Sam Bowie (61‧216cm) is one of the ‘most famous (?) No. 2’ players in NBA history. It would be great if he was famous for the good, but unfortunately, on the contrary, he has a high name. It’s not that he did anything terribly wrong. He was selected second overall in the 1984 NBA Draft. It was not a strange nomination because he showed outstanding skills and high growth potential throughout high school and college in excellent physical condition.
For the Portland Trail Blazers, who were missing a reliable center, there was no doubt that Bowie would serve as the pillar of the team. The problem is that the draft at the time was one of the best ‘Golden Generation Drafts’ in NBA history. At least Bowie did better than Steve Spipanovich (61‧211cm), the second pick in the 1983 draft introduced in the last part.
However, few people mention Spipanovic’s name when discussing the disappointing second place. Bowie, on the other hand, is too famous. Unfortunately, there is a big reason why he participated in 1984. First of all, Hakeem Olajuwon (60‧213cm) from Nigeria, who will be recorded as the first African-born No. 1 overall, was nominated.
Olajuwon is an excellent center who has made great achievements that cannot be compared to Bowie, but he was nominated anyway, so it may not have much to do with it. The problem is that after Bowie, Michael Jordan (60‧198cm), the ‘basketball emperor’, is considered the greatest player in history. Just the fact that he passed Jordan, Bowie suffers from frequent mentions in every draft.
4th place is Sam Perkins (61‧206cm), who left a name in his own way as a compliant forward, and 5th place is Charles Barkley (60‧198cm), the legend of an undersized big man who dominated an era, ‘Flying Refrigerator’. It’s like a shrimp back burst among the players who are so prominent that Perkins can’t even see it. Even point guard legend John Stockton (60‧185cm), who holds the record for first place in assists and steals of all time, was selected by the Utah Jazz as the 16th overall player at this time.
Since his high school days, Bowie has been known as a national center along with Ralph Sampson and Steve Stepanovic. He smashed under the opposing team’s goal in every game and posted high points and rebounds. In 1979, Sports Illustrated magazine spotlighted the three. That year, he also competed in the McDonald’s All-American Game along with prominent players such as Byron Scott, Steve Stepanovic, Isaiah Thomas, Dominic Wilkins, and James Worthy.
Even while at the University of Kentucky, Bowie continued to grow steadily. In his freshman year, he showed off his potential as an average cotyledon with an average of 12.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 2.1 block shots, and in his sophomore year, his record rose to 17.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 2.9 block shots. In addition, in 1980, he was selected for the national team at the age of 19 and played an active role as a starting center for the team.
The problem was the injury. He suffered from big and small injuries in earnest from his junior year, and he took an entire season off because of that. Nevertheless, Portland threw the second overall pick to Bowie in the 1984 draft. First of all, Portland desperately needed a big man. Since Bill Wilton’s departure, the weak bottom of the goal has always been pointed out as a weakness, and the main goal has been to find a reliable starting center to protect the post.
Right before the draft, he was so impatient that he was even fined by the NBA for inappropriate contact with Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing. There was also an opinion that Michael Jordan, the ace of North Carolina University, should be selected, but Jim Paxson was already in good standing within the team, and there was even a next-generation ace full of potential called Clyde Drexler, who was selected in the previous season, so there was no sniper or swingman type player. .
It would have been best to bring Hakeem Olajuwon, who was considered the biggest big man, but he was nominated by the Houston Rockets, who had the first pick. Even before the nomination, Portland knew very well that Houston wouldn’t let Olajuwon go. It was because even if they had taken first place, they would have brought Olajuwon unconditionally. In such a situation, the only option left was Bowie, who was a good big man in college.
He was evaluated as having high potential, including having all the conditions that a center should have, such as decent scoring ability, rebounding and blocking shots, so he bet on Bowie for the team’s future. Of course, there were objections at the time. From the opinion that it is wise to select the best talent because it is good not only to think about positions, but also to claim that there will be limitations in growing into an all-star center because of Bowie’s frequent injuries.
However, Portland highly evaluated the potential of Bowie, who competed evenly with Patrick Ewing during his senior year of college, and exercised the second pick as he believed. He would not have known at the time that the choice at the time would forever become a dark history. Bowie has a hardened image to many fans as a synonym for eating and running and the worst center. But, as mentioned earlier, Bowie wasn’t quite that bad.
He was caught between Olajuwon, the all-time great center, and Jordan, the greatest superstar of all time, and showed an above-average performance. The sad thing is, of course, that his playing days in Portland have been blown away by injuries, surgeries and rehabilitation. In his rookie year, Bowie averaged 10 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.7스포츠토토 blocked shots in 76 games and was named to the All-Rookie Team.
It was an activity that made us look forward to the future. His problems started with his second season. He suffered a bone fracture in his left shin during his landing against the Milwaukee Bucks, an area that plagued him throughout college. In the end, he was out of the season and returned the following season, but this time he suffered a fracture to his right shin bone. Eventually, he had to undergo another major operation.
Bowie played four seasons in Portland, but his appearances in the game itself did not go well, whether he played or not, except for his first season. The total number of games played in the three seasons from his second season to his fourth season was not enough to match his first season. It must have been frustrating from Bowie’s point of view, but it was also a matter of hitting his chest as his club.
It is analyzed that the impatience with each other also had an effect on this. As can be seen from the words, “I am confident that I will not be pushed by any center in the league when I am healthy,” it is clear that Bowie would have performed well enough to rank second if it had not been for injuries. However, the reality was a series of frequent injuries, and Bowie, who was in a hurry, made a comeback before his body even recovered, and his body was further ruined.
He has created poor results due to the expectations placed on him by the club and his own impatience. Later, Bowie also often expressed regret over these aspects. If I had to pick Bowie’s heyday, it would be his four seasons with the New Jersey Nets. Portland, so disappointed with Bowie, traded him to the New Jersey Nets for Buck Williams, along with a draft pick, in June 1989.
As a result, it is no exaggeration to say that this trade is a win-win. Williams kept Portland’s post with solid play and later helped advance to the finals, and Bowie also spent four seasons relatively healthy in New Jersey. He averaged 14.7 points, 10.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.8 blocked shots in 68 games in the 1989-90 season, and he played his part and continued to play steadily.
He wasn’t the best in the league, but he was good enough as a starting center for a team. Above all, he was relatively healthy in New Jersey, with the least season he played was 62 games. During his three seasons in Portland, he thoroughly focused on offense under the goal, but from the last season he started throwing 3-point shots, and in New Jersey, he also played a good perimeter offense in chances.
Afterwards, he was traded to the LA Lakers and played two more seasons, but as the injury recurred, he could not perform as well as he did in New Jersey. Nevertheless, the Lakers wanted to play a little more, but he decided that he had reached his limit, and decided to retire at the end of the 1994-95 season. Bowie appeared in 511 games over 10 seasons and averaged 10.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.8 blocked shots.