Mike Harris loses to Ryan Bowen for last spot on OKC Thunder

Bowen, despite his lack of apparent skills, has one valuable skill: knowing how to make an NBA roster. Here's to his 10th freakin' year in the league.

 

I will never understand the mystery of Ryan Bowen.

 

Ryan Bowen aka Rybo aka the Germanator as dubbed by Jon Barry is the greatest bench warmer of all time. So much so that even when he is signed, no one expects him to do anything.

 

If I'm a coach, the primary allure is the hope that Bowen's attitude and hustle can rub off on the rest of the team, particularly a young one like OKC. My admittedly low level experience with playing with a guy like that is that it challenges you to match him. If you are a young guy and see a guy like RyBo with a 10 year career stat line it at least has to make you think about the value of hustle and positive attitude.

Ultimately, I don't think either Mike Harris or RyBo were going to be major on court players for the Thunder under any circumstances, so taking the guy with the bottom line 'talent' might not be as important as it would seem.

 

"Never under estimate the heart of a champion."

 

I cant believe ryan bowen can continually somehow get onto teams in this league. Where as players that the rockets cut (will conroy esp.) would absolutely dominate him in every facet of the game. How does pops have a hard time finding a team, yet ryan bowen has played 10 (almost) consecutive seasons in the nba token white guy?

 

I'm not surprised because Mike Harris isn't any good.

 

He's an energy guy. (A polite way of saying he sucks.)

 

It's the Hornets...
Their bench is pretty lackluster in talent.

 

Actually. It's the OKC Thunder....

 

mike harris is a tweener.... too small for a forward spot too slow for a guard spot

 

LOL. Whoa. My bad.
That's a little more surprising..
But still, they're a bit lacking in the talent department as well.

 

I dont always get it either. how some undersized players get the exemption but others their size is considered a hindrance.

I think in coaching strategy its a little easier to bring in a defensive sub than it is to bring in a lesser talented scorer/all around guy. Its easier to assess what player on the other team is working you over and saying "You, go stop that guy". And let the other players shoot the ball while he's on the court in limited minutes.

Who's Mike Harris going to defend? Who's he going to score on? They probably feel over the course of the long season Ryan Bowen in his approach to practice and preparation will be more beneficial than Harris's limited minutes.

 

Ryan Bowen likely has the largest collection of humiliation pictures and videos of NBA GMs.

 

Good call on that one. But seriously, 10 year pro?

 

Well i think the issue is Harris being a tweener. Bowen does suck as a player overall, compared to the avg player anyway..but the guy can hit that open jumper well enough and although he's never going to rack up steals or blocks, his consistent hustle can annoy/disturb opponents some. He's been able to stick because he's been on teams like the hornets, who had terrible depth, so he's not exactly going against tough competition to make the team. Some teams, like Houston, do a good job of scouting and end up cutting solid players....other teams don't, and guys like Bowen who might not make other teams, stick.

 

I always thought that coaches liked a loser on the team such as Bowen to punish players by subbing them for the slow, white guy. The fact that he gives you hustle is just an added bonus.

 

You can't always look at it in that way. There's always going to be players in the NBDL, hell even completely out of the league, that on talent alone should be on a roster...yet they either don't fit the teams that have availability or they have other issues not related to talent. Bowen has one big thing going for him, and that's that he is very coachable. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't listen to the coach or don't get the X's and O's you're going to have trouble..