Last week, the Los Angeles Clippers decided against renewing Bruce Bowen’s contract. Up until then, he had been an analyst on television for them. But then he said some things about Kawhi Leonard that they didn’t appreciate. That’s because the Clippers think they can get him in free agency next summer. They won’t, but they think they have a shot. Therefore, they didn’t want Bowen’s comments to end up being the reason Leonard didn’t give them a chance.
And Bowen isn’t having it.
Speaking on “The Dan Patrick Show” Thursday, he didn’t take back anything he said about Leonard. And more than that, he went after the Clippers as well.
“No, I would not,” Bowen answered when asked whether or not he’d build a team around Leonard right now. And it comes down to what has gone on over the past year.
“And I say that from what has transpired now. Now, if you asked me that two years ago, I’d say ‘absolutely.’ He had it very good as far as having Tim (Duncan), Tony (Parker), and Manu (Ginóbili) to kind of learn from. But only because of the actions I’ve seen here of late would it create doubt for me to build around Kawhi.”
Then came questions about the Clippers. Like we touched on in the link at the top of the page, Bowen is an analyst. He was hired to be an analyst. That means he’s supposed to share his thoughts on Kawhi Leonard and whoever else is relevant at the time. But in the end, that cost him his job. He would’ve understood if this came about for a different reason too. That just wasn’t the case here.
“…now, if I tore him down and I was disrespectful to him, that’s one thing. But that’s not the case. As an analyst, I’m supposed to talk about what I see and what I feel for this game that I love. If you can’t do that, what does that say about your organization?”
That could’ve been the end of it. Bowen doesn’t have to state his case much clearer than that. But sometimes people just need to get one last swipe in. To conclude, he does exactly that.
“I think if you can’t get free agents in California, in Los Angeles that is, that has nothing to do with Bruce Bowen. That has more to do with the organization.”
He’s an analyst, remember?
