comments to the San Antonio Express about the Dallas Cowboys, his favorite football team. See, it appears that Bruce, like every single person in the free world except Jerry Jones and Wade Phillips, doesn't think the Cowboys really have good chemistry.
"It's very disappointing," Bowen said of Sunday's painful showing by his favorites, "but character wins out over talent any day, at least in my book. You can see how infectious certain characters can be down the end of the road."

Bowen declined to name which of the Cowboys characters he considered "infectious," but he made it clear he believed the Cowboys were doomed by self-centered players.
Well, Bowen might have declined, but allow me: Pacman Jones, Terrell Owens and Roy Williams (the receiver). Of course, Pacman was probably more of a distraction than a totally destructive locker room presence, but still, anyone who thought bringing him to the Cowboys would result in anything positive is running a fool's errand.

And while Bowen is getting a bit aggressive in calling out another sport's players, what are the Cowboys going to do? Tell him he's wrong? Because, um, he's not.

Longtime Spur on Bruce Bowen: He's Dirty

Tom ZillerPosted Nov 16th 2008 6:30PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Rockets, Spurs, NBA Videos

Via BallHype, SpursReport caught a great broadcasting moment during Friday's Houston-San Antonio match. Rockets analyst (and old gunner) Matt Bullard revealed what Brent Barry, a Spur teammate of Bruce Bowen for four years, thinks of The Rash.



There's not a player, coach or fan outside of San Antonio's sphere of connection who possibly thinks Bowen isn't a dirty player. Hearing it from someone who played a few hundred games alongside The Rash doesn't tell us anything new, but certainly defends the claims. We aren't all just bitter fans who refuse to recognize Bowen's supposed greatness. We're bitter fans who wish Bowen played for our team.

Salim Stoudamire, a New Spur, Helps More Than You Think

Tom ZillerPosted Sep 22nd 2008 9:11AM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Hawks, Spurs

The Arizona Daily Star reports Hawk bench buddy Salim Stoudamire has signed a deal to join the Spurs (via SLAM). I know, I know ... even Roger Mason is bored by this news. But hear me out: Salim can help the Spurs a ton.

The Spurs have been a team which relies on three things on offense: the post play of Tim Duncan, the slashing ability of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, and potent three-point shooting from a cast of role players. Historically, two of the three most important of those three-bombing role players have been Robert Horry and Brent Barry. Horry retired (or "was forced to retire because no one wants to pay him," if you want to get semantic). Barry plays for the Rockets. Bruce Bowen and Michael Finley remain, but turn 57 and 55 respectively* this year. Ime Udoka and Matt Bonner sit in the sidecar, but Gregg Popovich showed only mild levels of faith in them last year.

The one constant with Stoudamire: dude can shoot. Let's ignore last season, when he only totaled 400 minutes. Look at all seasons, college and pro, when he actually got a shot. Here are his three-point shooting percentages: 45% as a college freshman, 44% as a sophomore, 42% as a junior, 50% as a senior, 38% as a rookie, 36% as a second-year player. The league average is 36%, and the Spurs are accustomed to shooting slightly higher. Salim helps that, yes?

While Mason shot beautifully last season in D.C., his record indicates middling success from long range. Stoudamire shot poorly last season, but his record indicates strong aptitude for the longball. S.A. has made a brilliant hedge here: if Mason can't shoot appropriately well, and Pop needs some bench firepower for the guard position -- Bonner and Udoka aren't guards -- there is an option. He may not quite become Barry for a New Age, but there's an opportunity to hit some big, big shots here. Great move for everyone involved.


* On further review, Bowen actually only turns 37. Finley turns 35.

NBA Gives Best Christmas Present Ever: Quintuple Header

Matt MoorePosted Aug 6th 2008 2:10PM by Matt Moore (author feed)
Filed under: Cavaliers, Celtics, Hornets, Lakers, Magic, Mavericks, Spurs, Suns, Trail Blazers, Wizards, Eastern, Western, NBA Media Watch



In a move that is both awesome for NBA fans and terrible for NBA fans with families, the NBA has scheduled a quintuple header for Christmas Day. That's right, five games. Oh, so they probably overlap, right? Nope. There's basketball from 12PM EST till approximately 1AM EST. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Starting you off on the long road to divorce and estrangement from your family is New Orleans at Orlando at noon. So after opening presents, enjoying your Christmas morning coffee, and inevitably calling your sister to ask why she hated you enough to buy your kid that obnoxious talking Monk doll or plotting to return the sweater that your grandmother got you for an iPod charger, you can sit back, relax, and watch Tyson Chandler and Dwight Howard beat the crap out of each other.

Then the blood rivalry resumes with San Antonio traveling to Phoenix at 2:30PM EST for what should be a warm and happy holiday greeting between the two teams as Amare Stoudemire tries to go Silent Night, Deadly Night on the team that's bounced him from the playoffs two years in a row, while Bruce Bowen attempts to give Steve Nash the gift he's never wanted, two severed Achilles' and a partridge in a pear tree.
Continue Reading NBA Gives Best Christmas Present Ever: Quintuple Header

Spurs Are First in Line for Corey Maggette

Brett PollakoffPosted Jul 2nd 2008 2:10PM by Brett Pollakoff (author feed)
Filed under: Clippers, Spurs, NBA Rumors

Earlier today, Ziller mentioned how the Celtics wasted no time in offering recent Clippers castoff Corey Maggette a place on their championship roster, but it now appears that another title contender is likely to land him instead. Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the San Antonio Spurs are the front-runners to land Maggette, with a multi-year contract offer for the mid-level exception expected to be forthcoming.

The Spurs seem like a better fit than the Celtics for Corey. If he's taking less money to compete for a title -- and unless he wants to go somewhere like Golden State or Philadelphia for substantially more money, that's what he's doing -- he's going to want to see the floor. Maggette is a legitimate starter in this league, and with the Spurs more than happy to bring Manu Ginobili off the bench, Corey will get plenty of minutes and plenty of shot attempts. I don't think that would necessarily be the case in Boston, where he'd undoubtedly have a tough time cracking that starting five.

The naysayers point out that Corey has been a defensive liability at times in his career, and that, specifically in the Spurs' offense, he'll need to dramatically improve his three-point shooting from the corners. To both of these assertions, I say: hogwash.
Continue Reading Spurs Are First in Line for Corey Maggette

NBA Sets a Bad Precedent by Issuing Statement on Officiating

Brett PollakoffPosted May 29th 2008 1:40PM by Brett Pollakoff (author feed)
Filed under: Cavaliers, Lakers, Spurs, NBA Playoffs, NBA Videos, NBA Referees



An NBA spokesman, commenting on the play involving Brent Barry and Derek Fisher at the end of Game 4 between the Lakers and Spurs, stated that, "With the benefit of instant replay, it appears a foul should have been called." While that might make some astute (if admittedly petty) observers of the game happy, I think it sets a bad precedent and will only create more controversy for a league that already has so many of its foul calls questioned on a nightly basis.

If we're going to look at a call that could have decided the game, why not examine the play before that? Derek Fisher's shot on that possession (with seconds left on the clock) was ruled to be an airball, when it clearly (again, with the benefit of instant replay) hit the rim. The shot clock should have been reset, which would have forced the Spurs to foul, which could have pushed the Laker lead up to four. Had that play been ruled correctly, we likely wouldn't even be talking about a controversy on the game's final play.

Do you see the problem with this? We could go back through every possession and find plenty of calls throughout the game that were questionable. Because the game's final possession is always magnified, the league felt the need to comment on it. But they really shouldn't have. Not unless they want whining about officiating to take over the game.

Continue Reading NBA Sets a Bad Precedent by Issuing Statement on Officiating

5 Things to Keep an Eye on: Western Conference Finals, Game 4

Matt MoorePosted May 27th 2008 12:10PM by Matt Moore (author feed)
Filed under: Lakers, Spurs, Western, NBA Playoffs, Los Angeles



Tonight's a big one down by the Riverwalk. Spurs win, it's a three game series, and we've seen how the champs can do in that situation. Lakers win, and they're going to warm up the pipes for the funeral dirge for the Spurs' season. Manu! The Machine! Kobe! Bonner! Okay, maybe not Bonner. Either way, this should be fun this evening. In the latest in our continuing series, we look at five things to keep an eye on tonight in the Western Conference Finals Game 4 between the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs.

1. The Machine And Poo-God's Left Side: Sasha Vujacic found out the hard way that you can't keep a good Manu down. Manu Ginobili torched him for 30 points on 5 of 7 from the arc in Game 3. "The Machine" continued to overplay Ginobili's left hand on the perimeter to shut off the drive, and so Ginobili went to his step back and transition threes. The question for Game 4 as far as Ginobili's concerned, is whether Vujacic falls for what Ginobili wants and steps up on him straight up and lets him have the left. Ginobili's not likely to shoot 71% from the arc again. But the Spurs are amazingly good at hitting the shots they're unlikely to hit, which gets you to respond by guarding those, instead of the shots they're more likely to knock down. Phil Jackson may be too wily for this tactic and keep Vujacic on Manu's left. But if Vujacic et al get frustrated and start trying to cover Ginobili's three pointer, he's going to the rack. Every time.

2. Odom-eter Fluctuates Between Zero And 100: Lamar Odom plays well, Lakers win. Lamar Odom plays like doody? That's all she wrote, kids. Odom has become the transmission for this Lakers vehicle. Without him, the smoke blows out the front of the car and that disgusting grinding, dying-giraffe noise happens. In Game 3, the Spurs adjusted their defense on Odom. They stayed with Gasol and the perimeter defenders, and said to Odom, "Drive, if you want." They know Odom's mid-range is suspect and that if you bring late aggression on his drive, he's likely to miss layups. Which is what happened. A lot. If the Lakers want to steal this one and effectively put the clamps on this series, Odom has to force the Spurs to stop his drive, opening up the passing lanes for Gasol and the perimeter players.
Continue Reading 5 Things to Keep an Eye on: Western Conference Finals, Game 4

5 Things to Keep an Eye on: Western Conference Finals, Game 2

Matt MoorePosted May 23rd 2008 10:05AM by Matt Moore (author feed)
Filed under: Lakers, Spurs, Western, NBA Playoffs, Los Angeles

And then there were four. In the latest of our continuing series, we look at the Western Conference Finals, Game 2 tonight between the Spurs and Lakers. Be sure to stop by later for our LiveBlog of Game 1.


1. One Would Think You Wouldn't Forget About Him: San Antonio, Kobe Bryant is not David West. He's not Chris Paul. And he's definitely not Carmelo Anthony. So maybe just maybe, covering him straight up is not the answer. The Spurs didn't bring the double team on Kobe until he'd already lit the fires, and once that happens, you can cover him with flame retardant blankets and you're still getting cinged. Greg Popovich won't fall for the same trick twice. Expect heavy double teams at the wing from Bruce Bowen and Ime Udoka, and for the under side of picks to aggressively trap him. It might work. It might not. In reality, with the way Kobe's playing right now, that's pretty much up to him. The Spurs have a much better chance against...

2. The Pau-Wow: Pau Gasol came to the startling realization in Game 1 that Tim Duncan is a mite bit better than Mehmet Okur. Gasol needs his mid-range working against the Spurs, and in order to get anything inside, he's got be pulled kicking and screaming by Kobe. When Kobe started going ballistic in the fourth, he kept hammering passes at Gasol. He never got angry, even when Gasol dropped them, he just kept tossing them at him and encouraging him. The Spurs need to keep him floating outside of the paint. Gasol's not comfortable getting down and dirty, and the Spurs need to encourage that.
Continue Reading 5 Things to Keep an Eye on: Western Conference Finals, Game 2
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